YAKIMA—After 38 years of publication, the Penny Press will print its last issue May 12 – a victim of the economy.

M&P Publishing LLC purchased the free Yakima shopper paper from Shields Bag and Printing in 2007 and planned to use the printing operation as a base for papers belonging to Yakima Valley Newspapers LLC of Toppenish, according to spokesman Mike Lindsey.

“At the time of purchase, Yakima Valley Newspapers printed several papers at a printing plant in Sunnyside and the thinking was that these papers could be brought ‘in-house’ for production thus saving outside printing costs,” he said.

Lindsey said shortly after the purchase the economy started to falter and printing and advertising revenue declined to the point that publication had to cease.

The Toppenish papers – Review Independent, Viva and Yakima Valley Business Journal will continue, he said.

M&P Publishing (Penny Press) discontinued the printing operation in 2008 and now prints on the Yakima Herald press.

“Numbers show a steady drop in both classified and display advertising. In 2007, classified liner ads averaged 600 per week and dropped to 150 new weekly ads in 2011 while display advertising went from $660,000 down to $153,000 annually,” Lindsey explained, and continued, “we tried to save the company with cost reductions going from 15 full time employees and $500,000 payroll down to two full time and three part times employees and a payroll of $106,000.” 

The automotive industry and related businesses advertised heavily in the Penny Press but those ads became fewer and fewer after the ‘Cash for Clunkers’, government bailout of manufactures and lack of financing by banks. The same holds true for the real estate and construction sector, Lindsey said.

Also contributing to a business decline is the extreme competitiveness and highly discounted advertising costs for other publications, radio and television spots and many local businesses using Tri-Cities media instead of Yakima media. A shift towards Internet web advertising and Craig’s List hurt the classified liners, he continued.

The final Penny Press circulated 20,000 copies from Cle Elum to Tri-Cities at 800 locations. “We tried everything we could to keep it going but after losing several hundred thousand dollars over four and one half years we had to stop,” he continued.

“Advertisers always said their Penny Press ads worked well. It’s a heck of a thing to be 72-years-old having put all our savings into a business that looked so promising only to lose it ,” Lindsey concluded.