CATSKILLS REGION — For generations, local newspapers have been found in local places.

Someone stops at a diner for breakfast and picks up a newspaper. A copy sits on the counter at a store. A customer notices the front page while waiting for an appointment.

Those places have always helped newspapers reach people.

We’re trying a new version of that relationship.

The Mountain Eagle is introducing an Affiliate Establishment program for businesses and organizations throughout the communities we serve. Participating locations will receive a small co-branded display with a QR code created specifically for them.

Someone who encounters the display can scan the code and subscribe to The Mountain Eagle directly through the establishment’s page on our website.

They can choose a $50 annual digital subscription or a $100 annual print subscription. If they prefer print, we’ll mail the newspaper directly to them each week.

The establishment doesn’t have to stock newspapers, collect money or manage subscriptions. We handle the payment, subscription and delivery.

When someone subscribes through an Affiliate Establishment, we pay that establishment $10.

The idea grew out of a change we’ve been making in how we think about newspaper distribution.

A traditional newsstand asks a local business to keep newspapers in stock, handle individual sales and deal with unsold copies. That made sense when buying a copy at the counter was one of the easiest ways to begin reading a newspaper.

There is now an additional option. A local business can still be the place where someone discovers The Mountain Eagle without having to become a print newspaper vendor. The website can handle the transaction, and we can mail the newspaper directly to readers who want a printed copy each week.

That leaves local establishments doing something they are already very good at: bringing people together.

We think they should share in the value created when that connection introduces someone to the newspaper.

The program also gives us another way to keep subscription revenue circulating through the communities that support us. A subscription discovered at a local diner doesn’t have to be valuable only to the newspaper. Some of that value can return to the place that helped create the relationship.

We don’t know yet how people will use the program. That’s part of introducing it.

Perhaps someone notices The Mountain Eagle while having breakfast. Someone else may encounter it at a museum, store or community organization. Some will choose the digital edition. Others will want the printed newspaper arriving in their mailbox every week.

The important part is that each of those relationships can begin in a real place in the community.

Businesses and organizations interested in becoming Mountain Eagle Affiliate Establishments can contact us to learn more.