From my mailbox today:
August 27, 2008
Dear Subscriber,
As a subscriber who has chosen to pay for your subscription through our Easy Pay Plus plan, you are among our most valued subscribers and wisest readers. That is why we are writing you today to let you know about an upcoming change in our rates.
Effective September 29, 2008, your new rate will be $19.50 per month. That is an increase of less than four cents per day. While our Easy Pay Plus rate has not changed in over two and a half years, fuel costs have increased dramatically as you well know, as well as newsprint costs. We feel that it is appropriate to help our carriers offset these increased fuel costs and enable us to retain carriers who will provide good service to valued customers like you.
We know that you recognize the value and convenience of paying for your subscription with the most economical rate that we offer. We are equally sure that you recognize the value of the news and information, entertainment and many saving values found in the Journal Star everyday.
Thank you for continuing to be a loyal and valued Journal Star reader.
Sincerely,
Bruce Nielsen
Circulation Manager
Considering they put all their content on the web for free, I would like Mr. Nielsen to explain to me what benefits I’m getting by paying almost $20 a month for the “dead tree version,” as Billy Dennis calls it. Billy gets the same news I get, only he gets it for nothing, and I pay over $200 a year for it. As one of the Journal Star’s “wisest readers,” why shouldn’t I cancel my subscription?
My notice must have been lost in the snail mail or cyberspace–I do the Easy Pay Plus plan thing, too. I still want the coupons, so I guess I’ll have to cough up the extra $1+.
You can’t use pjstar.com as kindle. Well, you can, but the smell of burning plastic can be nauseating.
Call me old fashioned, but I like to read a paper rather than cuddle up to a computer.
Ian, you take it out of the bag first. duh. 😉
Pssst – I think he meant the burning plastic of his computer.
Sunday ads…other than that, read it online. Or better yet, read Billy’s blog, it’s more up to date.
The first thing I do on Sunday morning is pull out the two pounds of adds and dump them in the paper recycling bin and then fish through whatever is left of the paper.
Thanks for the compliment, Cameron. But the site you are reading now isn’t too shabby, either.
I hope the JS and GateHouse and other newspaper companies are reading these and other comments. They MUST stop thinking of their Web sites as simply a way to drive readers to their print versions.
Raising prices for the print versions WITHOUT requiring some small payment for access for premium content on the Web is self-defeating.
Do you what you want. Myself, I’d read a paper over online anyway. it’s faster, easier and more reliable.
The only thing subscription money pays for is the delivery. The ads pay for the paper itself(and then some, hopefully).
The only reason you should pay for the delivery of the paper is to keep that delivery boy employed… the delivery boy who is most likely 50 years old and
has two or three routes combined. This job being a second or third job for them.
Let’s hope the Journal increases the rate the carriers get. Eleven cents a paper and forty-four cents on Sunday is crap.
I love reading the paper and really, not every article is online. I’ve read some articles in the paper and then searched for them online (to send a link to friends) but everything is not always available online.
Furthermore, there is something about being able to hold the paper that I like. I can take it with me to read while waiting places (I spend a lot of time picking up/dropped off kids, taking kids to the doctor, etc.
Plus, I find I at least “break even” and sometimes come out ahead by using coupons. (Mainly for toiletrie itmes). Oh, and I’ve used a lot of the 3-b freebie coupons (including one that was a $32 value for 10 weeks of free exercises classes at Landmark).
with the new rate increase carriers will get $.11 1/2 cents per paper on weekdays and $.48 weekends. What a joke!
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