Newspaper Desperation

How tough are things going for the newspapers? I canceled my home delivered paper some time ago, after reducing it to only Fri-Sun for the last couple of years. I would have taken Sunday only if they had offered it, and only for the coupons.

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail. It had a plain white envelope with a tiny return address printed in the upper lefthand corner. No company name was included.

In big bold black letters across the envelope it read "STATEMENT OF BENEFITS". I knew based on the bulk mail postage that it was probably a solicitation of some sort, but I decided to see what my benefits were.

The "benefits" were discounts on home delivery of the Orange County Register, the paper I canceled. They've had to resort to somewhat deceptive mailings to get people to go beyond throwing the unopened envelope away.

They must be hurting.