NEWSRACK MANUFACTURERS CODE

A decade ago, the number was 1,401 In New York, where the Department of Transportation regulates the boxes, there were 10,000 registered this year, the city says.

NEWSRACK MANUFACTURERS CODE

Given the state of newspaper boxes in those cities, it's no surprise that publications are shifting strategy or shuttering altogether: In Philadelphia, where city code requires licenses for the boxes, there were 527 of them this year, the city says. This month, Seattle Weekly, in red metal boxes, reportedly laid off nearly a third of its employees because of costs.

Days later, the Village Voice, which in New York City is made available in red plastic boxes, announced it had a new owner. In October, Philadelphia City Paper, which was available free of charge in orange metal boxes, went out of print. Those cities, like others across the country, are all trying to figure out what to do with their newspaper boxes (sometimes called newspaper vending machines, newspaper racks, newsracks or honor boxes). In recent months, changes in print journalism markets hit New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle. Sometimes made of metal, other times of plastic, some coin-operated or chained to street signs, the boxes tell a story of a changing industry in which consumers of news now carry around iPhones instead of coins and publications get thinner and thinner until they disappear. Newspaper boxes are ubiquitous along city streets, so it's easy to forget they're there.

Newsrack manufacturers