One option to deal with New York Times online fees

I love the New York Times web site. So it was disturbing to learn that soon unlimited access to the site is going to cost from $15 to $35 a month.

At first I thought, "I'll head elsewhere in cyberspace to get my news."

But then I realized that (1) there's nothing like the New York Times, and (2) the NYT could go out of business if people aren't willing to pay for online content.

Reading comments on a story about the digital subscription plan, I saw a response from corporate communications staffer Eileen Murphy that generated an aha! in me.

All Home Delivery subscribers (7-day, Monday-Friday, Weekender, Sunday Only, etc.) will receive the All Digital Access product for free.

Our neighbors across the street here in rural south Salem (Oregon) get the Sunday New York TImes. I buy it myself occasionally when we're on vacation and don't have our local newspapers to read. It'd be a nice addition to my weekly reading.

The cost for Sunday only delivery is $3.75 a week. That's $15 for four weeks. Which is exactly the cost of unlimited access to NYTImes.com the NYT smartphone app. (Somehow I don't think this is an accident.)

So for $15 it's possible to get the Sunday New York Times delivered to your doorstep, and get unlimited access to NYTimes.com from any device (computer, iPhone, iPad).

[UPDATE NOTE: Somehow I misread the footnote to the $3.75/week Sunday Only subscription price. This is only for the first 12 weeks if you pay by credit card. After that, it jumps to $7.50/week. Bummer. Thanks to commenter Veeper for noticing what I missed.

This changes things. But maybe not by a lot. If I was willing to pay $15 for home delivery and online access, does it make a lot of difference to not get the Sunday edition in paper form? I'd still be able to get unlimited online access via my laptop and smart phone.

And here's a perspective on the issue that I came across today. I agree with this guy that we need to support genuine newspapers, because otherwise we'll end up only with bloggers like me making up stuff without a factual foundation. Am I still willing to pay $15 every four weeks to support a great newspaper, without which the world would be significantly lessened? Yes, I think so. END OF UPDATE]

Seemingly this will boost Sunday Only subscriptions, since why would someone pay $35 every four weeks for the All Digital Access option when they can get this option for "free" by forking out $15 every month for home delivery of the Sunday paper?

I'm leaning toward doing this, but want to see what the special March 28 introductory offer is.

Comments

[Veeper]

I don't understand how that is possible. The Sunday NYT costs us $6.00 at the local Starbucks, which I think is the listed price on the paper. Is it possible to get home delivery! Boy, that would save me a 7:00 am trip to pick it up.

[Blogger Brian]

Veeper, I carefully checked the Sunday Only subscription price. Unless I'm hallucinating, it's $3.75 a week. I put my zip code, 97306, in, and found that delivery is available in my rural area. Like I said, the family across the street gets the Sunday New York Times.

[Veeper]

That's the teaser offer. This is what happens after 12 weeks:
† Receive The New York Times for just $3.75 per week for 12 weeks when you pay by credit card (8 weeks if you choose to be billed). After your introductory period, home delivery will continue at the regular price of $7.50 per week.

[Blogger Brian]

Veeper, thanks for seeing what I missed. I just added this as an update to the post:
------------------
Somehow I misread the footnote to the $3.75/week Sunday Only subscription price. This is only for the first 12 weeks if you pay by credit card. After that, it jumps to $7.50/week. Bummer. Thanks to commenter Veeper for noticing what I missed.

This changes things. But maybe not by a lot. If I was willing to pay $15 for home delivery and online access, does it make a lot of difference to not get the Sunday edition in paper form? I'd still be able to get unlimited online access via my laptop and smart phone.

And here's a perspective on the issue that I came across today.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-think-the-nytimes.com-pay-scheme-willwont-work-youre-making-it-up/

I agree with this guy that we need to support genuine newspapers, because otherwise we'll end up only with bloggers like me making up stuff without a factual foundation.

Am I still willing to pay $15 every four weeks to support a great newspaper, without which the world would be significantly lessened? Yes, I think so.

[Veeper]

It exasperates me to have to go online to get the news; if I lived in Eugene, I would have the Register Guard, which is at least ten times the SJ.

I hate sitting here getting the news; I dislike TV because the quantity of news is not worth the time spent. I enjoy reading a paper.