TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS!!! MUST READ!!! FORMER KANSAS CITY STAR SUBSCRIBER RAGES OVER DRASTIC PRICE INCREASE AMID REPORTING CUTBACK!!!
TKC NOTE: Amid high profile newsie departures reported FIRST by our TKC bloggy community here's a MUST READ EPIC FACT CHECK that shows us why the daily newspaper is a failing institution. Check it:
Dead Tree Media Rip-off
TKC, Do you subscribe to the Kansas City Star? Today I discovered a tremendous rip-off being perpetuated on the unsuspecting subscribers to the KCS. My billing arrived and there is a 15% increase in charges over the previous 13 week billing. Just two years ago a full year cost $275 and now it is $413.
This is the midst of shrinkage...makes me think of George Costanza..in the physical sense and the actual reporting content of this once vaunted institution of a product.
Mondays papers over the past three months have shrunken to as few as 22 pages as a norm. The Sunday paper reminds me of the daily product I received less than five years ago. Gone are many of the great reporters and ...wait for it....journalists. Only a few of the regarded names still exist and yet we still have the most arrogant Yael A. drawing a paycheck. Mi Al Parish apparently believes in shrinking to greatness rather than producing a product that people seek out as a source of reliable information. We have all the feel good crap they can dig up and just like KCTV the news we get is laced with improper descriptions of "feelings". Journalists are supposed to create accurate pictures of stories based upon Who, What, When, Where and Why. Guys like Rizzo, Helling, Horsley(a woman), Gregorian, Kraske and a few others who now write only as shadows of their former selves for their own job protection. Managing editors have apparently made it clear that if they value their positions they better tow the line on how they write their opinion pieces.
I asked the billing department why the 15% increase and the person told me "it is due to increased costs in production and distribution". I then asked if he was in KC and he said "no I am off shore". I told him the cost of fuel in the area was down by about 33% from a year ago and that reason didn't fly with me. Jason then told me he could adjust my billing down to $94 for 13 weeks. I told him that was unacceptable and I paid $89 in February and with the reduced size of the paper, the reduced content, the elimination of several sections and recurring items, the incomplete TV listings etc and with the horrible Lee Judge cartoons that I was at my limit at $89. He couldn't do anything else except $94. I then wondered if this rip-off of people that don't question the KCS price they are billed just gave the KCS an extra $9 every 13 weeks or $36 for the year?
TKC, you need to investigate this scam and save more subscribers to the DTM their $36 per year. I asked him to have someone from the Kansas City office call me directly to discuss this.
I have had daily delivery for over 40 years and know if I draw this line in the sand I'll probably be reading more on-line content every day because I won't be reading the Star via the Dead Tree Media.
Thanks.
Just call me .....Billed to the Max.
#########
Information wants to be free?
ReplyDeleteMedia is changing.
ReplyDeleteTKC Denizens are not subscribers.
TKC Densizens do not need information that does not support their predetermined point of view.
And yet, bitch and moan finds a way to continue.
Seriously, get a friggin life.
Awww, I'm sorry. Bad City Hall coffee got you down?
DeleteI only buy the Sunday paper and I only buy it for the ads. Used to be a daily subscriber. The KC Star is now about the size of weekly student newspaper and it is a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteTo "Billed to the Max":
ReplyDeleteSuggestion:
1. Pick up the phone and call the Star's circulation department.
2. Respectfully request cancellation of your subscription.
3. Move on with your life, with one less thing to bitch about.
This three step process has "portable" application for most of the complaining that ensues on this blog, i.e., identify the problem, make a decision, implement, and move on.
The alternative approach about endless bitching by Tony's Klan gets you nowhere.
I, for one, would like to see the U-Haul with Tony's profile on the truck again.
If you like your Liberal, Progressive Narrative, you can keep your Liberal, Progressive Narrative, but, it will cost you, just like that Narrative costs us all.
ReplyDeletewaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletestopped subscribing to that rag 4 years ago...felt great to know I was no longer contributing to the salaries of their uber-BS columnists like Dickweed, Rose, Shelly et al.
BTW - can read all their articles u want online -- just clear your browser cache if any "limit" msgs come up--
hope they fold -- soon!
ps -- after I canceled -- they still threw me the paper free for a few months afterwards
How did you guess that I feel the same. Love news - also have electronic copy that won't let me read and the hard copy has truly been described. Guess I'll have to hear the news by word of mouth. So long, KC Star!
ReplyDeleteRenewed mine last year for a one time special offer of $ 168.00 for a year.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need journalists anymore. Everything a person needs in life to be informed is instantaneously available on Facebook and Twitter.
ReplyDeleteSelfies, beers, where the latest party is.
Why the hell are so many people trying to tree hug the local yokel news rag. The world changes. News papers are the slowest form of content delivery. Jesus fuck! Let the Star die and move on to the new millennium already.
ReplyDeleteRight, things are going so well in the US today.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that objective thought has all but disappeared in this country is not not contributing to the quality of the dolts we elect.
100% of the readers here know the second amendment, and 5% actually know how many amendments there are. But lets cut education because that's good for the economy.
Yes, I would not have known about Ebola if it wasn't for Tony.
ReplyDeleteMr. "Billed To The Max",
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. You're an old-school hard-working guy who sticks to his habitual routine until forced to change. But, change can be a blessing.
As you yourself clearly indicated, you're getting significantly less, yet being asked to pay more! Shrinkage indeed, George Costanza!
Please be extremely wary of extending your subscription beyond short periods of time, as there is the real possibility of a McClatchy bankruptcy. You pay in advance and you never get delivery.
I don't know how big a secret this is, but all you have to do is call and cancel your subscription. Within a few days you'll be getting daily calls offering you special deals. The one I took is less than $100 a year for Wednesday through Sunday service. (As you pointed out, Monday's paper is close to nonexistent, and Tuesday's is not much bigger.)
ReplyDeleteTake advantage of these annual specials and pay once a year. Never ever let them put you on a monthly "automatic" billing charged to your credit card. If you do that, you'll find your bills go up frequently and unexpectedly.
If you get an annual bill that's too high, cancel again, and the same thing will happen all over again. I've been doing this for 20 years. It's a little bit of a hassle, but for $300 a year in savings, it's worth a little hassle.
In the very unlikely event you don't get calls from the Star, the folks selling subscriptions at Price Chopper, CVS, etc., alsop offer good deals, but they can't sell you a subscription if you're a subscriber, so you need to cancel.
My guess is that the City holds the paper (loan) on that big green building. I'm sure they got TIF or a tax free deal when they built it. They have to slant everything in the Mayors favor or face his wrath! So sad to see it disappear.
ReplyDeleteever wonder why all the Letters-to the Editor are pro-Democrat Repub bashing--
ReplyDeletejust try submitting a Conservative leaning letter -- lots of luck getting that printed--
out of a half dozen letters over a year or two -- I got ONE published -- on a non-political subject --
I got a call from ...yep..Lewis Diuguid - to verify my identity - so -- that uber-lib may be the reason for only lefty letters in the Star.
10:43, I think you are right that Diuguid lords it over the letters page as his personal fiefdom. Every now and again he lets in a letter that is slightly right of center, but on the whole the letters he publishes reflect his own views.
ReplyDeleteA newspaper is a business. No business can last if it habitually insults half its potential customers like the Star does.
I live in a 156 unit Seniors building. Many of our residents have mobility problems so for the past 4 years I have met The Star carrier and distribute to the residents. 4 years ago we had low 30s subscribers. Now we have 12 with more on Wed and Sunday. Price is a factor.
ReplyDeleteAlack of objective Journalism is a major problem. Kansas City is a corrupt Democrat town. The Star has become worse than The Huffing and Puffing Post. The Star is a far left/socialist/Marxist/progressive/Democrat tabloid void of unbiased reporting.
The Editorial Board and writers makes no claim of objectivity. A reporter, who I trust, told me the decision to become a left wing Tabloid came from Chicago. The decision was not made locally.
I also read The Myrtle Beach South Carolina Sun, another McClatchy paper. While it has degenerated it lags behind The Star.
We also must realize the Newspaper industry is not dying but dead. Advertising in the past generated the revenue and profits. Today you see few ads in the newspaper. The internet is the most cost effective method. Radio and Television are good for image building and product introduction but do not drive immediate sales.
In the Mid 60s and 70s I advertised in every major newspaper in America.Kansas City was one of the higher cost papers but drive sales. My old company no longer advertises in any newspapers and have reduced the advertising budget by over 80 percent.
The Newspaper and advertising industry has changed. WalMart and Target drive sales. If I am sitting on Madison Avenue in New York I would not consider local advertising. I would work with business like WalMart to push my product.
News today no longer comes without bias's.
Charles Melton
cmltn42@yahoo.com
well said @ 10:43 and 11:00 --
ReplyDeletejust yesterday -- I tried leaving a "comment" with my Facebook ID to this article
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/performing-arts/article16186289.html
just pointing out that "Hair" debuted in April 1968 -- when LBJ was Prez -- why is the lib KC Rep showing anti-Nixon signage?
even THAT got deleted..
fug 'em.. hope they go BK..soon
Ah yes we need to move into that expensive fancy new all glass bottom line destroying revenue flushing building so we looked modern!!! Cool!!! Smart and With it!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is a short adjustment time to get comfortable shitting with a phone in your hand as opposed the the old dependable newsprint. You'll get there.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter. It's all the same old bullshit whether it's delivered on paper or through a electronic gadget.
ReplyDeleteMr. Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this TBT post. I still subscribe to the Star. Gets thrown daily. It is a dreadful little missive that used to be a giant.
I still can't sever ties with the paper as I have had some version of it in my home both as child and adult.
As I travel around I always buy a
local paper. Many put the Star to shame. Maybe I will finally reduce the subscription to just weekend like I have with the Times and WSJ.
Giving all those tax breaks to an unstable business was stupid.
ECONOMY BREAKING!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKansas City Fed Plunges To 2-Year Lows, New Orders Crash: "Economy Not As Strong As Media Portrays"
on ZeroHedge.com
03/26/2015 - 11:17
How can it be? Services PMI was at 6-month highs. The Kansas City Fed Index tumbled to -4 in March (against expectations of +1) and was last below this level in Feb 2013. KC Fed has now missed for 6 of the last 8 months and the report is a disaster across the board. New orders plunged to -20 (2nd lowest print since Lehman), order backlogs imploded, average workweek collapsed to -17 (lowest since Lehman), and future capex expectations fell to a five-year low. As one respondent noted, "we do not see the economy as being as strong as a portrayed in the national media reports."
Where's the old "love it or leave it" Uhaul City Hall Cheerleader Squad... you know, the same idiotic mindset that keeps a nightmare like Vietnam going for an extra 5 years?
ReplyDelete11:04: We're down to two subscribers on my block.
ReplyDelete11:11: Good point, although "Hair" changed with the times. I first saw it in 1971, and "LBJ Took the IRT" had been changed to "Tricky Dick... ."
I am so hoping this production will be a fun production and not a self-reverential trip down "wasn't it wonderful" memory lane.
1:25, my understanding is that the current Rep production is not the original musical but a clever and incisive retrospective through original cast members. I have heard it is an excellent and really enjoyable show.
ReplyDelete