D C Thomson have printed the magazines and books at the Guthrie Street printworks since I was a wee lass. Their range of comics and magazines includes The Beano and The People's Friend.
This week they have announced they are closing the plant - with the loss of up to 350 jobs - and said the company's newspapers, including the Sunday Post, will not be affected as they are printed at a separate site in the city. A spokesman said the proposed changes were needed to ensure a strong future for the business. No decision has yet been taken on where magazines and books will be printed in the future.
D C Thomson & Co Ltd is a family-run company and employs more than 2.000 people. As well as its three Dundee sites it has offices in Glasgow, Manchester and London. The firm produces more than 100 million copies of its newspapers, books, annuals, magazines and comics each year.
This is sad news for Dundee, but I'm quite sure D C Thomson will have looked at the overall future of their business thoroughly. Not only are they a big employer in the city but they are also very aware of their social responsibilities to Dundee's population. I'm sure this decision was the best of a list of options even though it does mean job losses. Digital technology is making its mark on the print industry.
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14 comments:
Is it a failure to move with the times? I'm sure kids and teens are still buying plenty of print - but very different stuff from 30 years ago.
Sad news for those involved anyway.
It does undermine their 'Jobs for Dundee' campaign that they launched just before the General Election.
to be fair to D.C.T, they have been a robust investor in new media in Dundee through their unwavering support for Scotland On Line (now called BrightSolid) for some 17 years. I believe this year is the first year where this company will report a profit. There are few other businesses which will keep a subsidiary trading (and thus keep jobs and create new ones) for that length of time.
No it's no failure to move with the times Wryd. Strangely enough kids here still read the Beano etc., so it will continue to be printed although possibly in the main print shop.
It is sad for Dundee though because D C Thomson is a main employer and highly respected in the city. Everyone knows someone who works there. As I said D C Thomson will do everything they can to help the redundant workers and the Scottish government are involved too.
I don't recall that voterinscotland, although there was a local campaign regarding jobs in the digital gaming industry if I remember.
Jings Andrew, Scotland on Line was my first ISP and I think I must have been theirs - back around 1992 or 93 it was. I left because it became too fragmented and the service was variable. Much as I wanted to support a local company they had difficulties even then coping with the 'bog boys'.
Indeed, D C Thomson is a very well respected employer.
yes SR, jings crivvens and help ma boab indeed. We may in fact have spoken all those years ago as I had some involvement with moving Taynet into SoL and getting it off the ground.
What a shame. These are the small/medium businesses that government should be supporting, not the banks.
I haven't seen comics like the Beano for years!
My mum used to get us kids The Bean, Dandy, Topper and Beezer every week. She said they encouraged us read.
A worrying feature of this is that it is in so many middling or smaller towns that there seems to be an attrition of industrial and such jobs.
No fun for anyone losing a job in these times.
Will they reject his CV
Jings Andrew, you've just reminded me - taynet was my first ISP then it moved to SoL and I wasn't too happy. Mind you, SoL kept the taynet address for some time if I remember. I even remember the address - was a simple one.
Aye, those were the days. I didn't have one friend in UK with an email address so family in Canada regularly got bombarded!
28 modem too and a Mac which took over a minute to load a webpage.
I was lucky too Sue. We had family who worked there and we got every comic and magazine going in our house. The Judy and the Bunty were the girls' ones.
Dundee is an industrial city as you know Demetrius. The culture revolves round the industries and they've struggled for years now to adapt to 'modernisation'.
I'm sure D C Thomson have given very careful consideration to their decision.
Had to laugh with MacGuire saying he's 'fizzing'. Don't think he realises what that means here.
Thanks for the link CH, good of you.
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