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Wednesday, June 20, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The people behind The Nugget...
Every Tuesday night, a
hardworking crew unloads
some 7,500 newspapers from
a Ford van, stack the bundles
in the lobby at The Nugget,
and get to work.
They are the inserting crew
— the people who put the
Ray’s Food Place and Bi-Mart
and other inserts into the
papers readers receive in their
mailbox or pick up around
town on Wednesday.
A total of 6,900 papers
receive inserts. The crew
labels them for various postal
routes or for the around town
papers, bundle them back up
and reload the Nugget van
for the run to the post office
on Tuesday night. It usually
takes about 2-1/2 hours to get
the job done. The inserters are
paid a flat piecework amount
per insert, so the quicker they
work, the better the hourly
rate becomes. But they are
efficient more out of pride
in their work than out of any
financial incentive.
“It’s hard work,” says
Nugget Editor in Chief Jim
Cornelius, who also delivers
the papers. “There’s a lot of
lifting and carrying involved,
and they keep up a good
pace, which I appreciate a
lot, ’cause it keeps me from
being out too late on Tuesday
night.”
The core crew consists of
Debbie Slater, Totsy Swartz,
Sally Blust, Kelly Webb and
Denice Cristiano. Occasional
substitutes or additions come
in as needed, depending on
scheduling and the number of
inserts in a given week.
Most of the crew has been
at it for years.
Slater, the defacto crew
chief, says she’s been insert-
ing “for a long, long time. It
must be 20 years, I guess.”
She’s an invaluable con-
tributor, according to Teresa
Mahnken, who schedules the
crew.
“What would we do with-
out you if you weren’t here?”
she said to Slater.
What would keep some-
one coming back week in and
week out to sling newspapers?
I love the people.
I like the physical-ness
of the work. It keeps
me young — that’s it!
— Sally Blust
“I like the work; I like the
company,” Slater said. “We
have a good time. I don’t
know what to do on a Tuesday
night.”
The camaraderie of the
crew is the common theme
amongst all the inserters:
Inserting Crew
They simply enjoy each oth-
er’s company.
“It’s fun,” said Sally Blust,
who’s been inserting for
more than 10 years. “I
love the people. I like
the physical-ness of
the work. It keeps me
young — that’s it!”
The work may
be physical and the
pace is quick —
but that doesn’t
interfere with
the chatter. It is
well understood
that, between
them, the insert-
ing crew “knows
everything” that
is going on in
Sisters. And they
talk about it.
“ We g o s s i p , ”
Slater cheerfully
acknowledged. “What’s
said at The Nugget stays at
The Nugget.”
“That’s not actually a prin-
ciple that fits very well with a
newspaper,” Cornelius joked.
“Maybe that’s why they clam
up when I come in…
“Seriously,” he said, “this
is an important job, and the
people who do it have to be
reliable. It’s a remarkable
crew, a great group of people,
and we’re very fortunate that
they come in and just get it
done week after week.”
The crew is supportive of
each
o t h e r,
both on the
floor and in their
outside lives. Webb suffered
severe injuries in a motorcy-
cle accident and got through
that and other hard times with
the support of her friends.
And despite her injuries, she
returned as soon as she could
to rejoin them at work.
PHOTO BY
JIM CORNELIUS
The Nugget inserting crew
gets it done each week.
The all-for-one-one-for-all
camaraderie plays out every
week.
“Nobody’s done till we’re
all done,” Slater said.
Now you can help The Nugget
continue its journalistic mission
The Nugget
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PHOTO BY GARY MILLER