The Globe Sacks Its Delivery Company

Photo by jtu on Flickr/Creative Commons

The Boston Globe is parting ways with its home delivery company less than three months after a disastrous rash of disruptions that led to the paper’s editorial staff delivering papers themselves.

The Globe has cut ties with ACI Media Group (ACI) of Long Beach, California, following the company’s botched takeover of routes from the paper’s last delivery company, Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. (PCF) in late December. Globe officials have said the move was aimed at cutting cost and preventing future cancellations.

The broadsheet’s management had given roughly half of its routes back to PCF in January, the Globe reports, yet delivery problems persisted on ACI’s turf. Peter Doucette, the Globe‘s vice president of consumer sales and marketing, said ACI’s negotiated exit was finalized Monday morning.

“It was a mutual agreement,” Doucette told the Globe. “Both companies thought the best approach would be to part our ways.”

Despite the “a fair number of cancellations” caused by the messy switch, the Globe boasts 115,000 daily subscribers and 205,000 on Sunday, as of January. The transition back to PCF should be complete by Monday.