Tuesday 8 July 2008

Price hikes

An astute and forever helpful Toronto Sun Family reader writes:

"Once again, with the demise of the TV magazine, Quebecor follows its credo of "Give readers less and charge them more."

She points to a Page 2 notice in the July 6 Sunday Sun announcing an immediate hike in home delivery of the Sunday Sun to $1.85 in the GTA and $2.10 beyond the GTA.

The new Saturday-Sunday subscription is $2.69.

And she highlights a June 29 Rob Granatstein column about the cost of the print media business and how readers should appreciate the quality of the product.

"I couldn't figure out the point of the column, but I was wondering if it was to soften up readers for an imminent price hike," she says. "With the Star going to a cover price of $1 Monday to Friday, I thought the bean counters at Quebecor would figure it was a good time to hike prices.

"This may not be the first time the price hike notice was published, but you would have thought Granatstein's June 29 column might have made some mention if the hike had already been implemented."

Like the lady says, charge them more, give them less - Quebecor's way of doing business since 1999. The profitable Toronto Sun must be feeling like a well used milk cow.

Meanwhile, we're paying more for the Globe - $1.25 weekdays out here in the boonies - and enjoying it more because they are trying harder to keep the print customer satisfied.

1 comment:

  1. The Sun lost me as a buyer, won't pay $1 for that. Used to buy all the time for the GO train home. No more.

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