Newspaper classifieds: Are they relevant anymore?

I am searching for an apartment after landing a new job in a city a few hundred miles from here. OK, the first place I'd look, you'd think, would be the paper's Web site and its classified section.

No. Craigslist.

And, when I finally hit the newspaper's classifieds, I saw that Craigslist has like 10 times more listings than the future employer's classifieds, and obviously those listings are a lot more descriptive on CL since there's no fee to post in most places.

We make a big issue out of the circ drop, but don't classifieds also rake in big coin? Obviously, if you are targeting for a 40-plus demographic, you'd be more likely to place a paid ad in the local daily, but two generations now have been groomed to skip the paper classifieds, and that's only gonna grow.

 

Can't say I've opened the classifieds in the newspaper since the advent of Craigslist myself.

That's through a couple of moves and cars.

 

With everything, it depends on your location. In the big metros, Craigslist works very well. Once you get out of the 50-75 largest metros, Craigslist doesn't have 1/10 the number of ads as your newspaper.

 

Exactly.

But in those 50-75 largest metros, Craigslist works wonders. When I moved 'cross country a few years ago, I didn't bring any of my (crappy dorm room-esque) furniture. I furnished my new apartment quickly and cheaply, and almost all of it came from Craigslist.

 

Craigslist is great if you don't live in BFE.

But I agree that classifieds aren't what they used to be.

When I was doing my most recent job hunt, my parents were beside themselves that I wasn't poring over the classifieds each day and circling prospects in red pen. The classys are fine for entry-level jobs or manual labor, but I had a difficult time explaining to them that not only were all the job ads now online, there were more specialized sites for specific careers (such as journalismjobs.com). There was a generational disconnect.

 

CL is a lot bigger than it used to be. Within the past year, they've expanded greatly in non-metro markets.

 

Yeah, about nine months ago, Craig moved into my sub-metro market. Our classifieds have suffered accordingly.
Other side of the coin ... I'm preparing for a 1,000-mile move now, looking for an apartment online. Have I even tried my future paper's classifieds? No. Mostly Craig.

 

Given the existence of Craigslist, cars.com, eBay, local auto dealer websites, realtor.com, monster.com, careerbuilder, etc., i'd say no.

 

I've never even been on craigslist and I have no idea what it is.

 

Careerbuilder is owned by Tribune and McClatchy (and maybe another chain) so you can have your ad put on Careerbuilder, but also but it costs a lot more. Car ads at some papers also go directly to cars.com.