The End of A Long Tradition

Do you remember when it used to take all Sunday morning to read the newspaper? I do.

I have always loved to read, whether it's the daily newspaper or a book (I have close to 150 books on my Kindle at the moment).  But sadly, my decades-long tradition of spending a lazy Sunday morning drinking tea and reading the paper is coming to an end.

I will not renew my subscription to the local newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal, when it is up for renewal in early April. There are a few reasons for this decision, which I have threatened to carry out in the past. This time I mean it.

First, the newspaper's content continues to dwindle. Reading the Sunday paper takes less than an hour. I don't read the sports or classified ads sections, so there is little to read. 

Second, the price continues to rise. The latest price hike raises the annual subscription to $260. If the newspaper actually had some content, that might not be such a big deal. But paying more and more for less and less content isn't something I'm willing to do.

Finally, the delivery service is terrible. Five times during the past two weeks the morning paper (which is supposed to be delivered no later than 6 a.m.) wasn't delivered at all. I always call and report the delivery problem to the automated system (good luck trying to reach a real person), and I always request that a replacement be delivered.

Here is what happened on the five days I didn't get a newspaper. On three occasions, someone delivered a paper to my front door in short order, ringing the doorbell to alert me to the delivery. Once, I found out the following day that electrical issues had kept the printing presses from operating. The missing paper was delivered a day late. Who wants a newspaper with day-old news? On the fifth occurrence, the paper was delivered to my door in mid-to-late afternoon, with no ringing of the doorbell. I found the paper the following morning. 

So no, I won't be renewing my subscription.