Internet has finally made newspapers obsolete. The news is old. It’s time to consider why subscribe to the Hear-Old.
The Cost
The bills come every 4 weeks or so and never acknowledge the last payment. What the . . I just paid the bill 2 weeks ago and now I have another? Let’s check and see…
So, you pay $14.59 every 4 weeks. That’s $3.6475 a week, $189.67 a year, $15.80 a month. You can get DSL Internet for that price.
Bought daily, costs $3.00 Monday to Saturday and $1.75 for Sunday – $4.75. You do save some by subscribing. But let’s get cheap. Monday’s paper is useless. It’s often not even heavy enough to stay put in the gutter it lands in every day. Same for Saturday. That alone brings the savings to .10 a week by not subscribing. And it’s dry. There once was a time when the news carrier would take pride in remembering where each customer wanted the paper, normally on the porch or a few steps from it. It was worth a tip. Good luck with that these days.
The content
OK the local news is the only thing unique to the paper. The rest of the fill comes from wire services. Any state and national news is the same stuff the TV stations get, the radio stations get and the internet provides. Too much of what passes as news is BS fluff from advertisers. This “How To Guide” covers a wide range of interesting subjects. Each one of them has a full page ad opposite the advice from an advertiser. What a coincidence
Looks innocent enough, lets see.
How to buy a futon. Yep, an ad for futons after the “article”
How to Choose a Laser Eyeball Surgeon.
If that don’t work out, wear glasses
The Other Ads. At least they state the obvious that it is an ad. The advertisements are becoming an insult to readers’ intelligence. Fake viagra. Fake weight loss pills. Ads to buy money. Really. Ordinary US currency sold at a profit under the guise of being collectible.
$12 face value of dollars for $20
Can’t afford it? What about $10.25 worth of quarters for $16? This is better than running a casino in Vegas. And this is legal in Pacific Grove.
Dubious ads for ‘supplement’ pills that belong in the back of a supermarket tabloid.
Pills for fingernail fungus
Pills for prostate
Pills for diets
Pills for colon cleansing
The Waste. Hauling away the read and soggy unread Hear-olds is not free. The same ad inserts that come in the mail get sent straight to the trash with the Hear-old’s ads.
The employment practice. What?? Twice a year one’s schedule of paying the Hear-old gets out of sync with that every four week bill. No one else does this, not Cal Am, not PG&E not Comcast. So the paper has it’s friendly staff call you at all hours of the day reminding to to pay. Think you are talking to someone out at Ryan Ranch? Not even close.
C Muhammed called me from central Mississippi to remind me once.
D Leonard also called me all the way from Dallas, Texas.
Calls “from the Hear-old” on phones from contractors residences? That’s real unprofessional. Time to end this unneeded expense?