The McClatchy Company

The Seattle Times Co. says it plans to outsource its trucking operations and vehicle maintenance early next year, a move that will eliminate up to 80 company jobs. In a memo to supervisors recently, the Vice President said The Times signed a letter of intent to transfer those functions to Penske Logistics, a global transportation services company. The Times' truck fleet is aging and replacing it would cost $3 million. Other newspapers have saved money by outsourcing their trucking operations. The Times, like most other metropolitan dailies, has suffered from declining advertising revenues in recent years, and has made a number of moves to cut costs.