Alabama's Florence 'TimesDaily' to Print 'Decatur Daily'

By: E&P Staff The Decatur (Ala.) Daily has announced it will be printed on the 12-year-old press in the TimesDaily plant in Florence, beginning with the Oct. 19 edition. The papers' owner, Tennessee Valley Printing Co. Inc., acquired the TimesDaily from The New York Times Co. six months ago.

Inserting equipment in Decatur will be moved to the Florence plant.

Rerporting that TVP will lay off 12 full-time workers in Decatur and seven more in Florence, the Daily quotes General Manager Clint Shelton saying the the cuts are being made "to eliminate duplicate or unnecessary positions and streamline the organization in order to remain competitive and position us to take advantage of opportunities going forward."

Among those opportunities its lists TNValleyWheels.com and TNValleyHomeFinder.com, and a new customer-service call center in Decatur that will take TimesDaily calls formerly routed to a center in the Philippines.

Approximately two-thirds of the job losses arise from operations consolidation, with the balance attributed to "technology or lack of revenue to justify those positions," according to Shelton.

TVP Operations Director Scott Brown said the Florence press will provide better print quality and more color positions for advertisers than Decatur's 45-year-old machine.