Thursday, August 11, 2005

Gray Lady Thinks Her Sh*t Don't Stink

So a few weeks ago I got a call from The New York Times offering free home delivery for two weeks. However, right before the two weeks were up I received a bill in the mail so I called the 800 number to cancel so I wouldn't be charged. I was amazed by the bill, to subscribe the paper it cost $5.75 per week, or $23 per month or $276 per year. "But that's nearly 3 times it cost to get The Los Angeles Times, doesn't a subscriber get some kind of discount?" The helpful telephone operator immediately responded: "The Los Angeles Times?? They haven't won over 89 Pulitzer Prizes, have they?" "Well, no," I said, "but do you really expect me to pay 200% more because of that?" The operator then mentioned the size of the Sunday edition, how it has so much stuff in it (The Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, et cetera) that it takes the entire week to read. I mentioned that I currently had a special deal with the Los Angeles Times that gives me a full year's subscription for $59 and asked whether there was anyway they could match that. "Good afternoon, sir, thank you for your time" was the only response.

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