Since the pandemic started and the stay-at-home order from Governor Brad Little last week, many people have lost their jobs. Last week, Idaho workers who lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 coronavirus file 13,341 new claims for unemployment insurance, according to the Idaho Department of labor. That’s a 1,200% increase.
With so many workers laid off, local businesses are also having a hard time selling products. Adams Publishing Group decided to help both the local businesses and keep their readers informed about what businesses and services are still available. They have decided to give free advertisements to local businesses which remain open during the stay home order.
“We want to do everything that we can at this time to support them (clients),” Travis Quast, the regional president and publisher of Adams Publishing Group in East Idaho and Utah, said.
There are also a lot of people who aren’t sure what businesses are open during this time, so this will also be beneficial to the public. The newspapers that will advertise for free in the local community are: The Rexburg Standard Journal, Idaho State Journal, Post Register and The Herald Journal.
“There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding maybe about what is open and what is not and businesses that are allowing curbside pickup or delivery or take out, things like that,” Quast said.
This idea came about when Adam’s Publishing learned that another type of company was going to be doing something similar. They decided to make it their own by doing free advertising to local businesses.
Even though they don’t know how long this will last, the company still wants to give a helping hand during these uncertain times. Quast said this will also help the economy once everything goes back to normal.
“I’ve never really experienced such a widespread impact on the economy,” he said.
The Adams Publishing Group is also experiencing the same type of hardship as other small businesses, Quast said.
“We’ve had to make some internal adjustments on scheduling hours for employees, things like that, but at this point you’ve kind of avoided any lay off, and looking to reduce schedules for this short term period,” he said.
Readers should be prepared to see more changes in their newspapers. One of the things readers will notice is how there is no sports section anymore since all of the schools are closed, but there will be short feature sections.
“We are anxious to kind of cycle through this process and kind of get us back to normal,” Quast said.
Get information about Adams Publishing Group.