November 10, 2008 “Publisher Mark Zieman said the paper was looking into the possibility of selling, then leasing back the huge $200 million printing plant it began using a little over two years ago. ” -from Editor&Publisher

“Looking to the future I wish the Kansas City Star my best and thank them for taking us on a tour. I hope that their expanded capabilities in the new plant enhance the publication and its reach into the community.”

That’s what I wrote on September 24, 2007 after attending the International Newspaper Group annual conference held in Kansas City.  We were given a tour of this facility.  Very Impressive.  Very New. Very Clean. Very Modern.  But tell me what is the point of building a $200million dollar buggy whip factory?  When they gave us that tour, we were told that the presses were capable of printing and binding other periodicals besides newspapers.  What we apparently weren’t told was that no contracts for printing such things were ever signed.

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UGH!  The owners forgot my number one rule for economic sustainability:

• Gain an understanding of the NEEDS of your community of users (and write it down and drill it into everyone’s head that works for you)
• Relentlessly serve those unmet needs

This $200million “build it and hope they come” approach NEVER WORKS!!  Who funded this project?  Where was the due diligence?   Show me your systematic investigation of user behavior and demand that prove your printing plant was economically sustainable.  This approach goes against my second rule for ensuring economic sustainability which actually comes from Newspaper Next (2006):

• Invest a little to learn a lot (the fast paced arena of the new information paradigm demands this approach)

images courtesy of flickr