Chicago Tribune doubling, tripling subscription rates

Chicago Business ^ | 11/22/11 | Lynne Marek

[AT7Saluki]

Chicago Tribune is doubling and tripling weekday delivery rates for some readers when their subscriptions come up for renewal.

The newspaper, a unit of Chicago-based Tribune Co., has sent some subscribers letters notifying them of the increases; others have simply seen a higher price show up on their credit card bills. The size of the rate jump depends on what a customer was paying previously.

“I'm writing to let you know that while we worked hard to maintain pricing in this challenging economy and industry for the last couple years, your current pricing is about to expire,” one letter to a Chicago Tribune subscriber said, before noting the new charge.

In a statement, the paper said, "We are asking our home-delivery customers to pay a new rate based on the value we provide and the increasing cost of doing business. All home delivery subscribers will still enjoy a discount off of the newsstand price."

[AT7Saluki]

Chicago Tribune strategy - priceless! LOL!

[bigbob]

yeah, that’ll work..../sarc

(imagine any other business trying this harebrained idea)

[Las Vegas Dave]

Expensive bird cage liner??

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Increasing the cost to balance declining readership.

Just imagine how much the last remaining subscriber will have to pay.

[listenhillary]

The size of the rate jump depends on what a customer was paying previously.

Amazon tried variable pricing. I wonder if CT is redlining and charging wealthier zip codes more to subscribe?

[KeyLargo]

In bankruptcy. I cancelled my subscription to this lib rag 5 years ago.

I assume that those on FR that have moved away years ago from Chicago still wrongly think this fish-wrap is the same old conservative newspaper that it was many years ago.

Wrong!

[rod1]

Yeah baby. And they will be so surprised when they go under sooner than they expected.

BTW-is anyone selling franchises for marketing cheap birdcage bottom collection materials?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"We are asking our home-delivery customers to pay a new rate based on the value we provide and the increasing cost of doing business."

There are lots cheaper ways to have your intelligence insulted by the Liberal propaganda echo-chamber, as the Tribune is about to learn.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I have worked in the newspaper business. It was years ago before the internet. But at that time, they were constantly giving discounts to gain subscribers, and gave unadverised discounts to keep subscribers who wanted to cancel.

Back in the old days, perhaps not today, the papers got the vast majority of their revenue from advertising, and the ad rates were based on circulation. So they were willing to give discounts to subscribers to pump up the circulation numbers, to in turn be able to see the advertising revenue increase.

Maybe that old business model doesn’t apply anymore. I do know that in the old days, any rate increase in home delivery or street sales prices was a last resort by managment, and any such increases would be small when they did happen.

They have to realize too, and this was true back in the old days as well, that a newspaper is an optional expense for people. It’s not a necessity of life to get a newspaper delivered.

Well, if they think they can just give their people a double digit increase in the price and not see fallout, there are some very naive MBAs running that newspaper.

[abb]

[Dilbert San Diego]

Thanks for the graphic. If these people running the papers think they can just spike the price to the public and make up for the lower ad revenues that way, they will get a big shock. These guys just don’t have any business sense.