Andy and I have been subscribing to our local print paper since we came in 1974. It has gone downhill a lot since then, fewer pages and now only three days a week — Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. We also now get the papers in the mail rather than delivered to our door, which mostly works — sometimes they’re delayed because of the postal service.
The advertised rates are
We subscribed for two years on April 3, 2018, so we naively thought it would expire on April 3, 2020. No, not so. In the subscription reminder they said March 6, 2020. When I wrote to them they adjusted it to April 1, 2020, with the explanation:
I credited back to you the premium charges for the last two years. 26 days in total returning your expiration date to April 1st, 2020. Twice a year we publish a Premium edition that has a higher than usual cover cost. This results is the term length of the subscription being shortened instead of charging extra for these premium editions.
So I asked,
Are you saying if we subscribe for another year we won’t know the expiration date? It wouldn’t be April 1, 2021, that you can change the length at will? How can you not tell people that? Are you hoping they won’t notice?
The reply was,
Not at all. When you renew for a year your account is credited with 365 calendar days of subscription access. We publish a notice in the paper the publication day before the Premium issue and and the day of the Premium issue that describes what is happening. The May edition has a Premium price of $1.00 and the November edition has a premium price of $2.00. These editions have special sections or extra advertising inserts that make them heavier than normal and incurs extra costs for us during publication. Thus the higher cover rate for those days. Our circulation system calculates those higher cover rates against the publication dates in that month and deducts them for your remaining calendar days.
It is confusing and I do apologize for that. The number of days deducted varies based on how many editions we publish in the month we have a Premium edition. Because each subscriber renews for different terms and may not be subject to a Premium charge we do not bill ahead of time these editions.
They clearly don’t see a problem with not mentioning their policy when they advertise their subscription rates. When I asked what our new expiration date would be if we resubscribed for a year they said,
Based on the 2019 Premium deductions:
April 1st, 2020 = April 1st, 2021: 365 days
After the May Premium charge you will lose 6 days: Your expiration would be March 26, 2021
After the November Premium charge you will lose 11 days: Your expiration would be March 15, 2021.
No guarantees, they can change it any time. Well, thanks to us asking, we now know and can take it or leave it. Guess what we will probably do.
February 17, 2020
If it was me, I would leave it! That is totally ridiculous. If they need more money for those issues, then put in the price up front. That is deceiving ….
They’re already in serious trouble because a few years ago another paper started. It’s free and mostly digital, but now sends a print version once a week. In fact, I get most of my local news there, but Andy does like the Sudokus in the old paper. He also used to like the comics, but those have gone downhill too.
I’ll let him decide, but we’ve already talked about dropping it .
PS We never look at the Premium sections, but we aren’t given the choice of opting out.
well… you could look at it as all the TREES that you’ll save by dropping it!
I’ve never heard of such a convoluted mess of an explanation in my life!
it almost sounds like those scam games with a ball and three cups or something!
I used to feel bad for newspapers. but not so much anymore.
you could buy books that Andy’s Sudoku puzzles are in if he doesn’t want to play them on line. 🙂
I was fascinated that the gal thought it was a reasonable thing to do Andy has decided it’s not worth resubscribing
What a lot of double talk! I still get a ‘real’ paper too. It’s so expensive and I don’t always read it but I feel strongly about supporting local reporting so I will continue to subscribe as long as I can.
We spend a lot of money supporting newspapers and magazines, but this one has very little local news. I get most of my local information from the free paper. None of them do investigative reporting.
That is the screwiest system I have ever heard. Even worse that they don’t tell you up front that’s what they do.
Apparently they don’t understand why it’s bad not to tell people.
I think if I was faced with such complicated details I would just give up the subscription. There are plenty of sources of local news out there. Why put up with all that nonsense?
We agree, we’re not renewing.
I vote for sneaky and confusing, and I have never heard of anything so silly as this, just make it the right amount for Pete’s sake. I have not read a newspaper since 2006. I get breaking news in feedly and my email and choose what to read… for some reason I found I was not reading the paper and like yours it was smaller and smaller. I think they are quickly becoming a thing of the past. sad for people who like to hold a paper
That’s why we’ve been continuing with them so long — we enjoy getting the paper even if there’s not much in it. But this is the incentive we needed to finally stop it after 45 years. Another tradition bites the dust.
I would consider reporting this to the attorney general since it is his (her) job to investigate false advertising.
No, I don’t think they’re trying to be devious, they were trying to solve a problem fairly without realizing they’re being deceptive. They are having serious problems and are no doubt trying to survive.
yep, agree with Linda – on reporting the false or misleading advertising…and then also assuming subscribers won’t “look carefully at expiry” and just resubscribe when they get the notice to do so…
See my answer above. I think they mean well but didn’t think their solution through.