Heading for home: The Standard newspaper will remain in business but employees will work from home, office location will close at year’s end

New ownership business model, end of long-term lease factor into transition decision

For the first time since the first newspaper was established in Waukon nearly 170 years ago, there will not be an actual physical newspaper office location for the community publication as of January 1, 2026. As of that New Year date, employees of The Standard newspaper will be transitioned to working remotely from home and the long-standing newspaper office location at 15 First Street NW in Waukon will no longer be open for newspaper business operations.

The newspaper itself will remain in business, and readers will continue to receive their weekly editions of The Standard or Northeast Iowa Extra as if nothing has changed. The only major difference is the building that has housed the local newspaper since 1948 (see building cornerstone in photo above), when Louis and Leslie Hull first bought The Waukon Democrat and The Republican-Standard newspapers and opened their new office there, will no longer be the newspaper’s business location.

The decision is not one of moving backward, but instead designed to help the local newspaper continue to move forward in ever-changing times. Finger Publishing, Inc., the newspaper’s new ownership company since January 1, 2024, has been transitioning its more than one dozen publications to a work from home business model in an effort to find more efficiencies in business operations without impacting the quality of those publications.

The decision to make the transition to working from home as of the end of this calendar year also coincides with the end of a long-term lease agreement The Standard has had in place since its ownership company sold the building nearly a decade ago. The space occupied by The Standard newspaper on the first floor of the building has been much more than what the newspaper has actually needed in recent years, as over the past three decades the number of full-time, on-site staff members has dwindled from 10 to a current full-time staff of four due to technological advances and other efficiencies created within the ownership company network.

Rising costs in mailing and printing due to economic decisions being made on a much larger scale than locally, as well as economic impacts of local support also play a role in the decision made. Like any business, the local newspaper simply sometimes needs to make adjustments when opportunities present themselves to try and further secure and enhance its longevity and ability to continue to serve the community.

MUCH WILL STAY THE SAME
Although the absence of a physical office location will be a change, most everything else will remain the same in an effort to continue the newspaper’s mission of informing, educating and entertaining the public. Other operational aspects may involve some minor adjustments in order to keep them as part of the newspaper’s business operations.

The Standard’s telephone number (563-568-3431) will remain in place for business contact but will feature a menu system to direct calls to the proper department for improved customer service. The Standard’s website (www.waukonstandard.com) is also planned to undergo some upgrades to make it more user friendly and functional for online payments for a number of different services or aspects of business. The Standard’s mailing address will remain the same at its post office box, P.O. Box 286, Waukon, IA 52172.

Email addresses for the different departments within the newspaper’s operations will also continue to be the same, as follows:

• For display and Classifieds advertising or advertising inserts, email ads@waukonstandard.com;
• For job work and graphic design questions, email design@waukonstandard.com.
• For general news tips, story ideas or matters concerning content printed in The Standard newspaper, email news@waukonstandard.com;
• For Family & Health Page, Church News, Public Notices, as well as website content, email reports@waukonstandard.com;
• For Sports Page content, email sports@waukonstandard.com;

Plans are also being finalized for those who have purchased in-office pick-up subscriptions for earlier and more cost effective access to each week’s edition of The Standard, in order to still be able to offer that opportunity, although at a different location than The Standard office. Each of these in-office pick-up subscribers will receive more information within their newspapers they will pick up later in December.

Single copies of The Standard newspaper will also continue to be available for purchase at all the countersale locations the newspaper currently partners with to help disseminate each week’s news. Those countersale locations include Hartig Drug, Kwik Star, Casey’s General Store, Double D Liquor, Fareway, Dollar Fresh, Quillin’s and Huba Huba Convenience Store in Waukon, Casey’s General Store, Lansing IGA and Kwik Star in Lansing, and Barry’s Mini Mart and Portside One Stop in Harpers Ferry.

Although this transition to working from home will ultimately lead to the absence of a downtown business office location for the local newspaper for the first time since the first newspaper in Waukon was established in 1857, the transition being made will also ultimately help ensure that the local newspaper will remain for years to come.