Buffalo News increasing the cost of their subscription to $28.99 per month

[RyanC883]

3 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

I really do enjoy reading their sports coverage, but $28.99 per month? That's just nuts IMO. I was paying $13 per month and was debating it at that price.

 

Does that seem outrageous to anyone else? I don't have a lot to compare it to.

 

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

 

the Wall Street Journal is $4 a month.  The Athletic is $1 a month if you hit both with promos.  Perhaps Buffalo News has a promo?

1 hour ago, Don Otreply said:

This righty here ^^^

 

. That and too many people want something for nothing…, if folk don’t in some fashion support local businesses, the all go away, be it the local true value hardware store, restaurants, newspapers, cleaners, etc etc, shop small when ever you can, it will help the town you live in, those folks are our neighbors. 👍

 

they should run ads like any other paper.  The people who work for large businesses are also neighbors.  

[Augie]

1 minute ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the Wall Street Journal is $4 a month.  The Athletic is $1 a month if you hit both with promos.  Perhaps Buffalo News has a promo?

 

Like, you can get the WSJ, The Athletic and TBN for $35/month? What an idea!  😋

[boater]

2 hours ago, Chaos said:

Lee Enterprises who owns 77 Daily Newspapers and has been in business since 1890, will be reaching out to you shortly to learn how to run newspapers.  Please be on standby for their call. 

Warren Buffett, one of the world's most successful and richest men, and former owner of the Buffalo News, is standing by for your call telling him he shouldn't have sold.

 

I would say Warrent Buffett's decision to sell a turd is better than Lee Enterprises buying decision.

 

Buffett fleeced a sucker.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

Just wait until you see the ticket and concessionaire prices at the new stadium.

[RiotAct]

3 hours ago, Wacka said:

Who still gets the newspaper? Dropped the daily when my mom's dementia got bad enough she couldn't read the paper. Kept Sundays  but stoped delivery when it went up to $3.00. Brother and I would split it but then stoped buying it when the Sunday went up to $4.00 and then $5.00 within months.

wait they want $5 now for the Subday edition?  lol

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, Wacka said:

Who still gets the newspaper? Dropped the daily when my mom's dementia got bad enough she couldn't read the paper. Kept Sundays  but stoped delivery when it went up to $3.00. Brother and I would split it but then stoped buying it when the Sunday went up to $4.00 and then $5.00 within months.

 

I get two local papers, plus I subscribe to two online world/national news outlets. Three before I dropped the BN.

56 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

I have a question, and maybe it’s been answered, but what does it cost if you pick one up….wherever you pick up a newspaper now. I see them in the grocery store sometimes.

 

I might look at a book store if I needed one? I don’t love it, but I get it. Paper died a while ago. I’m still a hard cover guy.  

 

A buck 25 or 50. Sunday papers are like $5.

[MarkyMannn]

1 hour ago, Old Coot said:

Print media is dying. I pay over &80 per month for my local paper. Is it worth it? No but old habits die 

Yeah my mother in law pays just about $1,000 a year for the printed BN

[PonyBoy]

2 hours ago, boater said:

I refuse to be a Buffalo News subscriber again.

 

I tried home delivery at their teaser rates. When the morning paper would arrive at 2 PM, if at all, I attempted to cancel. You have to navigate a complex phone tree and be willing to wait on hold for an hour to cancel. All by design of course. Even when you finally break through to a person, then you're subject to high-pressure sales tactics to stay.

 

Scoundrels.

Took me about an hour to cancel my $1 newbie subscription.

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, PonyBoy said:

Took me about an hour to cancel my $1 newbie subscription.

 

Have you ever had a better hour?   😋

 

I’m glad you passed the stress test. 

[PonyBoy]

1 hour ago, oldmanfan said:

Local newspapers should have laser focus on what is happening in their towns.  That is an invaluable service.  It is easy to get national news, but without a good local paper reporting in things like city council meetings, school board meetings and such citizens stay uninformed.  That’s not a good thing. 

 

I've been around the country a bit. Boise area Idaho now, a few local articles which they repeat for a few days. Mostly AP regurgitated bunk. 

 

We've traveled on our anniversary for decades, buy a local paper to get the vibe of where we stayed. It's been homogenized for years. 

The local reporting as we knew has been phased out a long time ago. Many of us on this board remember the awesome papers, columnists of the past.

It's a different era, be glad we lived it when we did.

7 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Have you ever had a better hour?   😋

 

I’m glad you passed the stress test. 

 Got paid actually, I was working, had them on speaker. Still want my dollar back 😃

[Einstein]

2 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

Totally fine. But as a current customer it isn't worth 28.99, that's my point. Albert Einstein would have noticed this subtlety

 

It’s not worth it to me either. Just don’t B word when it’s gone completely.

2 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

...And pay CASH, for the service. Bank fees, for small businesses, are killing them. My local Wine Shop, (in tiny, Altamont, NY) pays over $1200/Mo., just for credit card transactions. - Doesn't sound like much, but this is a one room shop. They thank me, when I pay in cash.

 

You should tell your local wine shop to pass on the credit card cost to the consumer and offer a reduced rate for cash. Lots of businesses are doing it now. 

[BigDingus]

5 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

 

Is it an online subscription? Can't you just create a new email address & account to get that price? 

 

Or is this a physical newspaper subscription?

[Big Turk]

5 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

I really do enjoy reading their sports coverage, but $28.99 per month? That's just nuts IMO. I was paying $13 per month and was debating it at that price.

 

Does that seem outrageous to anyone else? I don't have a lot to compare it to.

 

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

 

Yeah it's crazy...they are gonna lose a ton of customers at that rate.

 

It probably isn't that much more to have the entire paper delivered to your house.

[T&C]

This place and others.. are a small cache of who really cares about this "situation". Not many give a ***** when whatever you want to read what goes on in Buffalo (local news sites) and dozens of other sites are just out there. It can't be that desperate. Dump it and take a look around.

 

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Bring back the COURIER EXPRESS 

[Dablitzkrieg]

Imagine subscribing/paying for any news source

[The Frankish Reich]

4 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

I quite enjoy reading the morning paper at the local cafe whilst having a coffee and breakfast  … 

 

I will miss it when it’s gone..

Agreed. I was an aging holdout, unfurling my newspaper at coffee shops for years while everyone else was asking “what’s the Wifi code.”  I finally gave in. Print is dead. 

[Gugny]

6 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

I really do enjoy reading their sports coverage, but $28.99 per month? That's just nuts IMO. I was paying $13 per month and was debating it at that price.

 

Does that seem outrageous to anyone else? I don't have a lot to compare it to.

 

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

Our local paper is going to print/deliver 3 days/week beginning next week. 
 

They tried to spin it as a bonus, since the paper will now be packed with more news/articles. 
 

Who wants two-three day old news?

 

On top of that, they are getting rid of their delivery people and the USPS will now deliver it with the mail. 
 

So now I can’t read the paper until after I get home from work. 

 

I emailed and asked if the subscription would go down. 
 

Hard no.

 

For those reasons … I’m out.  

[HardyBoy]

4 hours ago, Chaos said:

Lee Enterprises who owns 77 Daily Newspapers and has been in business since 1890, will be reaching out to you shortly to learn how to run newspapers.  Please be on standby for their call. 

 

Come on, they're buying the papers, saddling them with debt, liquidating the business and selling the super high value real-estate that a lot of these news papers had acquired in the heart of cities, then turning around and using the loses to offset their taxes on other investments...this isn't Hurst or Orson Well's character Citizen Cane or more recently Sinclair media consolidating local news to control messaging.

 

This is Bain Capital type private equity crap that is highly ethically questionable stuff...granted I don't think print papers were long for this world, but these companies buying newspapers are not trying to keep them going, for the most part. If I'm wrong and I misread stuff when I looked into this in the past, I'm happy to change my opinion, but there are real consequences in local government to not have reporters looking around at stuff to keep people honest.

[Beck Water]

6 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

I really do enjoy reading their sports coverage, but $28.99 per month? That's just nuts IMO. I was paying $13 per month and was debating it at that price.

 

Does that seem outrageous to anyone else? I don't have a lot to compare it to.

 

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

 

Yeah, I'm out of the area and don't have too much interest in much of the content now.  That's gonna lose me.

[chongli]

3 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I have a question, and maybe it’s been answered, but what does it cost if you pick one up….wherever you pick up a newspaper now. I see them in the grocery store sometimes.

 

I might look at a book store if I needed one? I don’t love it, but I get it. Paper died a while ago. I’m still a hard cover guy.  

 

Should be free at a local library. My gym still gets a print edition for members to read.

[Augie]

Just now, chongli said:

 

Should be free at a local library. My gym still gets a print edition for members to read.

 

WOW! This took me back to my weekly trip to Chili’s to get the USA Today on the bar on Tuesdays to read two sentences about the Bills. 

[Don Otreply]

4 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

...And pay CASH, for the service. Bank fees, for small businesses, are killing them. My local Wine Shop, (in tiny, Altamont, NY) pays over $1200/Mo., just for credit card transactions. - Doesn't sound like much, but this is a one room shop. They thank me, when I pay in cash.

It’s tough for small businesses for sure, today I went to a local farm stand bought a bunch of produce and a bottle of locally made wine, they thanked me too, but I think it’s they who should be thanked, 

3 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the Wall Street Journal is $4 a month.  The Athletic is $1 a month if you hit both with promos.  Perhaps Buffalo News has a promo?

 

they should run ads like any other paper.  The people who work for large businesses are also neighbors.  

Okay, 

[sullim4]

This is the death knell in their coffin.  No one in their right mind is going to pay this.

 

Look at the newspapers from smaller metros for the future of The Buffalo News - they have a reporter or two that writes a couple articles a day, with a bunch of filler from wire services like the AP, AFP, Reuters, and Bloomberg.  As others have said, many don't have home delivery anymore and rely on the USPS.

 

Interestingly the downfall of the local rags is going to hit the major nationals - NYT, WSJ, WaPo, etc.  Local printers are responsible for printing and delivering those newspapers nationally.  They will lose their circulation partners as these smaller newspapers fail.

[Old Coot]

Won't somebody think of the children. How will all those papier mache craft projects get done? With digital news? I don't think so.

[Old Coot]

While we're complaining about the high cost of print media, Old Coot remembers when he could get a McDonalds Burger, fries and a shake and get change back from a dollar.

 

In 1960 season's tickets for the best seats in the house for Bills' seven home games cost $35.

 

A ticket to the first Superbowl in 1967 (it was officially called the NFL-AFL World Championship) average cost $12 and they had to give away thousands of unsold tickets so the stands wouldn't look so empty.

[chongli]

25 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

While we're complaining about the high cost of print media, Old Coot remembers when he could get a McDonalds Burger, fries and a shake and get change back from a dollar.

 

In 1960 season's tickets for the best seats in the house for Bills' seven home games cost $35.

 

A ticket to the first Superbowl in 1967 (it was officially called the NFL-AFL World Championship) average cost $12 and they had to give away thousands of unsold tickets so the stands wouldn't look so empty.

 

The good ole days! Though I wasn't alive in the 60's, but I remember a first-class stamp or a local call on a payphone cost $0.15 in the early 80's. A loaf of bread or a gallon gas was $0.29. You could buy 45's for under a dollar. Motor oil still came in metal cans--just quarts though--no gallon sizes like today. The Bills were blacked out a lot in the 80's. So, I listed to Van Miller's call on the radio. And the Sabres games.

 

I sold the daily newspaper for $0.25. I delivered six days a week, so I had to charge $1.50 a week. Customers often gave me $2 dollars and said keep the change (well, except for that old lady in her 80's who gave me a nickel tip...lol). Until the late '80s that is, when the newspaper company raised the price to $0.30 daily, so $1.80 a week. Then my tips decreased a lot. Customers still gave me two dollars and said keep the change.

 

And one day I only had a quarter in my pocket walking home from school. But I still was able to treat me and my friend at a convenience store. Two unflavored slurpies for $0.10 each, and two pretzel sticks for a nickel.

Edited July 7, 2023 by chongli

[par73]

Dropped the News completely a few years ago (was hanging on for a while with just the Sunday edition).

[ALF]

The library has a printed newspaper to read for free in nice chairs.

[gjv]

Can a city be viable without a newspaper?

[BillsPride12]

A work friend of mine had Bucky Gleason as his realtor checking out some properties a couple weeks ago and he was telling him he is so glad he got out when he did and it's only a matter of time before the Buffalo News shuts down operations completely....this is one step getting closer to it😢

[What a Tuel]

14 hours ago, PonyBoy said:

Did the $1 for 6 months hoping Bills would win the SB and I could read local coverage. Pfffttt...wasn't worth the dollar with all the ads popping up alone. Very frustrating to try to read digitally. Cancelled, they low balled like $10 for 6 months or something to continue. The ad BS just wasn't worth it. 

 

There are ads even with the subscription?

[Dan Darragh]

15 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

On the flip side, the cost to advertise in the paper has probably never been lower.

That's not actually the flip side, it's the same side.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

$28.99 buys about 3 things at the grocery store now. 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Straight Hucklebuck

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

12 hours ago, T&C said:

Why even pay a dime for online Buffalo news stories? A hard copy once in awhile sure but there are tons of places to get Buffalo news online. Just make sure you have ABP , Ad Blocker Pro on you device.

 

I don't mind paying to support their work. And their work is good. Just not $30 per month good

[Homey D. Clown]

16 hours ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:

 

I really do enjoy reading their sports coverage, but $28.99 per month? That's just nuts IMO. I was paying $13 per month and was debating it at that price.

 

Does that seem outrageous to anyone else? I don't have a lot to compare it to.

 

Meanwhile, new customers get $1 for 26 weeks then renews at $10.99 per month? WTH

 

Well, they got me for 89 dollars for 3 months in  April without an email notice.  I just cancelled my subscription thanks to this thread.

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

17 minutes ago, Homey D. Clown said:

 

Well, they got me for 89 dollars for 3 months in  April without an email notice.  I just cancelled my subscription thanks to this thread.

 

Brutal. I canceled as soon as I read that email. 

[Albany,n.y.]

I know this isn't going to go over big with most of you, but judging from the replies to the price increase, many of you must have been mentored by Ralph when it came to finances. The hard copies when bought on a daily basis have cost more than this for years.  

[DaggersEOD]

The scary thing is you as a citizen have immense power at the State/Local levels. 
 

You have nearly zero power at the Federal/National level, so why is it, do you think, that we have wall to wall National coverage where all you can do is get mad and post stuff, and almost no coverage at the State/Local level where you actually have wieldable power?

 

Bread and circuses.  

[SoCal Deek]

10 hours ago, Augie said:

 

WOW! This took me back to my weekly trip to Chili’s to get the USA Today on the bar on Tuesdays to read two sentences about the Bills. 

Augie…this seals it…you and I are literally the same person!