Via Drudge: Time Inc. Fires Mailroom Staff By Seth Sutel AP Business Writer Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001; 6:27 p.m. EDT

NEW YORK –– Time Inc., a major magazine publisher, abruptly fired all of its mailroom staff Thursday and announced that an outside firm was hired to deliver all mail and packages.

Time Inc. spokesman Peter Costiglio said the move had nothing to do with the anthrax cases that have prompted mailrooms across the nation, especially at news organizations, to revamp security procedures for handling mail. He said the move had been in the works for months and was motivated by cost considerations.

Time Inc., like other news organizations, suspended mail delivery on Friday after NBC announced that one of its employees had contracted anthrax through a letter addressed to news anchor Tom Brokaw. Since then a CBS employee and the infant son of an ABC news producer have also been diagnosed with anthrax, an unspecified amount of people from Archer Management Services, a mailroom outsourcing company.

The Newspaper Guild, which had many members among those fired Thursday, denounced the move. Barry Lipton, head of the union's New York office, called the move "ludicrous," and added that the "timing is unfortunate, to put it too mildly."

Costiglio said the company didn't feel that the timing would cause concern among its employees.

"We told our staff of the change and the reasons behind it. Given Archer's expertise with mail there isn't any cause for concern," he said.

Time Inc., a division of media conglomerate AOL Time Warner Inc., is one of the largest magazine publishers in the country with titles that include Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated and People.

© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Answers

Yeh right.. It sounds like they are trying to limit any liability if someone sends them an anthrax letter. The new firm would have to handle the liability not Time Inc.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Sounds right to me Beckie, also they would be cutting down on the chance of their mail room becoming contaminated. That might close their business down for a while, for testing and what ever else that would have to be done.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001