Quote:
Originally Posted by mldavis2
My reason is simple enough. When I was working, I tried to subscribe to the NY Times, but I live in a rural corner of Missouri and it was not available. So I read it online. Now that I'm retired on a fixed income, I simply cannot pay for an online subscription. There are too many other "add-on" expenses that appear after you think you have your budget figured out for the rest of your life, and a newspaper subscription is not one of them.
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Isn't everyone on a "fixed income"? Well save for those of us who work for themselves that is. I know the cost for home delivery has risen from about $450/yr in 2006 to about 2x that in 2011. That is to the point where it is significant money, not that $450 is not a lot either but we all need some luxuries or what is the point. But at nearly $900/yr for the home delivery I'm not sure it's still worth the price. I do know if I kill that I won't pay for the iOS access.
I completely agree that it's a very disappointing move if they shut down full free online access. Many folks learned to like a paper because of that access. Especially people on a tight budget, and these days who isn't tightening their belts? And it's not as if there is zero revenue generated from ad impressions. Hmmm, I wonder if all the ad blocking software is actually working thus the ads don't load which means no revenue for the impression.
I think we are seeing the beginnings of Apple's (and Google too as I am sure the apps in the Android store will use the same subscription pricing) complicity in aiding various companies which have been free or very low cost move to a pay for use model. These are some very hidden costs to using these devices. I wonder what the sticker shock for some users will be once they add up the costs of all the subscriptions.
As I mentioned I like the NYT but at these prices I don't see the same value in it as once upon a time. I mean nearly a grand/yr for a newspaper? Heck, I might have just talked myself into cancelling or at least not renewing since it was just a week ago that the renewal came through.