With today’s edition, we’re realigning the distribution of our papers to better match up with the community where you live. The changes primarily affect two areas:
- If you have a Lutz address and live in Pasco County, beginning today you will receive The Lutz News instead of The Land O’ Lakes/Lutz edition of The Laker. These families live north of County Line Road and south of State Road 54. At the same time, our 45 business locations and boxes on the south side of State Road 54 in Pasco County now will be stocked with The Lutz News.
- If you have a Land O’ Lakes address and have been receiving the Wesley Chapel/New Tampa edition of The Laker, beginning today you will receive the Land O’ Lakes edition of The Laker. These families live north of State Road 54 along Wesley Chapel Boulevard in the subdivisions of Stagecoach Village, The Enclave and Cypress Estates.
People who live in Grand Oaks, who also have a Land O’ Lakes address, will continue to receive our Wesley Chapel edition because of their close proximity to the Interstate 75/Wesley Chapel community.
We view these changes as course corrections to our distribution, which will allow us to publish, more precisely, news stories pertinent to where you live. This means readers living south of State Road 54 now will receive more news about their hometown of Lutz, and readers living north of State Road 54 will receive more news about their hometown of Land O’ Lakes.
Welcome New Readers
In addition to adjusting these boundaries, this week we’re also welcoming several new areas to our home delivery.
In Wesley Chapel, we now deliver to families living in Estancia and and in the Silver Leaf area of Seven Oaks. In Lutz, we are welcoming families in Long Lake Ranch.
In Land O’ Lakes, we have increased home delivery in Ballantrae, have added The Woodlands and also have added two subdivisions in Connerton — Taylor Morrison’s Gardenia Glenn and Homes by WestBay.
Our new home delivery totals 1,000 households — an astounding, one-week increase in circulation, especially when contrasted to daily newspapers that regularly report double-digit circulation losses.
Adding in our East Pasco circulation, The Laker/Lutz News is now delivered to 44,800 homes and businesses. Surprising to many, 86 percent of our newspapers are delivered directly to single-family homes in Lutz, Land O’ Lakes and Wesley Chapel.
Advertisers and readers both want home delivery — the more we have, the better we can serve our community with news, human interest stories and information you don’t find anywhere else.
My staff never worries if we’re going to be around in five, 10 or 25 years. We know we will be, because you confirm it every week with your loyal readership.
In our market area, eight out of 10 households read The Laker/Lutz News every week. According to research conducted by the company that audits our circulation, it doesn’t get much better than 81 percent household penetration in a suburban area like ours.
We’re told that we’re one of the best-read community newspapers in North America. Your loyal readership makes that so.
It is also the reason why we have advertisers whose revenue pays for the expenses of printing and delivering a 24-page, free newspaper to your home 52 times a year. Our advertisers understand that no other advertising medium connects them to you better, or more cost effectively, than The Laker/Lutz News.
So thank you for caring about what’s going on in your community, for sharing our stories with others, and most of all, for your loyal readership and appreciation of our work.
You are the reason why we have the resources to grow our circulation to reach new residents who are making our community their home.
Published June 29, 2016
