Newspapers ... still cost less than a cup of coffee

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This month I celebrate 30 years in the newspaper industry and also mark 29 years working in circulation. Wow, that is a long time, and hard for me to get my head around that many years. At least it was until I started looking at some old pictures and was able to chart the opposite paths of my hairline and waist line.

Upon reflection, I thought back to one of the first promotions I did in circulation. My catch phrase or hook as some call it, was that the cost of the newspaper was "still less than a cup of coffee and we deliver it to your home."

This got me thinking about the price of coffee and the cost of newspapers.
How many circulation professionals have used that line, or something similar, to promote their newspaper... "Less than the cost of a cup of coffee"?

The problem is that the cost of newspapers did not keep up with the cost of a cup of coffee.

I remember years ago calling around to find out the cost of a cup of coffee to make sure when we had our rate increase we would still be less than the cost of coffee locally.

What is the cost of a cup of coffee in your market? I think the difference in the two costs are a lot different than they were 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. Why is that?

I think the reason is that we lost some of our focus, we took our eye off the ball. We lost our focus because we were forced to reduce staff and expenses to the bone and then cut some more.

As I recommend that you take a look at your rates, I will add a qualifier. If you have a newspaper void of local news you best hold what you got. But if you have a newspaper that is flowing with local news that your community needs, take a look at the cost of a cup of coffee in your market and stop to consider the possibilities.

My good friend Phil Hanna told me that every time you have a rate increase there will be people who will drop off and never come back, and he is right. He mentioned that people living paycheck to paycheck have to make buying decisions. Will they do away with their cable, cell phone, beer, cigarettes, gas for their car, food to eat, or their newspaper? I think when you take a look at it from that view, he is right on. Newspapers will lose those battles.

Another good friend of mine, newspaper owner, publisher Jerry Bellune, sends out an email blast to industry leaders ever so often. Jerry is a master at asking the right questions and he always gets me thinking.

The recent email I mentioned got me thinking about the cost of coffee and newspapers. Remember he always seems to ask the right questions. He asked: "Are you charging the same thing you did last year? Five years ago? Bad mistake if you are. Your cost of goods and services must rise too."

So who is right and who is wrong? I think both are right.

Yes, you will loose some of your customers at the bottom of the demographics, however a very high percentage of customers realize the cost of doing business has gone up. Don't believe me? How excited are people in your community when gas prices drop to $3.20 a gallon?

I think the best I ever saw at having rate increases was the late Sam Diaz in Lakeland, Fla. He was the master at having small stealth rate increases that added to the revenue line and caused hardly a bump in the road. He would have these increases one or sometimes two times a year and he grew circulation. Yes, I know times are different, but as I sit here drinking my $2 cup of coffee and reading my 50 cent newspaper, I wonder if things should be really be that far apart. They did not used to be.

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