Week of March 27, 2025

From the publisher’s desk

As I type this, 25,000 copies of our April print edition are sitting at The Generator in Sparks. They arrived earlier today, after being trucked 440 miles from our printer in Las Vegas.

Tomorrow morning, most of our amazing distribution drivers will meet with Rick Beckwith, our circulation lead, to get their papers; they’ll then go their separate ways, traveling to 700 or so locations across Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Sun Valley, Lemmon Valley, Gardnerville, Minden, Verdi, Truckee and all around Lake Tahoe, where they’ll drop off anywhere from five to 270 copies per location for you, dear readers, to pick up and enjoy.

Some of those papers are placed on counters or tables, or at the end of bars, or on the shelves of shared distribution racks. In a couple of places, they’re even placed on top of trash receptacles—not ideal, but, hey, whatever it takes. In many places, our print edition is placed on one of our signature red wire racks, or inside one of our red outdoor boxes.

Those racks and boxes mean a lot to us at the RN&R. They represent the moment when all of the work we do—writing, reporting, photographing, designing, doing layout, etc.—finally gets into the hands of our print edition readers.

While these racks and boxes have a lot of meaning to us, unfortunately, a lot of folks disrespect them. Even though they’re property, with value (given the price of metal and transportation these days, trust me: they’re EXPENSIVE to replace), they’re discarded and abused with disconcerting frequency.

It’s not only vandals and thieves who disregard the boxes and racks; it’s often professionals. Like the person who threw away our box that was outside the Dollar Tree at Seventh Street and McCarran Boulevard in Northwest Reno. Or the Natural Grocers employee who chucked our red rack when the store moved from one side of Kietzke Lane to the other. Or the manager at Sierra Trading Post who threw away our rack for no good reason, and didn’t return our messages when we asked why.

So, here’s my plea to everyone: Please respect our red boxes and racks. If there’s one that requires repair, or needs to be removed, call or email us. But please, don’t damage, vandalize or steal them. Please don’t throw them away. They’re not only expensive; they’re the thing that allows our print readers to finally partake in everything the RN&R offers.

Whether you usually read us online, or in print, or both: Thank you for doing so.

Cheers,

—Jimmy Boegle, publisher/executive editor