PJS's horrible service for subscribers

PEORIA -- So it's come to this!

We arrived home on the afternoon of Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, but found no love from the Peoria Journal Star, which once again failed to deliver our daily paper.  So we erected a sign in front of our house. 

 

We are 7-day subscribers.  We like the paper, which despite its diminished size, still has a few interesting stories each day.  We want it.  But we rarely get it.

We have been skipped so many times that we resort to asking friends to give us their used copies of the PJS. 

The other day a district manager, working for the outsourced, non-union company in Arizona, called and left a message, his phone number.  (The district managers, who supervise the carriers, used to be part of the Newspaper Guild and they made a living wage.  No longer. They were bought out, retired, fired.  And the delivery was outsourced with predictable results.)

 So I called the number today. He said he's off work until Sunday, but I could call the paper tomorrow, Friday, and ask for a credit.

Thanks a lot.  I don't want a credit. I want the newspaper. So once again a friend said she would save it for me.

So I will call tomorrow for a credit, though I have no idea whether it will really be applied to my account. They don't even send an email message so the subscriber can keep track of it.

And yes, I can read it on my computer.  And no, I don't want to read it on a computer, much less a tablet or cell phone. 

I want to curl up on a comfy sofa, or sit at the kitchen table, and read it, and share stories and comments with my husband, the way newspapers have always been read and shared. I'm willing to pay for that.  But...

Does the PJS want to discourage subscribers so they will go to the web?

I'll go to the web to post comments, if the story merits it. That's OK, but no substitute for reading the story in the newspaper first.

The real issue here, I suppose, is whether the sign will work. Stay tuned.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Comments

[Karen]

Elaine, I couldn't agree with you more. Their service has gone so far down hill that I am ready to just cancel my subscription that we have had for 28 years. My sister in Goodfield has also been told that she will be given a credit. She says the same as you...I don't want a credit, I want my paper...

[Elaine Hopkins]

Today we got the paper, and the sign was pulled out and placed on the porch with the paper! So someone noticed. But never fear, it will go back in the ground tonight.
I can now recommend this new method to get the carrier's attention.

[Dennis in Peoria]

We subscribe only to the Sunday edition, so we can get the ads and added features. Very rarely have we been skipped. But we live in Marquette Heights, so maybe our carrier is more responsible.