If you're reading this story early in the morning, it may mean the Newspaper Agency Corp. has recovered from Tuesday's printing problems.
Tuesday's metro edition of the Deseret Morning News, which goes primarily to Salt Lake and Davis counties, was the first daily run to be printed at the new $90 million NAC press facility in West Valley City.
But the press's inaugural run was far from smooth.
"We had some trouble in a couple of different areas," said Bob Burns, NAC's senior vice president for operations.
An entirely new production process, implementing new technology, operating a new press for the first time and a redesigned classified section all contributed to late papers, according to Burns, who along with about 50 NAC employees stayed on the job through the night.
"Everyone involved gave it a tremendous effort," Burns added.
Carriers, however, came up empty when they showed up early Tuesday to pick up papers that had not yet arrived on distribution docks.
The Morning News has a daily circulation of 75,000, but thousands of those papers were not delivered until late Tuesday or not at all. The Salt Lake Tribune also got caught up in the delays.
"Such problems are unfortunate but predictable, and the NAC, which prints the News and the Salt Lake Tribune, is striving hard to work out the glitches," said John Hughes, editor and chief operating officer of the Deseret Morning News. "Meanwhile, we are pleased with the improved printing quality of the new presses."
Harry Whipple, NAC president and CEO, offered apologies for delays with both papers.
"Although the first of three new presses had been tested and running for the past two weeks," he said Tuesday, "printing some of last night's classified sections and Salt Lake Valley editions of the newspapers were delayed due to mechanical and computer problems."
The newest press is the first of three, operated by the NAC, that will eventually print both papers exclusively in West Valley City. The facility there is replacing the longtime press operation in downtown Salt Lake City.
"We deeply regret Tuesday's inconvenience to some of our subscribers, and pledge to make every effort to ensure timely delivery as we commission each new press," Whipple added in a written statement.
Steve Gunn, NAC customer service manager, called Tuesday's ordeal a "horrendous mess," the worst he has seen in about 10 years.
"I don't remember when we've had this kind of a situation," Gunn said.
By about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Gunn's staff had received 1,189 calls — but about 700 were not answered because of the high volume of calls at once. Gunn expected 2,000 complaints of missing papers by the end of the day — a normal number of calls for one day is about 1,200.
There are no official plans, however, to do anything extra for subscribers or carriers who were affected by the long delays.
Gunn said the NAC sometimes negotiates with "very upset" customers, who may end up with a free paper or a week or two or papers at a reduced cost.
"We have to treat them very kindly and make sure they know we're trying to get their papers to them as quickly as possible," he added. "Normally, customers are very understanding."
Carriers are a different story.
"You plead with them and hope that they stay with you — and sometimes they don't," Gunn said.
On Tuesday, NAC district managers took over paper delivery for carriers who had school or other obligations, Gunn said.
Burns said the Tribune will be printed in West Valley City starting next month. In the meantime, Burns said the presses in Salt Lake City will be used to help print the Morning News to avoid any additional inconveniences to readers.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com