For years now I have subscribed to the Palm Beach Post, and
it has been faithfully delivered to my apartment. It’s not my favorite
newspaper by any means, but I like it for the local news, two or three of the
syndicated columnists, the weekly TV guide, the crossword puzzle in the Market
section, and the comics (Luann being my favorite).
The size of the paper has been steadily shrinking, as
everyone knows. Newspapers these days are having a hard time staying afloat.
When I left in June to stay at my son’s home in MA for three
months, I had received the renewal notice for my subscription to the Post. The
price for six months was going up a few dollars to $67.25, but I had a couple
of weeks remaining on the present subscription, so the Circulation Department
person I spoke with said they’d put a hold on my subscription till I came back
in the fall, and then I could renew.
When I returned three months later, however, I learned that
though still credited with the two remaining weeks, my subscription had been
cancelled (I learned that this was policy when there was a lapse of over two months), and to be reinstated I would have to pay the new rates: $309.22 for a full year or
$154.61 for six months—$154.61 being MORE THAN DOUBLE the renewal rate in June!
When I protested, the person in Circulation “found” a lower rate of $113 for
six months (I hate it when businesses do this), but even so, I would be paying
almost double what I had before.
I will say the three Circulation Department personnel I
talked with were very polite and understanding about all this (credit them for
this, I wouldn’t want their jobs), but this was the last straw for me. Usually
a magazine or newspaper bought at a newsstand costs far more than one mailed or
delivered. Monday through Saturday, the Palm Beach Post costs $1.00 bought at the
newsstand, I believe, going by today's paper. I don’t even CARE about getting the huge Sunday edition (but you
can’t GET only Monday through Saturday now!), so it comes out about even whether
I have the paper delivered or buy individual copies every day of the year except Sunday! There's something ludicrous about this.
I was told I could subscribe ONLINE to the paper for $15 a month,
but at $90 for six months that’s certainly no bargain.
I’ll probably buy the paper only occasionally from a
newsstand. The new subscription rate is a totally unreasonable increase in my
opinion, and I won’t pay it. I’ll get my local news in other ways, I’ll buy a
crossword puzzle book, and I’ll have to do without Luann. Maybe I'll raid the yellow trash receptacle from time to time. I don't wish it on them, but it wouldn’t surprise
me if the Palm Beach Post went out of business one of these days.
Lanny
ReplyDeleteAbout 3 months ago I called The Post and told them to cancel only
Monday and Tuesday's editions.
I now get delivery on Wednesday thru Sunday and I have an auto bill
of $15.01 which is withdrawn from
my checking account every month.
I am very happy with the change I
made for I felt it was a waste of
money to get Monday and Tuesday
very thin uninformative paper. I
get the info for Monday and Tuesday
from watching the nightly news and
I am very happy with decision I made.
Hi Nutmegger,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your suggestion. I may do something such as what you suggest. A person recommended I buy only the Friday paper (for the Calendar) at the newsstand. I'll have to see. Time will tell.
In the meantime, if you should be driving by Sheffield N and see a person flailing around, half submerged in the yellow trash container, perhaps you could give him a hand extricating himself. It will be me. I pay handsomely for help out of scrapes like this.
Lanny
Lanny , you can have Luann and enough other comics to read all day at GOCOMICS http://www.gocomics.com/search?search_string=Luann They will send you comics daily in email for months and then ask for contribution, when you refuse they continue sending for ever anyhow.
ReplyDeleteLanny:
ReplyDeleteI am very willing to give you my
Post after I read it but remember
I only get Wednesday thru Sunday.
Today after 4PM call me 712-9419
and I will tell you where to pick
up today's paper and next Wednesday
we will continue the sharing. It
gives me much pleasure to be able
to accommodate someone who I can
bring joy to.
The Nutmegger
Nutmegger, thank you so much for your kindness, but there will be no need. I'll make out fine--and of course I won't REALLY be raiding the dumpster. I stopped doing that kind of thing at about age 35. No, I'll be just fine. I may be buying a Friday paper for the Calendar--or not--I like the idea of winging it--but thank you again.
ReplyDeleteElaine,
ReplyDeleteI turned to GO COMICS online as you suggested, and sure enough, there was today's Luann--and in COLOR! Thank you!
Peanuts, my all-time favorite comic strip, is available too apparently. When up north I found Peanuts online and must have looked at a hundred old strips. I like it when Snoopy pretends to be the World War I flying ace and is attacked (and sometimes shot down) by the Red Baron.
When I was a kid (this goes back beyond your time, Elaine), I used to read Orphan Annie and Dick Tracy in the paper. The pace of Orphan Annie was dreadfully slow most of the time, but it would be exciting when Daddy Warbucks, the Asp, and some turbanned giant of a guy (forget his name) would come on the scene. Dick Tracy was fast-paced, and he had all these enemies with physical disfigurements: Flattop, the Mole, Pruneface, etc. Tracy had a 2-way wrist-radio, precursor to our Smart Phone. My dad liked Tarzan, in the Sunday paper, because it was so well drawn. Tarzan had all those rippling muscles and would leap from tree to tree using vines. I wished I could do the same.