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cellioI still enjoy reading a paper newspaper -- not for the national news, which I can get more efficiently online, but for local news and features, and for the tactile experience of reading it with a cat snuggled on my lap.
Pittsburgh has two newspapers, the right-wing one and the left-wing one. Both of them are oftentimes offensive to me with their editorial slant, but I find that the right-wing one is more moderate in its wing-ness and is generally less annoying to me. And, face it, I'm not going to find a paper in wide circulation whose editors I'll usually agee with. So, all things considered, I like getting the Trib, and I've been getting it ever since the now-defunct Press went on strike in 1993.
I understand that delivery can be challenging. The pay's probably crap, which makes it hard to keep good people, and someone has to get the paper to my house every morning anyway. I take this into account when tipping my carrier. For the last couple of years I have had excellent service.
Then, at the end of June, the Trib outsourced its delivery service -- to, it turns out, the Post-Gazette. My delivery service has degenerated badly; I would estimate that in the nearly two months since then, I have missed almost as many papers as I've received. Every time the routine is nearly the same: I call to complain, they (optionally) promise me a replacement paper, said paper (if promised) does not arrive, they promise that a circulation manager will call, and it doesn't happen in a timely manner. I have received two calls -- after stretches where papers were missed nearly every day, there'd be a good stretch for several days and then someone would call to ask if things were ok now. Both times I've said "so far"; the second time I said "but it didn't continue last time". I have yet to receive a call for the current run. The folks who answer the phones are not authorized to put me in direct touch with someone higher up, of course (or so the script says).
I'm fed up. The whole point of getting a daily paper is to have it show up without me having to do anything. I am not going to go to the trouble of seeking out a paper to buy every day, or on the days when the paper doesn't show up. If I can't shake a manager-type person loose, I will probably just cancel.
Is anyone else in Pittsburgh having delivery problems -- with either paper, since it's apparently the same people now? It might seem in the PG's interests to slightly degrade the outsourced service compared to their own, but I assume they're smart enough not to try that (it would get them a short-term win and a long-term loss). I'm curious how widespread the problem is, and if anyone else has been able to solve it.
My house isn't hard to find, and it has a nice wide porch and an uncluttered lawn -- a big target area, in other words.
(If I do cancel: can someone point me to a customizable web-based comics aggregator? Ideally I want to go to one page that displays today's strips from a list I specify. Following forward/back links for my subscription list would be acceptable. Having to find each strip in a menu/list is not. I don't want to syndicate to my LJ subscription list; I want them all in one place in a batch.)
Pittsburgh has two newspapers, the right-wing one and the left-wing one. Both of them are oftentimes offensive to me with their editorial slant, but I find that the right-wing one is more moderate in its wing-ness and is generally less annoying to me. And, face it, I'm not going to find a paper in wide circulation whose editors I'll usually agee with. So, all things considered, I like getting the Trib, and I've been getting it ever since the now-defunct Press went on strike in 1993.
I understand that delivery can be challenging. The pay's probably crap, which makes it hard to keep good people, and someone has to get the paper to my house every morning anyway. I take this into account when tipping my carrier. For the last couple of years I have had excellent service.
Then, at the end of June, the Trib outsourced its delivery service -- to, it turns out, the Post-Gazette. My delivery service has degenerated badly; I would estimate that in the nearly two months since then, I have missed almost as many papers as I've received. Every time the routine is nearly the same: I call to complain, they (optionally) promise me a replacement paper, said paper (if promised) does not arrive, they promise that a circulation manager will call, and it doesn't happen in a timely manner. I have received two calls -- after stretches where papers were missed nearly every day, there'd be a good stretch for several days and then someone would call to ask if things were ok now. Both times I've said "so far"; the second time I said "but it didn't continue last time". I have yet to receive a call for the current run. The folks who answer the phones are not authorized to put me in direct touch with someone higher up, of course (or so the script says).
I'm fed up. The whole point of getting a daily paper is to have it show up without me having to do anything. I am not going to go to the trouble of seeking out a paper to buy every day, or on the days when the paper doesn't show up. If I can't shake a manager-type person loose, I will probably just cancel.
Is anyone else in Pittsburgh having delivery problems -- with either paper, since it's apparently the same people now? It might seem in the PG's interests to slightly degrade the outsourced service compared to their own, but I assume they're smart enough not to try that (it would get them a short-term win and a long-term loss). I'm curious how widespread the problem is, and if anyone else has been able to solve it.
My house isn't hard to find, and it has a nice wide porch and an uncluttered lawn -- a big target area, in other words.
(If I do cancel: can someone point me to a customizable web-based comics aggregator? Ideally I want to go to one page that displays today's strips from a list I specify. Following forward/back links for my subscription list would be acceptable. Having to find each strip in a menu/list is not. I don't want to syndicate to my LJ subscription list; I want them all in one place in a batch.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-27 11:33 pm (UTC)You were getting roughly a 25% failure rate on delivery? Wow, how annoying!