Mayor Ken McClure sent a letter to Springfield News-Leader Midwest President of Sales Allen Jones earlier this year regarding neighborhood complaints about delivery of the AdScene, which is a free News-Leader publication. Below is the letter from McClure, along with the response from Jones on how to opt out of delivery of the publication.
Dear Mr. Jones,
It is my understanding that Gannett – Missouri Publishing, Inc. is the publisher of the AD Scene, a free periodical that is delivered door-to-door in Springfield weekly. Over the years, the City has received numerous complaints from citizens who do not wish to receive it. I have personally received several complaints directly over the past few months. Delivery has gone from being merely a nuisance in a yard each week to now where copies are frequently thrown into the street. On arrival home from City Council meeting on Monday evening I found my copy in the street in front of my house, with similar treatment of my neighbors on either side of me. Wednesday afternoon I picked up ten additional copies thrown into the street as I walked in my neighborhood. Several residences had multiple copies still in their yards.
I would like to make two requests: 1) please provide a convenient and well-publicized means for residents to opt-out of delivery, and, 2) at a minimum, the publication should be thrown into the yard or driveway of the residence and not into the street.
City staff will follow up with you within a week if we have not heard from you. We are happy to help publicize the opt-out solution as well.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this. We appreciate the fine work the Springfield News-Leader to keep our citizens informed.
Sincerely,
Ken McClure
Response
Ken,
I appreciate you reaching out to me directly regarding challenges you and others are experiencing with ADscene.”Haphazard” delivery of the product is unacceptable and I appreciate your willingness to partner on solutions. It is our expectation that the product is delivered into yards and that each and every home that does not want the product be promptly removed from delivery. Our distribution team receives multiple requests each week to add or remove addresses and is constantly updating the list and spot checks routes for accuracy.
To your question on “opt-out” options, the phone number and email to use are below:
Phone: 417-836-1106 (must leave the address on the message with request to cease delivery of AdScene to the address)
Email: Austing@ansnewspapers.com
I’m committed to doing a full review of the ADscene product with the team in Springfield to ensure it is living up to its original intent to bring value to the community. I’d time to conduct an audit (from production/content to delivery) and would be happy to have a deeper conversation regarding actions we’ll be taking in the short/long term to address the concerns you’ve brought forward after digging in a bit more.
Allen Jones