Subscription rate getting a do-over

It’s difficult for some in today’s society to admit when they’ve made a mistake. Or at least something they wish they could do over again.

It almost never happens in the political arena — on both sides — and the same could be said for a lot of professions. For us at the Daily American Republic, we’d like a do-over. In golf, it’s called a mulligan.

On Oct. 1 of last year, the price of the newspaper was increased from $120 per year to $150 per year. The newspaper didn’t take the increase lightly. We’ve held the price steady for many years, but because of increases in materials it takes to produce the newspaper, an increase was necessary. When costs to produce everything from a TV, a car, to what we eat goes up, so do prices for that product.

We held our prices as long as we could. Many of you understood the reason for the increase, though others didn’t.

What caught people off-guard was when we had our annual November special. In past years, you could use the special to get the newspaper for $90 per year instead of $120. The newspaper had a “fair special” a little over a year ago, and that special was $75. That’s an even better deal.

It was decided not to include a special during the November 2018 subscription drive and instead, readers received certificates for free donuts or pizza. So the price was $150 (the new price) without a reduction. Some remembered the $75 fair special and automatically assumed we doubled the price of the paper to $150. In reality, we only increased the paper $30 per year, going from $120 to $150.

We’re going to act on a do-over.

The price of the newspaper starting March 1 will now be $135 per year, $72.50 for six months, $38 for three months, and $13.50 for a month. That’s a 50% reduction in what we had increased the yearly price of the paper to on Oct. 1 of last year. We run the risk of a $15 per year increase not being enough to cover the increase in production costs. But we’ve made cuts in other areas to help offset that risk.

We will conduct another special the week of March 4 (like we always do the first week of November), and our prices have been cut from our new rates for that week only. The specials are $89 for a year, and $51.50 for six months.

It’s important to remember the newspaper is in business to make money. Without a profit, the newspaper won’t be around to share all the fabulous stories that show up in print and online throughout the year. Advertising and circulation revenue is the fuel that allows the rest of the newspaper to do its job. Without it, the engine stops.

Our newsroom is doing a good job of turning out many local stories every day. No other daily news organization in this part of the state even comes close to covering this area like the DAR. And with our darnews.com website going strong, we now have a 24/7 source for news, sports, and advertising.

Thank you for reading and supporting the DAR.

————

Chris is the publisher for the Daily American Republic. He can be reached by email at cpruett@darnews.com .