Anyone get a daily "news" paper delivered?

I grew up reading the Midland Reporter-Telegram. It was a pretty good local paper for a relatively small city. Then Hearst bought it. It slowly declined over the years becoming more and more left leaning in editorial content. Eventually they did away with the local printing plant. It's now printed elsewhere and trucked in. Thus, the stories have become way outdated by the time it's delivered. It also has gotten MUCH smaller in size and is published 5 times a week v. the original 7. My late father kept up his subscription until he was nearly 90. Eventually even he decided it wasn't worth the price any more.

I know most local papers are losing money. They will likely all eventually go the way of the dinosaur.
 
The economics of printed newspapers is no longer sustainable. Newspapers used to be supported largely on the basis of advertising, but print ads don't generate business anymore. Remember when papers were filled with automobile ads? They don't exist in todays's papers because online advertising is more effective. As a result, subscribers have to bear an increasing percentage of of the cost of production. I've subscribed to the Dallas Morning News for many years, but I cut back to an online-only subscription when their paper subscription went to $700+ per year. I like their comics section, and they have an excellent group of sportswriters. As long as they continue to zing the Cowboys' doofus owner, Jerry Jones, the Morning News will continue to get my business.
 
Newspapers have essentially ceased to serve a worthwhile purpose. TV news and the internet in all its forms have already destroyed most of the printed news media. If I want to get more information details about something I have seen on TV, I just pull out my iPad and Google (or in my case DuckDuckGo) it, and a dozen stories pop up. If I want to know what WalMart, or whoever else, has on sale, I just go to the WalMart website.
 
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I was bummed when the wife suggested that we cancel the local newspaper. Then I found my favorite comics online for free. No more expensive fire starters which is good because we no longer have a wood burning fireplace!
 
I've subscribed to my state paper for at least 20 years. The internet has changed the newspaper business mostly through loss of advertising revenue. About 4-5 years ago the paper announced that due to cost cutting measures they were only going to print and deliver the Sunday edition. However they went online for all seven days of the week and gave a tablet to subscribers at no charge. Initially I missed the printed version but have adapted and actually enjoy the online access. Their content is balanced and their editorial page has both liberal and conservative writers. I pay about $550.00 a year. In addition I subscribe to a local weekly that covers news in my immediate are. They lean left editorialy but the news items tend to be straight forward.
 
When my subscription went to over $400 a year I bought a laptop for about the same price. I can still read the newspaper while I'm eating breakfast. And that was 5 years ago so it worked for me.
 
I still get the local "paper", but it is on-line Tues -Sat, and on paper twice a week, Wed and Sat. It only takes me about 10 minutes to read it, but I just look forward to it, especially the Obit's and local happenings. Still only costs me $45.75 per Quarter.
 
We still subscribe to our local rag, but it's gone from twice-a-week publication to once a week. Published on Wednesdays, it arrives (sometimes) on Thursdays by mail. It could be described as a high-school paper that occasionally has a somewhat 'news' story in it. Mostly high school sports and activities. I read it for the obituaries to see if I'm listed there.
 
If I've got an appointment with some medical practitioner, I stop and selectively pick up a newspaper. If the wallet is up to it, the WSJ. I get some strange looks in the waiting room and a couple of MDs have commented on my practice.

The local paper was pretty decent, family owned for generations. Pretty reasonable, if the hired help got too far out there, they'd rein them in. Then it got purchased by some conglomerate located elsewhere and they imported an editor from Noo Yawk to civilize the bumpkins. After going a few rounds with him (never let the facts get in the way of the message), we canceled. That was several years ago. An editorial I caught a while back suggested some sanity has crept in. Might have to buy a copy and see what's changed. It'd be nice to keep up with some of the local things.
 
We used to get a local newspaper up until about 10 years ago. Started just getting the Sunday edition and about 8 years ago stopped that.
A funny story about the newspaper is on Sunday when I was reading the paper if I put it down and went outside, when I came back in the paper was gone. I asked my wife where the paper was, she said in the trash.
I said I wasn't finished with it yet. She said you shouldn't have put it down. We still laugh about it .
 
Not for decades.

There was a time I really enjoyed the newspaper. Especially the Sunday edition.

Color comics, classified ad section, coupons, art & entertainment section, travel, editorials (love-hate relationship), TV guide, stock market recap, separate sections for local, national and international news…..

Along with several cups of good coffee and a hearty breakfast!

And when you're done with it, it was great for fire starters, cleaning windows, lining the cat box, teaching kids to make silly hats and paper boats, homemade kites, soaking up waste grease….

Those days long lost in the mists of time.
The internet just isn't the same experience.
 
UncleEd said:
The distribution of a daily has become almost insurmountable in many if not most areas. The papers' distributors simply can't find to hire "paper boys" and "paper girls" who
are reliable and steady, albeit even adults with cars to do the job. Today it's all or nearly all is electronic journalism staffed at the top by "Journalists." Old time newspaper men and women scoffed at ever being called a "Journalist."
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Not only the crazy price every month orso there would be a self addressed envelope from the delivery person asking for a tip!

Sure every time it was raining the paper would be in the driveway swale soaked!
 
Chuck24 said:
I miss my actual print copy newspaper, but delivery became so un dependable I got dragged into the online version. When I didn't get my paper their response was always " We'll credit your account", and my response was "I don't want a credit, I want my damn paper ".
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I had exactly the same issue with the Chicago Tribune. Now I get the online edition for a few bucks a month. The Tribune is a Left wing rag, but they do publish my letters to the editor every once in awhile. Being a major newspaper it does help me keep informed about some of what is going on in the world, as long as I remember to take all their political slant to the Left with more than a grain of salt.
 
Never had any paper delivered. Wednesday is wash day and go to local supermarket diner for breakfast. Most of the time they have a newspaper in a basket and get to enjoy favorite past time of eating breakfast and reading a real paper. But ain't going to pay $3.50 for mighty slim minneapolis newspaper.
 
When we moved to our smaller town 20 years ago we had a (cheap) subscription to our decent, local origin paper. Then it got bought out by a national company, it got more expensive/leftist/smaller, and decidedly of lower quality. The last straw was the front page, above the fold headline - "Unexpected Surprise". Stick a fork in it, it's done...
 
Golddollar said:
Wow, I haven't heard that name in decades. We got that paper when my family lived in Elyria. One of the photographers was in a Civil War reenactor group with my dad.
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There's another local paper, the Lorain Journal, which I refer to it as the Lorain Urinal. Nowhere near as good as the Chronicle.
 
Print is dead. As readership and paid subscriptions fall it just gets more and more expensive to produce. It's manufacturing, and like anything else the more you run the cheaper each one gets per unit. Press rooms used to run 24/7. Then they cut shifts because volume dropped.

On top of that the price of raw newsprint goes up for the very same reason. Plus the equipment manufacturers go out of business (not a lot of people buying new newspaper presses) and parts get hard to find. Print Ad sales fall because online ads are cheaper and more effective. One day soon there won't be any left. Going the way of the rotary dial phone.
 
In this corner of TN, The Tomahawk comes out every Wednesday. It just went from $1 to $1.50 per copy. So I just subscribed for $40 a year to get it delivered via mail. Only way I have to get what local leaders are doing.
 
Dropped our local rag decades ago. They used to give out free copies at the grocery store. If I had a parrot I'd have grabbed one.
 
Local paper is a cut and paste of USA Today, few local stories and much too expensive.

My hometown paper is once per week but the local based columnists have retired. I subscribed online while my wife's parents were still living but canceled after they passed away.

My hometown radio station is family owned and is great. It has a swap shop program M-F…..you can buy and sell everything from goats to guns.
 
Back in my working days, I worked jobs that made eating out much easier. I would religiously buy a newspaper for the rack outside each restaurant and leisurely read it while eating. I enjoyed it. BTW, when I was a youngster, the local newspaper actually delivered 2 newspapers a day. The morning paper was "The Greenville Piedmont" and the afternoon paper was "The Greenville News". They were done out of the same building. I guess advertising was very profitable. The afternoon paper was discontinued many years ago.
Larry
 
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