Books by Washington Post Employees Won’t Move to New Newsroom

The Washington Post’s collection of books written by its reporters won’t move to the news organization’s new headquarters. Researcher Magda Jean-Louis asked staffers in an email Monday to poke through the books and take any they wanted–“Whatever is not picked up by 6 tonight will be boxed up and donated tomorrow to Carpe Librum bookstore,” Jean-Louis wrote.

READ ALSO: A First Look Inside the Washington Post’s New Newsroom

On Facebook, Post senior editor at-large Ann Gerhart torched the decision: “shoving this body of work from the shelves makes me angry and sad, as if this extraordinary legacy is no longer valued,” she wrote, describing a scene Monday where “Several staffers were somberly picking thru the books.”

In other Post move news, HR VP Wayne Connell, who has previously advised employees to stop printing out so much crap, advised his colleagues of an important new perk in the new space: The Starbucks in the Crowne Plaza Hotel nearby will offer employees a 20 percent discount every time they visit. The only catch? They have to show the cashier the GuidePost app on their phones--an internal HR program that among other things, includes maps of the new offices.

"I take my latte with light foam, no whip," Connell advises anyone interested in saying thanks.

Here's Connell's memo about that sweet discount:

To All Post Employees,

So you know the Starbucks around the corner from our new building? The one that’s attached to the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1001 14th St. NW? Well, effective immediately, Post employees receive a 20% discount on every visit. Every time. Forever. All you have to do is show your GuidePost app to receive the discount. Admittedly, this is, at least in part, a cheap ploy to get you to download and use the app. But we are not above cheap ploys. Any assertion to the contrary is patently false.

You have Gigi Parsa to thank for this. Using a combination of ferocious negotiating skills and a few rudimentary scare tactics for good measure, Starbucks had no choice but to comply with her demands. Thank you, Gigi. To everyone else, I take my latte with light foam, no whip.

Best,

Wayne

Andrew Beaujon

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. His book A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War was published in 2018. He lives in Del Ray.