The New York Times reported today that many newspapers around the country, including the San Bernardino Sun and the Riverside Press Enterprise, will boost the price of their Thanksgiving (or in case of the PE, day after) newspapers to the Sunday rate.
Traditionally, the Thanksgiving day newspaper is physically one of the largest, if not the largest issues of the year due to the enormous amount of Christmas advertising. Street sales of the paper from vending machines also spike as people want to know what's going to be on sale the following day.
How sad it is that newspapers can't draw readers based on their news content any longer, and at last are admitting that people are buying the paper just for the ads. That being said, ad revenue continues to decline because of the generally piss-poor economy and more so because newspapers fail to provide reasons for people to subscribe. Typical of the brain-dead publishers and owners who run these businesses, they're taking the tactic of punishing their buyers (both readers and advertisers) on the one day they want the paper most.
Imagine if retailers operated this way... Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Sears, et al all raised their prices the day after Thanksgiving,.. ridiculous, huh? You'd tell them to shove it, and find somebody else to buy from. Maybe somebody online. Maybe somebody who mailed you a catalog.... Gee, let me think, who are newspapers competing with these days? Online news compilers (and their ads) and direct mail.
Idiots. Idiots. Idiots.
Oh, and in other news, the Washington Post is closing all its US bureaus. Goodbye New York, Chicago,and Los Angeles Post writers.
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