On 2011-09-26 I wrote how Forum Communications raised the price of the Duluth News Tribune by 33-1/3 percent. Now just over a year later they've raised the price by 25 percent! I had been forewarned by a vendor that the Sunday paper would be raised to $2.50, but I didn't know that the daily would be raised to $1.25.
When I went to the corner boxes this morning I was surprised to find that there were still copies of the Star Tribune. This location is chronically understocked with the Strib, often being sold out a bit after seven. I put four quarters in the Strib machine and took my copy. Then I put four quarters in the DNT machine. It wouldn't unlock. I tried again. Same thing. I looked at the price labels on the box, and I know I saw $2.50 for the Sunday edition and $1.00 for the daily edition.
When I got home, I sent email about this to the Customer Service representative. She had not responded by about one this afternoon.
I went out later and stopped at a convenience store. It had signs about the price change for both editions of the DNT. As I forked out the extra quarter, I joked with the clerk, "If government raised taxes by 25 percent, people would complain loudly. Hell! If they would complain if government raised taxes by 2.5 percent."
When I got to the fitness center, the DNT box outside the door had the new prices written in marker, not a "permanent" sign.
What a way to run a railroad, I mean a newspaper! I wonder what a 67 percent increase in just over a year will do to circulation. I really do appreciate having a physical copy of the newspaper to read at breakfast and lunch. I wonder if the employees have seen a comparable increase in their income.
See also "Can't corporations live within their means?"
