The Dallas Morning News Has Been Canceled

My one longtime reader may remember that some time back I was at Sprouts Farmers Market when I got talked into subscribing to the Dallas Morning News.

I'd been living fine without a newspaper, after an addiction to reading a morning paper that goes back as far as my memory, but then that sales guy at Sprouts made an offer I just could not refuse.

I got 3 months of the Dallas paper at something like 15 bucks a month and $25 of Sprouts gift cards. I thought I remembered the sales guy saying the monthly rate after the initial period would be somewhere in the $17 range. But that may have been if I pre-paid for a year.

I'd gotten rid of the Star-Telegram when the delivery person annoyed me, but that was just the last straw. The paper had been steadily shrinking, and then when I was in Washington, last summer, they raised the monthly subscription to $17.50. Paying more for a smaller paper seemed wrong.

So, I'd been wondering why I've not seen a bill for the Dallas Morning News, or had the delivery person knock on my door. Or someone call me.

This morning there was no Dallas Morning News on my doorstep. So, about 8 I called customer service. One does not as quickly get a live person when calling the Dallas paper as one does when calling the Fort Worth paper. When I finally got a human on the line he told me the paper had been stopped because the bill had not been paid.

I told the guy I'd gotten no bills. I said I can pay it right now. He said that'd work. Apparently the pre-paid period ended March 21. He told me I owed $27.50 for the period from March 21 til May 4. I said fine.

So, that'll be $57.50 to get the paper started again in the morning, he said.

What? Why's that?

He said to get the paper started I had to pay a month ahead. The paper is $30 a month, I asked?

Yes, he said the rate had recently gone up. So, I'm thinking for the 43 day period between March 21 and May 5 I'm getting charged $27.50. And then for the first 30 day period after re-starting the subscription I'm getting charged $30.00?

That really did not make a lot of sense and seemed a rather steep price increase. And so that's what I said to the customer service guy.

He then told me if I pre-paid by some number of months, I don't remember the number, I could get the paper at $22.50 a month. That had me thinking back to that guy at Sprouts and me thinking he said it'd be something like $17.00 a month.

Anyway, I wasn't liking any of this. And so I told the guy to just send me a bill for the amount I owe and we'll just keep the paper stopped from being delivered.

And now I'm thinking it's pretty dumb on the Dallas Morning News' part to go to the bother and expense of sticking a couple guys in Sprouts to lure new subscribers. They hook one, that being me. And then the follow through is not so good.

The first problem was they had trouble getting delivery started. I got a call thanking me for subscribing, which is when I told the caller I'd not gotten a paper yet. To which she replied that delivery was supposed to have started 3 days prior. The little mistake could easily have had me canceling way back then.

But, I stuck with it. I blogged about thinking the Dallas paper was so much better than the Star-Telegram. So, then they had their new subscriber casting out positive words. Look what they've got their ex-subscriber casting out now.

And then they botch getting a bill to me. And then they stop delivery without ever contacting me. And then the cost of the paper goes up to nearly double what I thought it'd be when I initially subscribed.

It really is not that great a mystery to see why newspapers are in trouble. And in a perfect metaphor for that, Monday night the Fort Worth Star-Telegram building caught fire and had to be evacuated. I really don't know if that's a perfect metaphor, or not. I just like that "perfect metaphor" cliche.

So now I'm back to reading books when I lay on the floor in the morning drinking coffee. And I'll be getting my local news from the online versions of the two local papers. For free. I'll also be getting FW Weekly weekly. For free.

This probably is a change for the good.