Two of Britain's last remaining genuine evening newspapers - the News & Star in Carlisle and its Barrow stablemate, the North West Evening Mail - are to switch to overnight printing.
The initiative will enable their publisher, the CN Group, to piggyback on national morning paper distribution, so most of the company's 29 van drivers are likely to be made redundant.
Local newsagents will be relieved too. They have been finding it difficult to recruit delivery boys and girls for evening rounds.
Robin Burgess, chief executive of the family-owned business, believes the move will give the newsprint papers "a longer shelf life... in difficult times."
He has admitted to a degree of sadness, not least because several of the drivers have been with the firm for many years.
According to the last audited circulation figures, the two editions of the Carlisle title jointly sold an average of 12,406 copies in the first half of this year (down 12% on the same period in 2013).
And the Barrow title sold an average of 10,713 a copy in the six months up to June, down 8.7% on last year.
Comment: Anyone who knows Burgess will be aware that he will not have taken this decision lightly. But a small family business cannot buck the market trend.
His newspapers, like others across the country, have been hit by a combination of falling circulation and decreasing advertising volume as more and more people seek their news and ads on the net.
By cutting his distribution costs, he will make savings that will prevent the need to cut editorial budgets.
He can take heart from the fact that research has shown that the move from on-the-day to overnight printing by almost all evening titles has not made that much difference to sales.
It has not stemmed decline, of course, but the rate of that decline has been about the same as before the switches.
But think of this. In Barrow-in-Furness, with a population of 69,000, it is remarkable that a paper is still attracting more than 10,000 buyers a day.
Compare that with the city of Brighton, boasting a population of 250,000, where its morning-published former evening title, The Argus, is selling just 14,000 copies a day (down almost 14% year-on-year).
Research some four years ago also showed that the Barrow title has more readers per copy than the national average.
So Burgess and his family concern have surely been doing something right down the years, have they not?
Sources: HoldTheFrontPage/Private information
