The Woe of Newspapers

The other day a couple of salespeople for the Arizona Republic came knocking on my door. Here was their pitch:

“We’re going to start delivering you a paper every Wednesday and Sunday. Would you like it in your driveway or on the roof?” and then a pause for laughter. I was more confused; her delivery was pretty bad, and there was a distinct waft of desperation.

I started to explain that I didn’t want a newspaper even if it was free.

“But it’s only $.95 per week! You’ll make that up with all the coupons you’ll be getting!” She was pushing the coupons pretty hard. I guess this is why people get newspapers, in order to buy cereal for $.20 off?

I said I didn’t really care about coupons and politely told them to have a good afternoon. After extricating myself from the conversation I realized something: not once during their pitch did they mention the actual content of the paper. That’s got to be depressing if you’re a journalist — according to your sales staff your work is nothing more than a coupon delivery system with some words in between.

Written by Scott Williams who lives and works in sunny Phoenix, AZ. Twitter is also a place.