The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-03-23
FORCE Is !.
INTEGRAL PART
IN CIRCULATION
This Department Is Fully
Equipped For Speed
And Efficiency

High speed printing presses would be
without adequate facilities for handling
the papers quickly and distributing
{ them to subscribers promptly under all
sorts of conditions so when The Age
Herald purchased its new equipment for
producing the paper in its new home,
ample provision was also made for their
distribution through the circulation de-
! partment.
As the distribution center from which
! thousands of papers are delivered every
/ day in the year to the subscribers, the
circulation departments thorough
! equipment is vital. 1t is the main point
I of contact with the men and women
who depend upon the paper they find
At their door in the morning or buy on
/ the street for information ON what has
been happening in their own city and
the whole world during the preceding
"a hours. This department assumes the
responsibility of completing the task of
the men and women who produce the
paper by insurins its prompt delivery
/ in even the most remote town or rural
community in the state.
A special stairway leads from Second
avenue, adjoining the main entrance to
The Age Herald building, to the circu-
. lationl department, which is on the same
/ level with the preSsroOm, SO arranged
that the papers are delivered within
reach of the circulation staff. Descend
ing these steps, one enters small ante
( room leading into the large room used
( as headquarters of the hundreds of
I newsboys who wait eagerly for their
papers as they are turned out by the
/ huge press, and rush with them into the
street so rapidly that the ink is hardly
dry before they are actually sold. As
the various editions are run off, they
return for new supply, always being
taken care of promptly.
Another room is arranged for the city
carriets who deliver papers to regular
subscribers. This room is in charge of
special members of the circulation staff
whose duty it is to see that every per-
son entitled to paper finds it wait
ing for him when he gets up i'll the
morning. Records of sales and accounts
are also kept in a large room. modern
office equipment being provided for this
purpose.
The mailing room ranks in import
ance with the other two. as its staff
must see that every subscriber and news
dealer in the state and elsewhere is
supplied with papers. The process of
iongrange distribution involves rushing
truckleads of papers from the presses
to waiting trains. First they are car
ried to the mailing room, where they
are packed into bundles labeled for in
diFidual towns. These bundles are then
placed in mail sacks and weighed by
the proper postoffice officials. Then
the sacks are carried by special con
reyors to the street level and loaded
into trucks that carry them to the sta
ton. One truckload after another is
handled in this way, and every train
leaving Birmingham after the first
edition is printed carries The Age
Herald to it's subscribers in all parts
of thescountry.
The speed which characterizes all
phases of newspaper production, from
the writing of thes.news Story to- the
printing of the complete paper is
equally characteristic of the depart
ment responsible for their dstrl .utien.
1t is as necessary to make certain
train with an edition as it is to make
an edition with story. While the
circulation department does its work in
"A business-like way, it must also do it
rapidly and the matter of speed has
been developed, into fine art