Cox Enterprises Files Notice of Layoffs in Smyrna

Cox Enterprises has filed paperwork with the Georgia Department of Labor indicating that it will lay off 102 employees from its Atlanta Journal Constitution home delivery distribution center in Smyrna.

In a letter sent to GDOL, a representative from Cox Enterprises said it “plans to outsource its home delivery distribution” beginning July 16. The distribution center is located in south Smyrna at 5000 Highland Parkway. 

Andy McDill, a Cox Enterprises media representative, explained the reason for the layoffs.

“In an effort to streamline our operations and circulation and distribution operation expenses we’ve made the business decision to outsource all our home delivery operations,” she said. “I don’t have the exact number on me, but I want to emphasize that this change has no impact on the content or the service that we’re providing to our subscribers and advertisers.”

McDill said employees currently employed at the home delivery distribution center will have the option to apply for jobs that they qualify for at the AJC.

He did not know how many of the distribution center’s employees were from Cobb County. The most recent preliminary unemployment rate for Smyrna was 8.5 percent for March 2012.

The GDOL layoff log also listed 150 AJC layoffs in Kennesaw, the location of the paper's north Cobb distribution center.