Friday, March 4, 2022

I'm Turning Into A Cranky Old Woman

Hubby Tony and are long time subscribers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. I think that my breakfast isn't complete until I've looked at the entire issue each day, easing into reality by starting with the comics and advice columns. Next I move to the real new sections, scanning every headline and thoroughly reading any article that catches my eye.

The cost of the subscription keeps going up. A couple of years ago we decided to save a little bit of money by changing to the e-edition during the week. On Saturday morning we get a slim paper which includes the ads and the Sunday comic section. Sunday morning the rest of the paper is waiting for us when we get up.

That system works well. Until it doesn't. Yesterday when I opened up the newspaper website on my iPad and clicked on the e-edition link I got an error message. I tried to get around the problem a couple of different ways but got the same message every time. Although I was annoyed, I figured that stuff happens, cut the company some slack, and used what would have been my reading time perusing other websites.

This morning I was even more annoyed when the problem was still there! Today I was offered the option of a newspaper version with limited functionality, but it did not work on my iPad. Zooming in enough to actually read the text made only a small portion of the page visible, and I was not able to use my finger to scroll up and down. 

I sent an email expressing my disappointment, which only got me an automated response. I spent the rest of my breakfast time visiting other websites until my coffee kicked in and I was ready to face the day. Hours later I checked the website on my desktop computer but the problem was still there. If it's not taken care of by tomorrow morning I will be very cranky!

Five years ago: A Funny For A Friday

19 comments:

  1. We always got the Sunday paper, but that kept going up despite their promises that it wouldn't. The subscription came with free access to their web site, then they decided I'd need to pay for that. The last straw was when they added a big fat fee for sending me a bill by mail. I don't get the paper any more and I don't miss it.

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    1. If this issue keeps up I might have to figure out a way to read everything I want to from one source (and include local headlines) without relying on a newspaper.

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  2. I can understand your feelings, a few weeks ago our print newspaper stopping arriving regularly we kept having to call. I don't know what happened to our regular delivery guy who has been delivering to us for years. Finally it has been sorted out after we called a couple of times asking for a newspaper credit each day we missed. I can go online to read it but we are used to flipping the paper one, especially hubby.

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    1. At first I did NOT like reading online, but got used to it. I agree that a paper version is better.

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  3. I subscribed to our local paper for more than 30 years, it is a nice ritual to read it. When the cost for the paper edition rose dramatically to $800 a year, I switched to the online edition and it works nicely to read on my phone or laptop. I hope you get your online edition back to working.

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  4. Try reaching a live person when you call the pharmacy. That is an automated system that runs you in circles. Have a great weekend.

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    1. I don't know which pharmacy you use but Walgreens is the WORST. Thankfully I only have to deal with their automated system a couple of times a year.

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    2. Funny you mention Walgreens. For the past week I've been getting robo calls from Walgreens about someone's prescriptions that aren't mine. After getting no help from them, I just blocked the number and hope the person calls to find out about his prescriptions rather than waiting for a call that isn't coming.

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    3. Sheila, thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience. How frustrating for both you and the person who is waiting for those prescriptions.

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  5. When the newspaper went to $200+ a year, I quit. I relented and got the e version, but find I never read it.

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    1. You got the same error message I read early this morning. That can't be a good thing. (Full screen did not play well with my tablet.)

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  6. I sent you an email.
    "We currently are experiencing technical problems with our e-edition. Our publishing partner is working to correct the issue.
    In the meantime, we offer this version, with limited functionality.
    Hit the fullscreen option at the bottom of the page to Zoom in on the edition or to expand the type."

    I still subscribe to the e-edition. I used to get paper 7 days a week. Then there were more ads than there was news. And the same stories would be repeated several times a week.

    I dropped the weekly and just went with the Sunday paper. Then I found I wasn't looking at it that much. It would sit unopened until the next one showed up.

    And I had delivery problems even with the Sunday edition with it getting wet in the rain. I just dropped it too.

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  7. I like having a hard copy of the newspaper each morning. The price of newspapers have gone up a lot and the editions have gotten thinner. They also have only the online copy on Saturdays which I don't appreciate.

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    1. My Sunday edition is a fraction of the size it used to be.

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  8. Technology can be so frustrating!

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  9. This happened to me when I bought the local paper e edition. Six months worth. It worked about three weeks, then the error message. I finally tried their customer service line, over and over and over again, never got through. They tried to auto charge me after six months to start it again, and then I went on the rampage and finally they cancelled it.

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    1. I suspect the papers are doing the best they can, but don't they realize that they're driving customers (and revenue) away?

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