My newspaper subscribing problem

My local paper kept delivering for a month after my subscription ran out. The last time I renewed, I was told I had to take the month out that they delivered before -- I told them I wanted a fresh 6 months or forget it.
The price to renew was 15 bucks more for 6 months than it was last time. I declined.
A month after that, I get a call from a collection agency wanting money for the month. I explain they kept delivering, I never asked them to continue after the sub expired. The woman sounded annoyed -- like I wasn't the first time she'd heard this -- thanked me and hung up. Never heard from them again.

 

I've had a USA Today at my doorstep each weekday for the two years I've lived in my place. I don't know who's paying for it, if anyone, but it's not me. I open it maybe twice a week.

 

It's been years since I've had a print subscription. That's something I used to feel very guilty about. Heck, I'd feel guilty if I didn't read the paper from cover to cover every day. I liked being able to have intelligent conversations with my friends on the news side about what they were covering and the like.

Part of the reason is just time. I work a lot harder than I used to, and I've always worked hard. But now I'm online reading news in some form or fashion just about every waking hour of the day and getting a print paper just seems inconvenient and superfluous. Like I said, I'm a print guy. I used to buy a newspaper in every town I passed through. At the end of long trips, I'd have 20 papers in my car. But that feels sort of anachronistic now...and so does the printed paper.

 

Last fall when my annual subscription came due in late October, I decided to see how long it would be before they stopped delivering the paper. I also was upset that they had cut publication from seven days a week to six. I think it took until about February when they finally were going to cut me off. Because I didn't want the delivery person to take the hit, which apparently was going to happen, I paid the full invoice. This year my subscription ran out on Oct. 18 so I figured I would see what would happen. I received a second notice within two weeks and the other day a carrier left a nice note in my mailbox asking me to pay as he was responsible. So I did. I should add that I freelance for the larger company that owns the paper. I did freelance for another daily paper for several years and part of the deal for all employees, fulltime or freelance, was that they had to subscribe to the paper and were charged half price. I'm still being billed at 50% of the regular rate even though I haven't done any work for that paper for about 10 years. Obviously want to keep the paid subsciption numbers up. If I wanted to walk a couple of blocks early every morning, I could pick up a free copy out of a box. That paper claims the copies that it gives away at its more remote box locations are paid for by sponsors and count as paid circulation. My annual invoice for that subscription is sitting on my desk waiting to be paid and I'm debating if I will pay it.