Two months ago we celebrated the incredible milestone of gifting this community with 2 million newspapers, and since then we have given away over 130,000 more. It means more to us than anyone will ever know that we can serve our community in this way. For over three years now, the Oceana Echo and, for almost three years, the White Lake Mirror have faithfully come to your doorstep every Friday, and we are cementing a legacy that can never be forgotten.
Providing almost 15,000 newspapers to Oceana and Muskegon counties each week does not come without cost, and we are eternally grateful to the many donors, advertisers and municipalities who have helped us keep the presses rolling for 37 months now.
For the first year we were in business, we heard many people ask if or when we would switch from a free model to a paid model, and we kept saying, and still stand by, that we are going to keep our paper free for as many as we can for as long as we can. And while we are announcing a slight change in model today, the most important thing you need to know is - that's not changing! The paper remains free. We are slightly tweaking, though, our delivery process.
In short, if you have been receiving the paper each week for free - readers in Hart, Shelby, Pentwater, Walkerville, New Era, Hesperia, Rothbury and Montague - you can continue to do so. All that we will require is you contacting us with your name and address. It's that simple! No catches, no costs.
Even better, readers on the Whitehall postal route will be able to begin receiving the paper for free by signing up, too. We know many of our readers south of the bridge have wanted to receive the paper, and that day is here!
To this point, as you know, every household in our delivery area has received the paper each week. By asking you, our readers, to sign up, we can lower our printing costs by not delivering copies to addresses that don't express a desire to receive it. We know that not literally every household in our delivery area wants a newspaper in their mailbox each week, and if you don't, no hard feelings.
If you're wondering why we're making these changes, it's due to some recent increases in our costs. Our printing costs increased earlier this year, the first such increase since we started. And the United States Postal Service is raising mailing rates beginning next Monday. In tandem, these changes have increased our costs, which were already several thousand dollars each week, by hundreds of dollars more. Paired with a sharp recent decrease in donations, we've been forced to consider making changes without compromising the quality of what our readers see each Friday.
For those of you who choose to sign up, very little will change. Your newspaper will still come to you on Friday, but now with your address printed on the front page.
This new model does have perks! It opens the door for P.O. box holders and businesses, who didn't receive copies under the Every Door Direct Mailing system we have been using, to sign up and receive the paper. If you live outside of the area where these post offices deliver, then you are still asked to subscribe for $6.25 per month. International delivery rates are also available.
We do kindly ask that those who request the paper please consider donating. Through our Lead this Legacy campaign, which we launched in 2024, we have been able to raise enough to cover 3 ½ months of expenses. For us to break even each year, we would only need 20% of the homes that currently receive the paper to donate $100 each year, along with the income from our advertisers and local municipalities. Every dollar that comes in to our paper goes right back into this community and helps us to deliver quality, local news to your door.
Starting in August, we will systematically begin to reduce the number of EDDM routes we deliver to, but as long as readers have signed up to continue to receive the Echo and Mirror, then there will be no break in your service. On the first Friday of September, which is Sept. 4 this year, we will have stopped all EDDM deliveries and will be fully on the new model, giving our readers time to make this switch over this summer.
We anticipate that our advertisers and municipalities will still reach thousands of homes each week, far more than any other print newspaper in the county. Also, we have not raised our advertising rates since August 2025, and by switching to this new model, we don’t anticipate needing to any time soon.
We hear so many wonderful compliments all the time about how much the Echo and Mirror mean to this area, and we know our phone is going to be ringing off the hook. We are excited for that! Please call us at 231-301-8149 to sign up to continue to receive your free newspaper, to subscribe if you are out of area, to donate, or to send us a story idea. If you need to leave a message, please provide your name, address, email and phone number for our records and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
You can also visit our online sign up at this link: tinyurl.com/kh9c7rrw. We will also have the link posted on our Facebook page and our website for your convenience.
