November 24, 2019
Ever since the Boston Globe’s Great Home Delivery Meltdown of 2016 and its 2017 move to a new printing facility, the hardreading staff has significantly lowered its expectations of the cheapskately local broadsheet. And the Globe has managed to fall short of even those.
What arrived at the door of the Global Worldwide Headquarters this morning was a sort of Globe Lite, given that the Globe Magazine and Parade were missing. Consequently, Two-Daily Town’s better half contacted what the Globe laughingly calls its Customer Service department to register our dismay and seek redress.
Alas, that was not to be.
The customer service rep said there would be no followup delivery of the missing sections and no credit for the foulup – not even an extension of our subscription, which the paper supposedly provides in response to a missed delivery. (The Wall Street Journal, by contrast, either delivers missing sections the next day or mails them to the subscriber.)
Is it any wonder, then, that there are currently 66 complaints against the Globe lodged with the Better Business Bureau, mostly from this year.
Representative sample:
Wait – we thought it was the Globe’s responsibility to respect its subscribers. We must be wrong.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Better Business Bureau, Boston Globe, cheapskately local broadsheet, Great Home Delivery Meltdown, home delivery meltdown, Wall Street Journal | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 23, 2017
You splendid readers undoubtedly remember the Great Home Delivery Meltdown from last year when the Boston Globe switched distributors much to the paper’s regret.
This week the Globe not only moved into new downtown digs at 53 State Street, it also switched printing facilities, as Peter Doucette, Chief Consumer Revenue Officer, informed subscribers in an email.
That was Monday. All went well for three full days. Then came this.
Indeed, no Globe arrived yesterday at the Global Worldwide Headquarters of Two-Daily Town. When the same email came this morning, the hardreading staff braced itself for more home delivery headaches.
But lo and behold, both papers did arrive today.
So, well done, you former Morrissey Boulevardiers.
And mazel tov on the new home.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: 53 State Street, Boston Globe, Chief Consumer Revenue Officer, home delivery meltdown, Morrissey Boulevardiers, Peter Doucette, Taunton printing facility | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
March 10, 2016
As the hardreading staff has dutifully noted, the Boston Herald has resolutely refused to cover the Boston Globe’s Chernobylesque home delivery meltdown over the past three months.
And that includes the lately local broadsheet’s white flag in yesterday’s edition.
Globe ends deal with delivery company
Subscriptions lost in transition debacle
The Boston Globe is cutting ties with the home delivery company whose problem-plagued takeover of service 
less than three months ago left thousands of angry customers in Greater Boston without newspapers.
Globe officials said Tuesday that ACI Media Group will soon no longer handle any of its routes. The Long Beach, Calif., company had retained part of the Globe’s business after the delivery debacle and after the newspaper’s decision to give many routes in the area to its previous vendor, Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc.
“Transition debacle” should be mother’s milk to the thirsty local tabloid, but . . . nothing.
Yo, Heraldniks: What the hell’s wrong with you?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: ACI Media Group, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Chernobylesque, home delivery meltdown, lately local broadsheet, Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, thirsty local tabloid | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 7, 2016
The hardreading staff has been thoroughly flummoxed by the Boston Herald’s recent abdication of its sacred duty to pummel crosstown rival Boston Globe on any and all occasions.
And what an occasion the stately local broadsheet has presented in its current inability to deliver its print edition to vast swaths of home subscribers.
An inability, by the way, the lately local broadsheet is now kind of hiding.
Start with this now-routine note on the Globe’s homepage.
Click on the ConsumerUpdate link inside the box and you get the Member Center Login. Click on the Note to subscribers above the box and you get this:
Click on that ConsumerUpdate link and you finally get to the tough luck towns du jour.
Today’s unlucky number of “delivery delay” zip codes: 100.
The whole runaround is just lame.
But the fraidy local tabloid is even lamer, because it continues to ignore the Globe delivery meltdown. Not to mention ignoring Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry’s hot little tweet yesterday about a piece by the Unsinkable Emily Rooney at WGBH News (note the Update at bottom).
Don’t think we’ve heard the end of this one yet. But don’t bother checking the Herald about it.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: "delivery delays", Boston Globe, Boston GlobeSox, Boston Herald, fraidy local tabloid, home delivery meltdown, John Henry, lately local broadsheet, stately local broadsheet, Unsinkable Emily Rooney, WGBH News | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 2, 2016
Well the hardlyreading staff failed to receive its Boston Globe today, same as the last two days, but at least the lately local broadsheet included our zip code in its daily “delivery delay” list.
That’s 111 zip codes if you’re keeping score at home. (We miscounted earlier on Twitter.)
Globe chief executive Mike Sheehan has claimed that “[b]y Wednesday, 95 percent of home-delivery subscribers received their papers,” but given the Twitstorm that’s raged all week, that seems highly unlikely.
Two additions from our splendid readers:
• David Shea on why the Herald has been AWOL on this story:
• And Sharon Machlis added this bit of background:
(Link here.)
Fun fact to know and tell: Click on any link for the aptly named ACI Last Mile Network, which is the Globe’s new improved delivery partner, and you get this:
Huh.
One last note: This note from the Boston Globe Team.
Dear Subscriber,
We know that you have reached out to us this week to discuss your service interruption, and we apologize to those who did not get through. We are working around the clock to resolve our Customer Service and operational issues and get your paper to your door on time.
In the meantime, your home delivery account will be credited for this entire week. This will happen automatically; you do not need to take any action.
Once again, we apologize. For the most up-to-date information on delivery in your area and any new service announcements, please go to our dedicated delivery change page: BostonGlobe.com/ConsumerUpdate.
Thank you,
The Boston Globe Team
This one’s headed for a Harvard Business School case study, no?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: ACI Last Mile Network, Adam Gaffin, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dave Shea, home delivery meltdown, lately local broadsheet, Mike Sheehan, Orange County Register, Sharon Machlis, Twitstorm, Universal Hub | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 31, 2015
The hardreading has often labeled our Boston Herald home subscription the Biggest. Waste. Ever. And, for the most part, it has been, thanks to its spasmodic delivery.
But this week, the Boston Globe has given the finicky local tabloid a run for its wasted money.
From the Globe’s website:
“Disruption,” of course, is a euphemism for going Chernobyl for the past four days. Here’s a list of the 90 towns currently experiencing “delivery delays.” (It should be 91, as the hardlyreading staff didn’t get its copy of the Globe today. We did, however, get the other three we subscribe to.)
The oddest thing, though, is how few news outlets are covering the absolute meltdown of the Globe’s home delivery. The redoubtable Dan Kennedy had this piece yesterday at WGBH News, and WBZ’s Jon Keller has been on the story like Brown on Williamson. (Full disclosure: Keller interviewed us for his piece, which obviously gave us a kenahora, since we had gotten the Globe all week up until today.)
Most amazing of all, though: Nothing in the Boston Herald. Nothing.
Man, have they lost their fastball.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Biggest. Waste. Ever., Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Kennedy, finicky local tabloid, home delivery, Jon Keller, like Brown on Williamson, WBZ, WGBH News | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 11, 2016
As the hardreading staff has noted, the Boston Herald has been alarmingly lax lately about holding its crosstown rival to task, both regarding the Boston Globe’s recent home delivery meltdown and last week’s Let’s remake the paper! We can use John Henry’s garage! memo from editor Brian McGrory.
But the feisty local tabloid is back on the job today, spurred on by yesterday’s front-page faux pas in the Globe’s Ideas section.
To (half)wit:
Well today’s Herald is on that like Brown on Williamson, giving it classic jump-the-gutter treatment (Inexplicable Little Green Number sold separately).
We’ll leave it to you splendid readers to decide whether you want to sample the goods: there’s a media reax piece and a thumbsucker from Jack Encarnacao, while Howie Carr mails in another shopworn litany of Globe mortal sins.
At least we know they’re awake on Fargo Street. Finally.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brian McGrory, FDonald Trump, front page, home delivery meltdown, Howie Carr, Ideas, Jack Encarnacao | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 10, 2016
What’s with the Boston Herald?
As the hardreading staff noted last month, the Herald resolutely refused to cover the Boston Globe’s Chernobylesque home delivery meltdown earlier this year. The Globe itself labeled it a “delivery debacle,” which we wrote “should be mother’s milk to the thirsty local tabloid but . . . nothing.”
Now comes the juicy memo from Globe editor Brian McGrory (first reported on Thursday in the redoubtable Dan Kennedy’s Media Nation) announcing a “no-sacred-cows analysis of our newsroom and what the Globe should look like in the future.”
McGrory framed it this way: “If a wealthy individual [who, presumably, is not John Henry] was to give us funding to launch a news organization designed to take on The Boston Globe, what would it look like?”
Regardless, don’t you want to hear the flamey local tabloid’s answer to that question? But over the past few days the Heraldniks have given us . . . bupkis.
Some speculate that the Herald has been laying off the Globe because the Globe prints the Herald. But that deal’s been in effect for three years and didn’t keep Herald columnist Howie Carr from lambasting the Globe for its Tsarnaev brothers coverage.
So why is the feisty local tabloid AWOL now?
All suggestions gladly accepted.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brian McGrory, Chernobylesque, Dan Kennedy, feisty local tabloid, flamey local tabloid, Heraldniks, home delivery meltdown, John Henry, Media Nation | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 8, 2016
Wait, what?
Apparently the fraidy local tabloid, which has resolutely refused to report or opine on the Boston Globe’s current home delivery meltdown, has plenty of time to cover the meanderings of sexist laddie site Barstool Sports.
Barstool Sports sells majority stake to NY group
Barstool Sports founder and CEO David Portnoy announced today that he has sold a majority stake in his company to New York’s The Chemin Group.
Portnoy, announced he was selling a 51 percent stake in his company in an “emergency press conference” video filmed in Times Square.
The deal is valued at somewhere between $10 million and $15 million.
But still nothing from the Herald on the Biggest. Snafu. Ever at its crosstown rival?
That’s messed up, yo.
P.S. The hardlyreading staff hardly has to say it, but no Globe today, either. We’re now 4-for-12 in the Great Boston Meltdown.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Barstool Sports, Biggest.Snafu.Ever, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dvid Portnoy, fraidy local tabloid, hardlyreading staff, home delivery meltdown, sexist laddie site, The Chemin Group | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
February 8, 2016
When the Boston Globe’s home delivery went Chernobyl last month, the lately local broadsheet promised a credit to stiffed subscribers for the papers they failed to receive.
Turns out the Globe’s definition of credit doesn’t involve actual money. Here’s management’s latest email.
Dear Subscriber,
Many of you have contacted us recently regarding credits for missed deliveries.
Missed deliveries are credited to your account by extending your “paid through” date for the appropriate number of days. To view a detailed list of your credits by date, log in to BostonGlobe.com/MyGlobe and click on Delivery Credits in the Billing section.
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced, or may still be experiencing, as a result of our delivery transition. We deeply appreciate your patience, and your loyalty to the Globe.
The Boston Globe Team
So instead of getting your money back, you get more papers that might or might not be delivered. Which, in turn, would extend your subscription even further.
Paging Mr. Kafka . . . paging Mr. Franz Kafka . . .
4 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Franz Kafka, home delivery meltdown, lately local broadsheet, went Chernobyl | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 