I’ve seen a lot of changes in the newspaper industry during my 22-plus years as a reporter.

We were still typing stories on typewriters when I was attempting to learn the trade at IUPUI back in the early 1980s. In fact, my first job was at The Banner in Brownstown, and we typed our stories on typewriters for a few months before computers were introduced.

Back in those days, we only ran color photographs for special occasions, and we still used film to record images. The move to digital photography sure was great because you generally didn’t have to worry about whether or not you actually had something when you returned to the office after an assignment. I sure blew a couple before that time by taking photos without having film in the camera.

Another big change came about when we quit cutting and pasting stories on pages and began paginating those same pages on computers. For some of us that led to a move away from reporting and more time working on pages.

There sure where some struggles in the early days of pagination when computers systems were sometimes not up to the task of producing pages consistently.

Now most of the rough spots have been rounded off.

None of the changes I’ve seen may be as big as the one we just went through here at The Tribune.

On Friday, we printed the last newspaper in this building. From here on out, The Tribune will be published at The Republic’s printing center at Walesboro. The Republic already prints many other daily papers and it just makes sense that central printing locations can do a more efficient job.

The move also means a shift in deadlines and a change in the hours most of us in the newsroom work. It also means less people are working at our plant and made for a quite Monday morning as I began my day.

I believe most of the changes over the years have been good. They’ve generally made life a little easier although they’ve meant learning different ways of doing things. They’ve also meant a better end product in my book.

I don’t see any reason why the most recent change would be any different in the long run. Besides that I think the day may be coming when newspapers when only be available on-line. At one point, I didn’t think that would happen before I retired. I’ve now changed my thinking. It may be sooner rather than later.