The San Francisco Examiner didn’t publish a newspaper on Tuesday, Veteran’s Day. The staff at the Chronicle discovered this fact after searching unsuccessfully all over town for a copy of the paper. The Chron’s Marisa Lagos writes:

Executive Editor Jim Pimentel [pictured], reached in Denver (where the Examiner’s parent company is headquartered) graciously explained that we are, in fact, not insane.

“We’re a 21st century newspaper and we produce a paper based on our readers’ needs,” he said. “We decided not to print on certain holidays when the readership is low, and this is one of them.”

Pimentel also pointed out that we’re not quite as diligent as we’d like to think (our words, not his) — the Examiner also skipped production on Labor Day, but we apparently were too busy taking that holiday off to notice.

It’s not a cost-saving measure, he added.

“We produce based on readership needs, and they’re not high on day like today,” he said.

As for upcoming holidays? Pimentel promised a paper on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but said the 2009 holiday schedule is still being finalized. And he said that it’s not just the crazy City by the Bay: the Washington D.C. and Baltimore Examiners also took today off.