Today's Battle With the KC Star
 

I got my newspaper bill in the mail yesterday. Started looking at it today over my lunch hour, it's due for payment the first part of Feb. The price went up by about ten bucks for 13 weeks, from around $68 to around $78 for 7-day service. Why? So I call up their customer service -which will connect you with the friendly customer service agents in THE PHILIPPINES- and ask why is it $10 more?

"Bob" the phillipino says "well, you're getting the added benefit of being able to read the Kansas City Star on line, and you can manage your account on line." I tell Bob I don't give a shit about reading the KC Star online, and it was free anyway until they changed the rules on December 5th. And they send me a bill in the mail, and I pay it with online banking, so I don't need to "manage my account online." So please, just take me off the "free online reading lists" and I'll just read the copy they throw in my front yard. After much hemming and hawing, Bob says, OK, and I'm back to $68 for 13 weeks. Fine.

So I hang up with Bob, and start wondering if other Star subscribers have had the same issues. I do some googling, and find this site:

http://www.discountednewspapers.com

These guys offer to give me 26 weeks of the KC Star (twice as long) for $81, with the exact same home delivery. Currently I'll be paying the Star $136 for that same time frame. So I call up the Star Customer Service in the Phillipines again, and get Bob's cousin Juan. I ask Juan how come I'm getting reamed up the ass by the Star, when I can buy twice as many newspapers for $55 less by contracting with an online vendor? Juan says "I don't think that's legal." I tell him, "They carry six Missouri papers, including the Star, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, and the Columbia Tribune. Don't think it's a hoax." So Juan says, "Oh Surprise, we have a "Special" today, where we'll sign you up for an introductory rate of 26 weeks for $72!" I asked him to send that offer to me in writing. So we'll see. Man, I'm tired of playing footsie with these assholes to get their best deal. I've had a seven day subscription since 1978.

Anyway, if you take the Star, you may want to call their customer service and re-negotiate your deal. Or buy it online from a different vendor.

Did you see that draft article from today? You don't want that shit for the next 13 weeks.

I dumped the Star delivery about three years ago and it was around $130 for a year. The "deep discount" of $81 for six months is a joke.

I threw the Star off a truck in Independence all thru High School, and I've had a personal subscription since 1978, even when I went to Mizzou I got the paper there too. So I've been a subscriber for 35 years. No wonder newspapers are dying. Hey, if they need to charge for online content now, that's fine. But give me the option of whether or not I want to pay for access to it. Don't just throw it onto my bill and hope to slide it by me. And customer service in the Philippines? WTF is that????

Just like most other 30 year olds, I've never had a land line and I've never subscribed to a newspaper. If print media doesn't rethink their business model, I'm happy to see them go the way of Blockbuster and Borders.

I haven't taken the Star since the advent of the Internet. Don't want to read tomorrow what I can find out today.

RIP KC Star....

I don't care for the way the Star treats our Chiefs, I won't patronize them.

why does anyone pay for physical newspapers anymore? whatre u 150 years old? read all the free news online

I read all my news online but still enjoy a big mug of coffee and a fat Sunday paper. To me the death of printed media would be a sad day. And I am barely over just a 1/3 of 150.

Why do people still listen and watch local radio and TV news? People still crave locality. Something that feels part of the community.
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I am still reading it for free up here and with no logins to their site. Just started it with a 2nd laptop still free online.

Every paper in town is free at the library!!

ya all the articles on the kcstar.com website is free on my phone. I dont get what the problem is.

Yea, there must be some premium stuff I'm unable to see? Because I'm still able to read a ton of stories for free on there.
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