I got a bill for my subscription to the El Paso Times. I buy the 7 day home delivery option.
They bill me for 24 weeks at a time. The previous bill was for $105.60. The new bill is for $152.40.
That is almost a 45% increase. No notice. No explanation.
Rip off
I don’t mean to start a discussion about the value that paper provides or their editorial positions that seem to be anti tax payer.
What I did do was go to the online site to see what my subscription options are. The closest offering I could find to the one that I have now is called “7-Day Home Delivery + ALL ACCESS”. Evidently I would get a code to enter to access the online version in addition to getting the paper delivered.
The site only offered a 4 week option. The price? It is $4.87 per week.
Ok, $4.87 times 24 weeks comes to $116.88.
Why did they bill me $152.40?
I could not help but notice that the payment needs to be sent out of town. Local labor need not apply.
Muckraker
elpasospeak 
It looks as if the El Paso Times is between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Newspapers across the country are experiencing the same dynamic, but it is more intense here. The fact that the El Paso Times and its editor won a national prize tells us plight of print journalism in America. With circulation dropping and costs increasing, what can the newspaper do but raise subscription rates which creates another round of cancellations? Poorly written stories which demonstrate little knowledge of grammar or professionalism offend those who appreciate the role newspapers have played in history. I am no longer surprised when I meet well informed young people in business who do not read the Times. I like what I see of the editor, Bob Moore. The paper has improved significantly under his direction. However, when I walk my dog, on Sunday mornings, I see more issues El Diario in my neighbors driveways than copies of the El Paso Times. I see about one third of the driveways with El Paso, Inc. On any given week, I get more useful information from El Paso, Inc. than from the El Paso Times. The insightful posts on this blog plus Refuse the Juice, El Paso News, plus KFOX and KVIA all combine to eliminate any need to subscribe to the El Paso Times. My guess is the El Paso Times will cease daily publishing within three years, and sad thing is that will have no impact at all on the lives of the people. Notice KTEP, which has an affluent constituency, is not in the mix. I think we do deserve better.
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When my subscription to the Times runs out it will not be renewed. The constant disdain and hateful discourse of local writers, like Joe Muench, made me understand that the mindset of the Times is elitist at best, just plain hateful at worst. Pretty much telling the taxpayer to shut up and stop whining about every project. The kicker was the ballpark, a supposed $50 million, now $60+ million dollar venue that really cost taxpayers over $200 million while giving the wealthiest people in El Paso prime downtown real estate for almost nothing. Remember, most of each “lease” payment goes back to the stadium for capital improvements (on a brand new stadium). Taxpayers also have to foot the bill for new construction surrounding the stadium. This is an example of politics at their worst. What benefit will the average El Pasoan receive from an entertainment venue that is so heavily subsidized by the taxpayer? Are rich people going to fly in and pack the stadium each game? Because, if not, there is no new money. Some people who would have watched a movie will watch a ball game, instead, so existing businesses will have to compete with a taxpayer subsidized write-off for El Paso’s wealthiest.
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We need more data to make the case that downtown is probably a black hole where your taxes go to benefit a few wealth property owners. The new or renovated buildings are on multi-year tax abatement and the old buildings don’t pay taxes at all, but will get an abatement if and when they are renovated.
The bottom line is downtown is a tax sinkhole for the average taxpayer, a place where your money goes to the Usual Suspects. Then there is the ball park…
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Crony capitalism at work. Pretty disgusting, huh?
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Same thing happened with the e-edition, which I subscribed to for several years. No notice, no email, just stopped sending the emails with the link to the paper. Then, the local delivery person started throwing the print version in my yard and – surprise – I got a bill for the print version that I haven’t subscribed to in 3 years. Content and writing aside, the Times has terrible customer relations. It’s difficult to get a real person on the phone and when you do the increased price is still the same. They are doomed.
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Joe Muench wrote yet another column today praising Paul Foster and his wife. I guess he and the powers that be thought this story needed to be told one more time in case readers missed the both the news story, photo, and editorial that ran last week.
Hey, Joe, we get it already! The Foster-de la Vegas give away a lot of money and receive the benefits of your publicity and the tax write-offs that come with those donations. The Times, however, spends an inordinate amount of time and space glorifying the Foster-de la Vegas and a few families in town for their financial contributions and overlooks the tireless contributions “ordinary” people make, simply because those contributions are not financial or do not comprise seven figure amounts. There are even some substantial financial contributions made by others, who apparently are not worthy of the Times’ attention, perhaps because they are not advertisers.
If the Times, and specifically Joe, spent nearly as much time and space focusing on volunteer work and similar contributions made by many rather than focusing so heavily on wealth, our community as a whole would benefit enormously and be a better place.
I am also reminded that this is the same newspaper that glorified Bob Jones because of his financial contributions and now relishes printing sordid tabloid tales of his imprisonment.
Joe’s bow to Foster was followed by his sarcastic dig at the City of El Paso because the City has chosen not to leave economic development entirely in the hands of Borderplex Alliance, a private organization controlled by Foster, Hunt and a privileged few. Joe also failed to mention to mention the dismal performance of REDCO, one of the predecessor organizations to Borderplex Alliance.
There is a pattern and method to Joe’s madness. Joe defends city management when its actions, such as steamrolling voters for the ballpark, are consistent with the wishes of certain individuals and special interests. When city management shows a mind of its own and deviates from the plan being orchestrated by a select few, Joe and the Times turn on city management.
Maybe Foster and Hunt will be the ones to rescue their personal PR machine. Perhaps we can then all receive the newspaper for free.
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