Contemplating change is never easy, especially when it affects thousands of people and impacts habits developed over many years.

That certainly sums up our thought process as the leadership team weighed moving our delivery from the traditional system of newspaper carriers to begin partnering with the U.S. Postal Service.

If you are reading this, you probably know that soon your paper will be delivered in your mailbox rather than in your newspaper tube.

The bottom line is this decision was made to best serve our current — and future — customers. The distribution change will maximize efficiency as mail carriers already visit every house in our coverage area every day — rain, snow, heat, sleet or shine.

Our single goal is to better inform the public of everything that is going on in Albert Lea and the surrounding area.

With that in mind, the change to a nighttime production cycle and morning distribution will allow many subscribers to receive their newspaper earlier in the day. It also means people purchasing their newspaper at area gas stations and convenience stores can start their day with the Albert Lea Tribune.

The final component is the Tribune will move to a Saturday weekend edition, a change that takes effect May 6. Moving forward, we will distribute a weekend edition every Saturday. With that change, a few things in the paper will be moving around in the weekend editions. Sports pages are now at the end of the A section, and the B section includes Classifieds, education news, the weather, comics, horoscopes and Dear Abby. This change went into effect Sunday for the first time.

We certainly considered the impact this has on our newspaper carriers, many of whom have provided great service to Tribune readers for years. We appreciate all the hard work and everything they have done in getting the newspaper to our subscribers.

At the end of the day, best serving our readers topped all other considerations.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call, email or reach out to anyone on our staff.

The world is changing quickly, and all businesses must adapt, change and evolve. The newspaper industry and the Albert Lea Tribune are no different. Think back to how much has changed since the paper began in 1897. At one time, the Tribune printed two editions daily — one at 2 p.m. for the early train and one at 4 p.m. for the later trains and city subscribers. Now, it prints one edition six days a week, but with the print edition has come the web edition, which provides 24/7 news. The Tribune also produces Albert Lea magazine, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last fall, and the Early Edition, which is delivered weekly to residents in the area who do not subscribe.

Our goal remains the same as it has been for the past 120 years: to serve our community and provide the best source of information for Albert Lea and Freeborn County. The change is a critical part of being able to continue to do that for the next 120.