Wall Street Journal - High Price for digital

[Amethyst]

I had a 2-month subscription to WSJ.com for $1.00. I just canceled because the price was going up to $32.99 per month. The rep offered $14.50 per month, I asked for $10.00 and he said they could not do that.

Now, Mr. A. just got an offer in the mail for 6 months, print and digital, for $99.00, which is $16.50/month including the cost of someone to drive by the house every day and toss the paper into the culvert. Yet they couldn't keep me as a digital customer for $10.00??

 

[Chuckanut]

Sounds like the kind of thing that makes many of us retire early.

I have the same problem with my local paper. Currently, I get the physical paper and access to the digital version comes with it. I wanted to keep my subscription but get the paper online only. But, the digital only version t is more money than the "very special offer' I am now getting that includes home delivery and digital. !!!!

Not so good. I cancelled.

 

[W2R]

Sounds like the kind of thing that makes many of us retire early.

I have the same problem with my local paper. Currently, I get the physical paper and access to the digital version comes with it. I wanted to keep my subscription but get the paper online only. But, the digital only version t is more money than the "very special offer' I am now getting that includes home delivery and digital. !!!!

Not so good. I cancelled.

Our local daily newspaper solved that problem. Our paper version of the newspaper is no longer available. It went out of business; they shut down the office, and only have the digital version now. Be glad if you have a paper newspaper at all.

The digital version is free, but you get what you pay for. It is written only by wannabes who ignore who-what-when-where-why, and whose grammar and spelling would be atrocious for a 2nd grader.

 

[2017ish]

Could be worse with WSJ. I unthinkingly renewed print & digital for 2 years in November 2016. Given that we will be out of country for large chunks of time post-retirement, basically just threw that money out the window. Luckily, I would have wanted digital regardless, and son2 will gladly accept change of address for the hardcopy.

 

[CardsFan]

Sounds like the kind of thing that makes many of us retire early.

I have the same problem with my local paper. Currently, I get the physical paper and access to the digital version comes with it. I wanted to keep my subscription but get the paper online only. But, the digital only version t is more money than the "very special offer' I am now getting that includes home delivery and digital. !!!!

Not so good. I cancelled.

The local paper here is so so. I like it, but don't need it. So, when we get a really cheap offer, I sign-up. Last one was $10/month. It expired in September, but they kept delivering. I got a bill. I called to say I did not continue. The paper stopped for 2 days, then started again. I got 2 more calls, with "great" offers (2-3 times what I had been paying) and said NO!

Still getting the paper, apparently for free. Sooner or later they will figure it out, I will wait for a few months, and then get another post card with the new subscriber offer of $10/month.

I think the print daileys are hurting and need the deliveries to support the ad charges.

 

[pb4uski]

Could be worse with WSJ. I unthinkingly renewed print & digital for 2 years in November 2016. Given that we will be out of country for large chunks of time post-retirement, basically just threw that money out the window. Luckily, I would have wanted digital regardless, and son2 will gladly accept change of address for the hardcopy.

You can put it on hold... not sure for how long though... or if you're going to be somewhere for a while you could do a temporary change of address.

I had a full subscription when mega-firm was paying for it... then later got the weekend edition for $99 for a year IIRC, but they wanted $200/year when I went to renew so I dropped it. They used to do more introductory specials... I would take advantage of those and let them expire and then do it again a short time later.

Recently, I just bought weekend edition at the newstand... not worth $4 IMO.

 

[2017ish]

You can put it on hold... not sure for how long though... or if you're going to be somewhere for a while you could do a temporary change of address.

...

two months in peru Sept-Oct; two months in south pacific next May-July, another trip for a couple months somewhere in between ... Thanks to insights from this forum, we are setting up a virtual mailbox. That poses another issue for WSJ, as our rural address gets WSJ via same-day mail--not home delivery in the morning.

Definitely first world problem. At least Son2 will enjoy the hardcopy subscription.

 

[marko]

TRPrice has a free subscription to digital WSJ for Enhanced Services customers.

 

[Amethyst]

That's better than anything VG Flagship offers. Too bad TRP's charges are generally higher than VG's.

TRPrice has a free subscription to digital WSJ for Enhanced Services customers.

 

[Hzefam]

If you have any airline miles look into converting them for a subscription. Great value for a small amount of miles.

 

[Hzefam]

One year subscription including print and digital for 3200 miles.

 

[samclem]

Now, Mr. A. just got an offer in the mail for 6 months, print and digital, for $99.00 . . .

Watch out for the "autorenewal at our regular rate on your credit card" angle on that one. They got me one time.
I was fine with the WSJ at their special rate of $99/year--I enjoy the paper. But when I couldn't get it anymore at anything near that rate, I chose to give it up. I'll check on the airline miles idea, that's a good one. That's also the only way I'll get "The Economist," which I also enjoy.

 

[RobbieB]

If it costs too much don't buy it.

 

[kramer]

I would gladly pay up to maybe $12-$15/month for a no-hassle, no-bait-and-switch, no auto-renew-at-higher-rate, no-snail-mail, digital-only WSJ subscription. I already pay this for the NY Times which has a great Android App. But it just doesn't seem to be possible with the WSJ . . . very annoying.

 

[Lsbcal]

I dropped my subscription to the WSJ some years back. On reflection I could not identify anything that it really offered me regarding investment advice or technique over the 30 years I subscribed.

WSJ's inflexible pricing did me a favor. Freed me up to do more productive things.

 

[euro]

If you have any airline miles look into converting them for a subscription. Great value for a small amount of miles.

Agree - I have been doing this for years. I have been rotating my own miles, DW's, DD's, and DS's. Great way to use up those low balance mileage accounts from the one-off carriers

 

[Montecfo]

Great ideas. Hopefully in retirement i will continue to enjoy WSJ.

And Barrons.

Company pays now. But so few good newspapers anymore.

 

[Amethyst]

I agree. I liked having it as a foil to the WaPo. It's interesting to see the different ways the same story gets reported.

I dropped my subscription to the WSJ some years back. On reflection I could not identify anything that it really offered me regarding investment advice or technique over the 30 years I subscribed.

WSJ's inflexible pricing did me a favor. Freed me up to do more productive things.

 

[DrRoy]

If it costs too much don't buy it.

+1 So much info is available online that there is not a lot of reason to pay for it.

 

[Totoro]

There is more at play than the $2 or $6.5 difference to add print.

For one, the rep has instructions that he can't deviate for sure. Another one is that print still has ads in them that bring in revenue - more than the subscription most likely, especially WSJ.

Paper printing costs pennies, and delivery in bulk isn't that expensive either. Especially if there's a route running already along your house.

Also, they probably don't mind making a mild loss if that means you will subscribe to the digital edition. It doesn't make sense sometimes for everyone (like you), but in the whole it increases revenue quite a bit. I can imagine that switching some demographics over to digital only is easier if you lure them into print first.

Just some aspects I can imagine are at play. Pricing and cost sometimes get weirdly divorced.

 

[target2019]

Paper version goes in the trash, and decays some day.
Digital version has lasting value, as in search engines, etc.

 

[Luck_Club]

two months in peru Sept-Oct; two months in south pacific next May-July, another trip for a couple months somewhere in between ... .

+1
As soon as we FIRE we plan a very similar travel schedule Northern Hemisphere Sept-Nov back through New Years Southern Hemisphere till Tax time & Summer in New England. Continue to repeat until we get bored or can't physically handle the travel and rely on the Florida home routine until death or infirmity leaves us trapped in Florida "Gods" waiting room.

 

[Amethyst]

I think your post got lost in the Tierra del Fuego

+1
As soon as we FIRE we plan a very similar travel schedule Northern Hemisphere Sept-Nov back through New Years Southern Hemisphere till Tax time & Summer in New England. Continue to repeat until we get bored or can't physically handle the travel and rely on the Florida home routine until death or infirmity leaves us trapped in Florida "Gods" waiting room.

 

[dixonge]

I'm not sure which went by the wayside first -- keeping a paper phone book or subscribing to a newspaper or magazine. I haven't had any of the above in over a decade. I can't see having them at any point in the future. The signal-to-noise (ads) ratio is just *way* too high.

 

[Luck_Club]

I think your post got lost in the Tierra del Fuego

Bucket listed