Smell the Roses, Please!

A sad thing happened to me last night. Emma and I were on the couch and the doorbell rings. Of course the wiener dog goes into an immediate seizure wanting to attack whatever is making the noise. After we corralled the idiot I answered the door. The guy at the door identified himself as the circulation supervisor for the Austin American Statesman. Here was his sales pitch:

"I am (name) and I am here to offer you a special deal for subscribing to the Statesman. Because our subscriptions are down we are in danger of losing your local carrier. We have a price for a subscription just to cover the cost of delivery. "

At this point I cut him off and told him that I do not read a daily paper and that I was not interested. He thanked me and left, clearly showing me that this was not his first rejection today nor would it be his last. He had that look of defeat that showed he understood something that the people above him didn't: the relevance of the print press has seen it's day. The newspaper industry has been beating a dead business model for 10 years and it's time for someone to get a clue.

I have a soft spot in my heart for newspapers. Correction: I HAD one. My first job was at the age of 12 I had a paper route. I had 100+ customers and was up at 5 a.m. every morning delivering. On rainy days Mom or Dad would take me in the car but otherwise it was on the bike. I remember that a monthly subscription was $1.90 and I had to do all of my own collections. I would show special attention to those customers that I knew would give me that $0.10 tip. I had one lady that really made me work for it! The deal was that I put the paper on the porch each morning. I had a pretty good arm but sometimes I would miss so I would have to get off the bike and put the paper on the porch. I knew that this extra effort would be rewarded with that $0.10 tip at the end of the month. Little did I know at that time how valuable the lessons were. Customer service, collections, work ethic and money management were some great lessons learned from this 3 year experience. This was an opportunity afforded many young men of my time that is not available to kids these days.

Alas, that was almost 50 years ago and things have changed. By the time the newspaper hits the yard(nobody puts it on the porch anymore) there is no "news" in it. Cable news 24/7, internet news groups available at the touch of a finger and radio news stations give you the latest news instantaneously. Most of the print press have online versions with free content and subscription content. The problem is that most news can be found online for free. Nevertheless they stubbornly persist in putting out and environmentally unfriendly print version of stuff that is only good for the bottom of the cat box. And don't get me started on the opinion page! When was the last time you were influenced by who some newspaper editor endorsed for an election? 'Nuff said!

Sadly, economics will dictate the end of print media sooner rather than later. They are not immune to progress anymore than any other industry. Who of us would still be working if we tried to produce the same product in the same manner that we did 20 years ago, or even 5 years ago? Adaptation is the key to survival and those that do not recognize this will be hard pressed to survive.