Reasons For Cancelling Your Star Tribune Subscription
- In the last few layoffs, the paper has eliminated a number of my favorite reporters and writers.
- The STrib is providing even less coverage of things in the city of Minneapolis than before–and it wasn’t great before. And I really don’t care about the actions of the city council of a small exurban suburb.
- I can now get through the paper in about 5 minutes–that is how little usable content there is in it.
- The editorial policy seems to be controlled by market considerations, not a publishing philosophy. One example is that the the paper–the largest paper in the state–didn’t endorse anyone for President or Senate before our caucuses on Super Tuesday.
- They no longer commission public opinion polls.
- The new owners killed their foundation that funded some great Minneapolis nonprofits.
- I’m getting my news from online sources. For local news it is primarily the Twin Cities Daily Planet (http://www.tcdailyplanet.net) and MinnPost (http://www.minnpost.com/)
- Canceling my subscription fits with the “reduce, reuse, recycle” philosophy. I’m reducing.
- The Strib is no longer worth the price.
Short answer: They suck!
If Sheldon’s been subscribed to the Strib for 25 years, I think it’s safe to say he’s a fair bit older than me. This is good news for the future of online news sites like the Daily Planet and MinnPost. He’s exactly the sort of, shall we say, “discerned” reader that MinnPost is looking for, and he presumably has money to spend on it. What if Sheldon donated the money he would normally spend on the Strib to one of those sites instead?
I subscribe to the Sunday edition because I love looking through the circulars for coupons and such…
I’d personally add the Downtown Journal, Minnesota Monitor and a few other sites to that list.
I feel sorry for those still employed at the Star Tribune, but I support people cutting off their newspaper subscriptions.
One interesting thing about Sheldon’s list is that he has reasons regarding stuff that I don’t even think about and wouldn’t have been a factor in considering a subscription in the first place (like opinion polls and endorsements).
Alie, I hope you’re clipping enough coupons to make up for the cost of your Sunday subscription. I remember when making my xmas list used to mean pulling the Toys ‘R’ Us circular from the Sunday paper and circling things.
I subscribe to the Sunday edition, too. In large part for the New York Times crossword.
According to this woman, the tv guide was the best part.
Probably not, Erica, but I do like to drool over the Target ad (not carried in the stores) and the Best Buy ad.
Personally: I don’t like the way newspaper feels in my hands.
Intellectually:I don’t like the Stribs dumbed down editorial and daily letters format which seems to only print talking points.
Pragmatically: Why would I pay for something I could get for free?
Only for better content which is why we subscribe to Mpls/St.Paul mag and a few others that are enjoyable to browse over weekend breakfast.
I’d pay subscription based for some sites, especially if they had a nice print edition, better content, were inexpensive, and were bundled with some other sites.
Any 3 of the 4 will do.
Without reflecting on the other items, the current Strib ownership is not responsible for the foundation being eliminated. The dough was taken out of town by McClatchey.
I, like other disgruntled longtime Strib subscribers, discovered recently how badly the Strib wants to retain our business: at deeply discounted rates. They didn’t exactly come out and BEG, but the package they offered amounted to that.
When I said I was canceling my already very pared-down subscription, they immediately offered me 1 year of the Sunday paper for only 50-cents/week. Even though their regular subscription rate for Sunday-only delivery is skewed on the high side.
Try it. Sock it to them; they deserve it. They’ve earned that sort of kick in the butt.
They’re that desperate to maintain their paid-circulation numbers. . . . but at the same time, having so many discount-price subscriptions must stand out very negatively, in the industry, and with their remaining advertisers.
Until last spring I’d been a 7-day-week subscriber for decades. But I became very put-off by the changes in ownership and management, and the cut-backs in staffing and content, while the subscription rates weren’t being lowered. And then they badly botched my billing, and botched even more their follow-up when I contacted them about that. That wasted lots of my time, due to their ineptness, and their high rate of staff turnover. The result of that was that I negotiated for, and got (after they first tried to bait-and-switch me), a half-year of comped/free 7-days-a-week home delivery. That happened because I said they’d either need to agree to that, or they’d lose me for good as a customer — because they’d responded so poorly. (And that wasn’t an empty negotiating tactic on my part — I definitely would’ve followed through that way.)
A long time ago I worked at the Strib; it was a clumsy, inefficient, backwards organization then. My sense is that the McClatchy family’s recent ownership of the Strib injected some much-needed new blood and accountability; but ultimately, the McClatchy era proved to be a failure. Now, the Avista-ownership era is just sickening. The Strib brand is badly tainted — very deservedly. I do look at the Strib’s website, but the time I spend on it averages only 5-10 minutes per day, much less than I used to spend, much more happily, on the printed version.
The Strib’s current mess is a classic example of how to run your business into the ground: take your customers for granted, take your employees for granted, be slow to adapt to changing conditions, be slow to invest in modernizing, make lots of excuses, engage in mere spin-doctoring rather than effective problem-solving. The Strib was the best local franchise in journalism; but now those in charge have turned it into a real train wreck. The rise of the internet hasn’t been to blame; it’s been the inept response to the internet by those in charge.
We canceled a long time ago. I’m pretty sure the only reason we haven’t been getting calls at last once a week trying to lure us back is because we switched phone numbers.
Though, on the other hand, that might amount to advice to KEEP your subscription, lest you become the subject of similar harassment!
Good long discussion at Mpls Issues Forum. Lots of long-time subscribers that recently gave up. Most of them saying it’s not that they’re averse to paying, but that they weren’t getting their money’s worth.