The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is Atlanta, Georgia’s major daily newspaper, formed by the 1982 merger of two independent newspapers that had each been publishing since the late 1800s. The AJC is committed to informing and empowering readers with real, rigorous, in-depth journalism.
When the Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series, the city came out to celebrate. Fans lined the streets to watch the parade and filled Truist Park to see and hear from their favorite players. Meanwhile, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution decided to create special sections of the newspaper dedicated to the World Series–winning season.
“Initially we intended to just provide the special sections to our subscribers and make single copies available for sale at some brick-and-mortar retail outlets,” says Todd Cribb, senior manager of operations for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But demand was outrageous. Customers were waiting in line for hours to buy them, and the retail outlets sold out very quickly.”
When the newspaper realized how high the demand was, management decided to sell additional copies online. “We had never sold sections online before,” Cribb says. “The next challenge was: How do we deliver a large volume of one-off publications?”
“The Braves winning the World Series was a big win for Atlanta, and our partnership with Pitney Bowes Presort Services is a big win for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”
The newspaper offered multiple editions, each with a different page count. People ordered various numbers of copies, ranging from one to more than 10. And although many orders came from Georgia, some came from elsewhere, including locations around the world. Fulfillment was time-sensitive, and Cribb’s operations group was concerned about getting the thousands of orders to customers in a timely manner.
Launching the online order form opened the floodgates: The Journal-Constitution received around 6,000 orders in the first night alone. “We needed an alternative solution for these mailings,” he says. “Our staff typically does not handle applying stamps to envelopes. And we had a very quick turnaround to get the process set up and orders delivered to our customers.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out to Pitney Bowes Presort Services. “Pitney Bowes advised us on our mailing options,” Cribb says. “We decided to send the sections as Marketing Mail® parcels. It took about three days to get the account set up and prefunded with postage.” At that point, as orders came in, staff prepared parcels for mailing and affixed labels, then called Pitney Bowes to pick up, commingle and send.