Why would somebody in Honduras care if a person in Maine didn’t receive the morning newspaper?

Because they’re getting paid to care, of course.

For the past couple of weeks, callers to the MaineToday Media circulation department have reached a call center in Honduras. According to several sources, MaineToday (owners of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel) abruptly closed its local circulation operation last month. I haven’t been able to determine how many people lost their jobs, but the sources agree the work is being outsourced through a company in Florida that contracts with or owns (accounts vary) the call center in Central America.

There’s a certain irony here, considering the column that appeared in the Press Herald last March by Bill Nemitz bemoaning a state government decision to award a contract for transcription services for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to a company that used workers in India, instead of a business based in this state.

Al Diamon can be emailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.

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