Yesterday a letter came addressed to The Wife from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Intrigued, knowing that we specifically told the Pioneer Press never to contact us again when one of their contractors twice violated the FCC’s Do Not Call List in September of 2010, I tore it open and read the letter contained inside. Here’s the text of the letter:
SPECIAL OFFER
$1 PER YEARAugust 1, 2011
Dear Neighbor,
Our community is changing and we want to keep you up-to-date. In these very challenging times, we feel it is important for everyone to be aware of what is happening in our neighborhoods and around the world.
We understand these tough times leave little room for additional expenses. Let us help you through this transition. We are offering residents in your area an opportunity to stay in the know. For only $1 per year, we will deliver a Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday newspaper. You can lock in this rate today for up to two years.
Historic times call for historic prices — this is the lowest price ever offered!
Please return the form below with your $1 or $2 payment and we will get your order started. If you prefer, email me directly and I will be happy to start your delivery. If you have any questions, feel free to call 71-PRESS (77377). Hurry, this will only be offered through August 30th, 2011.
We look forward to having you as a subscriber,
Adel Ibrahim
Pioneer Press
Circulation Sales & Marketing Director
Ph 651-717-7377
E-mail: customerservice@pioneerpress.com
There is plenty to be concerned about in this letter aside from them contacting me when I have clearly stated I do not wish to be contacted.
- 1. Their incorrect assumption that in order to be kept up-to-date on what’s going on that I need to pay $2 for new coverage less than half of the week. How am I going to be up-to-date when I’m missing Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday? Where am I supposed to go to get my news on those days if they are not going to provide it to me at bargain basement prices?
2. Their decision that I am in need of financial assistance and that their gift to me makes me feel all warm and cuddly inside while the rest of the country straightens itself out. As if by times being tight and me not wanting additional expenditures that I’m suddenly going to be willing to pay $1/year to have something delivered to me and then be accosted at the door by a newspaper employee who believes they should get a tip for dropping my newspaper in a plastic bag 35 feet from my door in the rain.
3. The claim that $1/year is their lowest delivery price ever offered. Being that the Pioneer Press has history going back to 1849, I’m guessing this is just an outright lie to catch potential subscribers eyes.
4. That I will remember in two years that my introductory time period is up and that I should call their customer service line to cancel before being charged for whatever insane full price people pay for newspaper delivery.
—
Aside from the downsides, the deal is attractive and worthy of a Google Calendar notification reminding us to cancel in two years. While I have no interest in paying them even $2, I’m sure The Wife will do it just for the Sunday delivery to get coupons. But what about you? Can you believe the Pioneer Press is desperate enough to put out this kind of deal to potential subscribers (as long as you haven’t been a subscriber in the last 30 days)? Do you feel bad for the journalists working for the paper who know that their work has such little value that copies of their work can be had for as little as 1/2 a penny? Whatever you have to say about the Pioneer Press offering yearly subscriptions for $1 go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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August 18th, 2011 at 8:19 am
I bought into the letter and just sent my $2 in yesterday. I figure for $2 at least I can use the paper to pack christmas ornaments…
August 18th, 2011 at 8:24 am
If newspapers aren’t obsolete already, they will be soon. Everyone gets their news from the internet and cable TV. By the time you get the paper the next day, it is “old news”. If the newspapers feel that their content is so “valuable”, they need to charge for online content. Every business needs to evolve and adapt for the times. Newspapers are not special and should have no special exemption to the market realities that every other business faces.
Besides that, I am a Libertarian and there is no way in hell I am going to PAY to support the Marxist bullshit written in the articles and editorial pages every day.
August 18th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Bill, you are spot on regarding the hope that they get you to pay regular charges in two years.
That said, they could give a crap about the 2 bucks. It is clear to me that they are trying to get to a subscriber threshold that allows them to charge more for advertising. It has nothing to do with how they value their employees or anything like that, just trying to make a buck while they still can.
Magazines do it all the time. That is why People costs 4 or 5 bucks at the grocery store, but 12 bucks a year to be delivered to your mailbox weekly (actual values are guesses as I don’t subscribe to People even though I was very surprised to hear that Taylor’s husband from HoBH killed himself).
August 18th, 2011 at 8:35 am
I don’t know how they managed it, but when I opened my apartment door to let in the kids, a Pioneer Press was just sitting there, waiting for me to pick it up. “Don’t touch it! They dust for prints!” I told the kids, and pushed it aside with my toe.
Once they get their hooks into you, it’s tough to unsubscribe.
I don’t know about Marxist bullshit, but their pop culture comparisons and trend observations confused the hell out of me. Also, not much information about my suburb or the world, for that matter.
I would pay for a newspaper, if I could afford it. I’d pay for the New York Times or the Washington Post, and I would spend an hour every day with a cup of coffee in my big, comfy armchair and read it from cover to cover (except sports). That’s one of my dream scenarios.
August 18th, 2011 at 8:38 am
I got the same letter, and was trying to decide whether is was actually legitimate or not. I’m tempted, even though I do get the Star Trib 7 days a week. I’ve never paid attention to the Pioneer Press, but for $1, I might do it.
August 18th, 2011 at 8:51 am
I didn’t see that letter. Last year we got one that was $1 for a year of Sunday editions of the Strib. We (and by “we” I mean my wife) subscribed for the coupons. I never read it. I follow them online and with no adblock on my phone, they probably get enough out of me already with all of the ads they throw into every article. The only reason I’d subscribe to the PP is so my wife would have the coupons. I just don’t have time to add reading newspapers when I’m already getting local news online.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:29 am
I’m wondering if the $1 subscription price includes access to the E edition
on line. I’m also a daily subscriber who is finding it more and more
difficult to write out the check to them every 6 weeks.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Pretty cool. Sad we did not get the letter as I buy a paper every week just for the coupons, this would save me 50 bucks a year.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Chad,
Bill’s post has the phone number, just give them a call. They will give you the deal I bet.
lefty
August 18th, 2011 at 9:55 am
They must mail a batch every week, we got our letter a couple weeks ago. I too keep getting calls from both the Strib and Pioneer Press and keep telling them NO! In very harsh terms, since a polite refusal got nowhere. They both promise delivery to the front door but they were always at the end of the driveway or even in the street. If they printed any truth or had at least 50 per cent real content, they might be worth perusing. My wife liked the coupons and I only did the crosswords but both are available online. The only content you can trust is the “obituaries” pages and at my age and with several careers, they are too depressing. I find a name I know every time I see a Sunday version of either paper. This Dollar-a-year ploy is a last ditch effort to stay afloat. Bye, bye
newsprint, had you told the news in straight facts and truth, you might have last a little longer.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:25 am
We’ve been doing this deal and a similar one from the Strib (this one includes online access) for quite some time now. I like to read/listen to news from a wide variety of sources to attempt some sort of balance. Even if I disagree regularly with any particular source, it’s still good to be aware of what’s being said.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:35 am
lefty, the cheapest i can find to subscribe to people mag is 2.09 x 52.
bb
August 18th, 2011 at 10:41 am
Thanks bb,
I need to get in on the deal and not miss out on Kim K’s wedding pictures.
lefty
August 18th, 2011 at 11:08 am
I received this offer from the Pioneer Press probably about a year ago and jumped on it, strictly for the coupons on Sunday. Generally the Wednesday and Thursday papers don’t even make it into the house and go straight into the recycling bin after I pull out the gas coupons on Wednesday and the Eat section for my mom on Thursday.
August 18th, 2011 at 11:58 am
We have gotten calls from the StarTribune 2 times in the last 3 days. After threatening to cancel service the lady told me she would put me on the do not call list. I love reading the paper over breakfast on the weekends (when there is more time) but during the week its online. If I won the lottery, I would probably want the paper 7 days a week.
August 18th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
I’ve been getting the Strib 7 days for $25/6 months from a groupon they did almost a year ago. It’s cheaper than the published sunday only rate. I’d say I read it about half the time. I was going to cancel at renewal, thinking they’d want to charge me double or triple, but when the renewal showed up, it was still $25 for 6 months.
It does feel kind of antiquated but I’ve always hated the Strib’s web site (the new one is even worse) and the joke of an iPad app they just released isn’t worth paying for either, once they start charging for it.
Also subscribe to the NYT and WSJ on my iPad, paying significantly more, but finding way more value in it.
August 18th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
lefty, the deal is at your local barber shop. you can catch up on the dirt while raising up your hairline every three months:)
bb
August 18th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
I can’t remember the last time I cut my hair. It’s been years.
August 18th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Yes, it’s all about increasing circulation. The one or two bucks a year is simply a way to state to the audit bureau that they have a “paying” customer.
#2, with respect to “Marxist bullshit,” the PP editorials have been semi-friendly to libertarians and/or conservatives from time to time. After all, Craig Westover (now with the MN GOP) used to be on the editorial board.
I’m sympathetic to the plight of newpapers (I know a lot of journalists), but there’s too much fluff in either local paper to make me put up with the trouble of pulling out the flyers and putting the whole package in the recycle bin when I’m done.
I read the NYT online, and used to read the WSJ online. But they jacked up their online and print price, and introduced a lot of fluff after Murdoch took over. (OK, they started doing that before he bought it.)
If you’re looking for iPhone/iPad apps, USA Today has a good one, and it’s free.
August 18th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
I got the offer and decided to go ahead and do it just for the coupons and sales ad, and immediately after mailing off my $2 check I set a google calendar reminder for two years from today reminding me to cancel.
August 18th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Ya know, I used to be a hard core newspaper reader “back in the day” but now it just doesn’t make sense anymore to take it other than the Sunday papers for the coupons. I do subscribe electronically to the NYT and The Economist (I also get their hard copy edition as well).
An online subscription to the ‘Strib is another freebie initially bundled in with some home delivery scheme and thereafter it’s only $15.00 a year if you want to continue it (or be a cheapskate and unsubscribe for a month then do it again).
August 18th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
I debated for months about whether to subscribe just for the Sunday coupons, but then they started magically appearing for free in my Wednesday circular. Lesson: delay decisions and things will eventually work out.
I don’t like reading newspapers. I find them to be too large and I can never get a good handle on them. Plus, I feel like I’m constantly flipping to other pages to finish my story. I prefer magazines, though not People, and I can generally find subscriptions to them for cheap or free.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
I get the PP on Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Sunday. It was one of their other cheapo deals, but nowhere near as good as $1. The coupons easily pay for it.
I still like reading it on weekend mornings and of course…on the crapper.
August 23rd, 2011 at 1:02 pm
The Pioneer Press is long past its prime. Shut the doors and we can all just read the STrib.
August 23rd, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Yeah, ’cause it’s a lot better for us to get all of our news from a single source who can decide what stories they feel like covering. (I know, there’s digital and TV media too, but still, I like having 2 big papers around.)
August 24th, 2011 at 8:52 am
i see the PP raised their prices 100% at the vending machines.
bb
September 6th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
So much for $2.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Looks like I will be doing the two year subscription and cancelling…
September 7th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Did you get baited and switched or am I missing something?
September 7th, 2011 at 10:27 am
lefty,
After waiting on hold for 30 minutes, talking to some guy who claimed he didn’t know anything about a $2 deal, I got called back by a supervisor who claimed it was all just a big mistake.
My subscription is canceled.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:33 am
I hope for the PP sake that the “big mistake” was that they should have charged you $2 and not that it was a mistake that they offered you the deal for 2 bucks. If it is the latter, I think that might be against the law.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:37 am
I guess then I will wait for the “Bill” to show up and promptly call them and do the same…
September 7th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I really want to know more about this “big mistake,” considering that the letter was signed by their Sales & Marketing Director and appears to have come directly from the Pioneer Press.
My wife called the PP directly for the $2 deal and they charged us $2 on 8/25. We’ll see how good their word turns out to be for us…
September 7th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
lefty,
They later offered to “fix” the problem and give me the subscription for $2. After the frustrations I encountered to that point I decided it was better for me to get the $2 refund and be done w/it.
A couple of coupons isn’t worth the frustration of dealing with those people ever again.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Bingo! When will companies ever understand the losses they incur simply by being impossible to deal with. Are managers and owners of businesses still unaware of what it really costs to acquire a customer? Do they think it is so cheap that there is no reason to spend any money retaining a customer? Offering people discounts on stuff isn’t the answer. The answer is not creating such a mess that you find yourself in a position you need to offer a discount.
September 7th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] These repeat topics make up 1/4 of the total number of articles over the last six months. Would you be willing to pay $8 a year to read about gas prices, pets of the week and gardening or individual letters to the editor? Are the other 75% of topics ones which you make you forgo a more reasonable $1 yearly weekly subscription from the StarTribune or Pioneer Press for $2? [...]
April 2nd, 2013 at 10:44 am
Where can I pay my Pioneer Press bill?
April 2nd, 2013 at 11:43 am
BARBARA, great question! Just post your CC info here* and a representative named Bill will take care of it right away.
*Just to spell it out for you, that’s a joke. Don’t do it. In fact, turn off your computer and back away.
April 2nd, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Jason2 needs to post more. Perfect.