As one of the up to several Boston Herald home subscribers, the hardreading staff just received a letter telling us that the costly local tabloid will very soon be even costlier.
Increase-their-nut graf:
The Boston Herald appreciates your readership and hopes you have been enjoying your subscription. This
letter will serve as notice that effective 2018-10-04, your new weekly rate will be $11.00 for the subscription term you have selected. As a home delivery subscriber, your subscription includes access to our website and E-edition replica.
Quibble #1: The Boston Herald website is free to all.
Quibble #2: Even by our admittedly calcified mathematical skills, the new weekly rate equals $572 per annum. At said Herald website, anyone can subscribe to the print and digital editions for about $250 less.
Quibble #3: This particular paragraph in the letter.
All home delivery subscriptions will include up to 4 SPECIAL EDITIONS annually. Each SPECIAL EDITION will be between $1.75 to $9.99 depending on the SPECIAL EDITION. If you prefer not to receive these SPECIAL EDITIONS, you must call Customer Service at the number above to OPT OUT. If you do not OPT OUT, the SPECIAL EDITIONS will be automatically billed to your account and your SUBSCRIPTION TERM will be shortened. Subscribers will be charged Sunday rates for Thanksgiving Day home delivery.
Smart move, considering that “[r]esearchers have learned that options and services too often falter because they’re designed to depend on people taking some kind of action. Studies show that relying on inaction yields better results,” according to this Association for Psychological Science report.
As our kissin’ cousins at One-Daily Town have diligently chronicled, the Boston Herald’s owner, Digital First Media, is determined to strip the Herald like a car left overnight on the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Apparently, Digital First feels the same way about Herald subscribers.
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 