Edmonton Journal tempts fate

OK, Edmonton Journal. Last straw. After the paper was AGAIN thrown on the steps today, this is the last warning: next time it happens, we're cancelling the paper. You're about to lose a customer, folks.

Comments

Jim Whitelaw said…
Seems to me this is unwinnable from your side. The incremental revenue of one subscriber (probably near enough zero - or less) can't possibly be worth the extra time you're requesting be expended delivering it to you. It would appear that the correct business response would be to listen politely to your complaint(s) and then ignore you. It usually makes sense to simply fire a customer that's more trouble/expense than they are worth. Just a thought.
May 29, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Mike Jenkinson said…
I would like to think that the $300 a year I'm paying for home delivery is worth the extra 1.5 seconds it takes to put the paper in my mailbox, which has been nailed next to the door since the day we bought the house and has been the great receiver of newspapers ever since then ... until about a few months ago when our current carrier decided that putting it in the mailbox was too much trouble.

Also, I'd agree with you had the situation been 10 years ago and the newspaper business was rolling in customers. Now, they're not. Heck, as far as I know, I could be the last actual paid Journal subscriber in the city. Given the sad state of the newspaper business, they need me far more than I need them.
May 29, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Jim Whitelaw said…
Well, I'm guessing that they probably don't need you. You obviously would know the business better than me, but it seems doubtful they make any money off subscriptions. I think it's the case that their whole business model is broken and thus there is no longer any incentive to keep subscriber customers happy.

From the carrier's perspective, it's probably more like 15 or 20 seconds since one can throw the paper to the step from say 5 or 10 meters away, eliminating twice that distance walking plus time to place the paper in the box. Using 15 sec per day and 360 delivery days, that's 1.5 hrs of extra time spent every year for a marginal amount of extra compensation. Do carriers still get paid piecemeal? If not, and they are paid flat rate to cover a route, you're sunk...

Have you tried bribery?
May 31, 2010 at 9:37 AM
Mike Jenkinson said…
The funny thing is, in this case, I know the carrier isn't saving himself much time because he actually walks up my steps to the door to drop the paper at his feet. I know this because 90% of the time, I'm already up and hear his footprints on our wooden stairs. Never been able to make it to the door in time to chew him out, however.
May 31, 2010 at 9:40 AM
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