Should you subscribe to your own publication?

Last three dailies I've worked at, we got the paper delivered free of charge.

 

I was sitting in our breakroom reading our metro competitor during my 5 p.m. dinnerbreak.
One of the circ flunkies walks in and says to me, "Why aren't you reading our paper?"
I say, "I read it last night when I put it together."
Duh.
We used to get free delivery at home, then it was weekends only, now it's a buck a week.
Needless to say, I don't subscribe.
But I do read the other sections besides the one I work on.

 

Well, it was an attitude I used to have early on in my stint with that paper. I became much more disciplined about reading the paper every day. At the time, however, I admit there was a bit of a "I don't read it as a way to stick it to the man" kind of attitude, but I've long since washed away that stain.

 

And sorry, BTE, but it was indeed about the money. When you don't get paid that much and you're trying to raise a family, pay car notes, etc., expenditures like subscription money starts to nickle-and-dime you to death. Also, I didn't spend my extra money on designer coffee, so it's not like I was pissing away the money I saved by not purchasing a subscription.

I used it for stuff like, y'know, food.

 

Henry: Hey, do you remember Sedona Savings and Loan? They went under six months ago. We did a big piece on 'em.
Michael McDougal: I don't read this newspaper.

 

Nice work.

 

I'm sorry, but not subscribing to your own paper and then bemoaning the "dying industry" is like a GM worker complaining about being laid off and driving home in his Honda.
It's a matter of investing in your own work, literally and figuratively, and if a $4 subscription breaks your budget, you have bigger woes.

 

Working at my first paper, I had $90/month left over after all bills were paid. That was for just bills.

$4 was not going for a subscription to my paper, which I could (and did) read for free at work.

And the industry's not dying. 10-20 percent profit margins do not equal "dying."

 

So it's the failure of reporters and editors to buy a subscription to their own rag that's causing a downfall of the industry?

Did not know that. I foolishly thought that it's because readers have so many different ways to get their news, have a general disregard for the media anyway and consider newspapers an outdated way to stay informed.
:

 

It actually would be $4.25 a week, but hey, who's counting pennies?

I forgot. Woefully underpaid journalists are.

 

No buckwheat, but circ numbers are continually dropping.

The Future and I get it at the apartment. She's always there after 1st rolls off, but it's $8 a month. I'll echo the idea that, if we're not buying it, why would anyone else. (and yes, reporters and editors who don't get the paper at home do have a responsibility for circulation numbers falling)


Related topic: If you don't subscribe to your own paper, do you get another at home?

 

I'm at a free-circulation weekly suburban paper that has five other competitors if you count the supplement the metro daily puts out.
Only one competitor comes to me through the mail. I read my paper at work and we have a courier that brings in the others.
I also subscribe to the metro paper and occasionally pick up another paper, mainly to catch up on state news the metro paper doesn't cover.