Transcontinental shuts down printing press in Corner Brook
Katherine Hobbs | CBC News | Posted: April 12, 2016 11:30 PM | Last Updated: April 12, 2016
In this digital age, companies don't depend on printed materials, says manager
TC Transcontinental has stopped production at its Union Street plant in Corner Brook saying there's not enough demand to keep two commercial printing operations open in the province.
General manager Chester Lawrence said in this digital age, companies don't have to depend on printed materials.
"Businesses now get their message out in a different way — they have web pages, social media, so that led to a decline in the number of brochures and print work that they would require," said Lawrence.
"Local business, as well, kind of tightened up a little bit with the economy now — and for some time now there has been a decline in print."
Changing times
Lawrence told CBC's Corner Brook Morning Show that neither the St. John's or Corner Brook operations were running at full capacity. All printing is now being done in St. John's.
Corner Brook production ended on March 31.
"It's basically a business decision that had to be made and was really a hard decision to make, it was evaluated for a long time and lots of thought went into this, and unfortunately that's the way it went," he said.
"All businesses need continued investment and there comes to a time I guess, when you measure your investment and what you're going to get in return on your investment."
He said four full-time and one part-time position were lost by the shutdown and the company is presently dealing with new job placements and severance package discussions.
A couple of people remain on staff to coordinate the work into the St. John's plant, said Lawrence, but they will be moving to the Western Star newspaper office.
Transcontinental publishes the Star, the St. John's Telegram and a string of regional weekly newspapers in Newfoundland and Labrador.
As for the effect on customers, he said the only change is location.
"They'll just come see the same staff, place the same orders and we'll process it," said Lawrence.
He said while the newspaper industry isn't as strong as it used to be, he doesn't foresee any other operational changes in the near future.