It’s been nearly two months now that I’ve been asking the NYT in every way possible to cancel my weekend delivery subscription, and by golly, they simply can’t drop me. The NYT turns up on my driveway, come what may, Saturday and Sunday.
So this morning I went and picked up the papers (I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, which also comes out on Saturday), and I’m sitting at the kitchen table reading the WSJ while having my coffee when The Husband (TH) walks in and says,
TH: The Times is still at it.
F: Yep.
TH: You realize that it’s because of their advertising.
F: Wh?
TH: The amount they charge their advertisers depends on their paid circulation, so if they drop you and whoever many people that cancel, it affects their revenues.
If that’s the case, here’s a suggestion: The NYT should give a small grant to the people of Venezuela so they can subscribe to the “All News That’s Fit To Fabricate Print” dead-tree rag, on the condition that the money is used only to pay for the subscription. The NYT will up its paid subsbriber numbers – after all, there are 26 million people in Venezuela – and the Venezuelans will save money:
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — Venezuela, Latin America’s largest consumer of Scotch whiskey, raised custom taxes on the spirit and another 200 imported goods the government considers non- essential.
The government will add a 15 percent surcharge on the current customs taxes on goods including razor blades, sail boats, pearls and toilet paper, according to the official gazette.
That way the stone-cold sober Venezuelans will let the stubble grow, sit in the dark when the power goes out, and reach for the New York Times “in the loo” when the non- essential tp runs out.
And the NYT will be gone from my driveway.
Update, Sunday 10 December Dustbury contemplates the downside of my proposal.
(technorati tags New York Times)
10 or so years ago we cancelled our NYT subscription because the price was rather steep and we needed to cut back. Soon afterwards we got a letter from the circulation department observing that the Times actually loses money on each subscription and that they’re trying to make it a value for subscribers. I think I wrote back that then they should be thanking for us dropping the subscription as it would, therefore, help the company lose less money.
Great comeback, Soccer Dad!
I honestly don’t know what else to tell them at this point.