I Know the Economy is Bad But…
1:01pm …does that mean I have to sit back and just take it when everyone raises their prices on me? Seriously, the economy is having an effect on our family’s personal finances, too, so if a company or service raises their prices too much I will just stop buying whatever it is they are offering. I don’t see how that helps them, but what can I do?
I decided to cancel our newspaper because of what I consider to be a ridiculous rate increase. I’m gutted about it, but at the same time I don’t know why I should put up with being screwed over (as I see it). When push comes to shove I don’t have to give them money. Here’s the deal: I’ve subscribed to the Houston Chronicle for 6+ years. I get the paper delivered daily and I pay every six months for the service. Back when I first started as a subscriber it cost about $90 for the every six months. Every once in a while there were rate increases, which is to be expected and eventually the last time I paid in June it was up to $102. To me going from $90 to $102 isn’t that bad, it’s only $12 over six years…big deal. But early in December my bill came again and now they are asking $132 for the same service. I can’t be the only one who thinks that is ridiculous. Maybe it’s a good price, but it’s not about the price, it’s about the price increase over such a short period of time (30% more since the last time I paid six months ago). Anyway, I was totally annoyed and decided keeping it wasn’t worth it.
So, no more newspaper. 
When I called to cancel they asked why and I said I didn’t like the price. They said, “Yes, well there was a rate increase.” My reply: “That was some increase!” They, of course, tried to induce me to keep the paper but they couldn’t give me a better deal so it’s done and over now.
Like I said, I know the economy is bad, but to me that’s just ridiculous. How do they expect to keep customers and make money if they expect us to just take a rate increase like that? I’m bummed that there will be no more paper, but we will be saving some money now so it’s not all bad.
Stupid economy makes people do stupid things, I guess…
Comments
That is quite the hike. I would have been shocked too! I don’t have a paper news service these days, since my google reader has all the news I can handle and more. But I do love our local paper here in Victoria. How they dealt with these rough economic times, is instead of raising the price, they cancelled the Monday paper, since it had the slowest sales. So papers are put out Tues-Sun.
That is some increase. Forget them. You can get the news online if nothing else. Geesh, they don’t want people reading the news online, but at those prices why wouldn’t they. I would have told them to keep it also.
Ugh. They are doing that here as well, although I don’t subscribe to our paper. I just check the online version. But apparently a lot of people did like you and started canceling their subscriptions so now they are laying off a ton of workers right before Christmas. Dicey stuff.
I hear you! I know the online news would be less expensive but have not checked out how to replace my comics, and all the puzzels I enjoy doing each day. Then there is George, who cannot use a computer at all.. I feel captive and so far ( I will probably jinx this) our paper rate is still reasonable.
I read the newspaper online most of the time, but there is something lovely about sitting down with a cup of tea to read the real thing. Oh well, online is much cheaper.
As for comics and puzzles, sometimes you can find them online too, like here: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/crosswords/cryptic/
You can type it straight in, or maybe print it out I guess. And there are comics online too, like Garfield and Dilbert
http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html
http://www.dilbert.com/
Dilbert’s my favourite
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