USA Today newsstand price jumps 100 percent

[gravehunter]

http://jimromenesko.com/2013/09/27/usa-today-expects-price-increase-will-bring-a-minimal-drop-in-print-sales/

From: USA TODAY Publisher
Date: Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 2:33 PM
Subject: USA TODAY Price Increase – effective Monday 9/30/13
To:

Dear Colleagues,

We have always strived to keep the cover price of USA TODAY low. Since 2008, despite rising costs and other national newspapers raising their prices, USA TODAY has remained at $1.00, providing our readers exceptional value. However, effective Monday, September 30, 2013, the cover price for USA TODAY will be $2.00.
two
This change will allow us to continue to invest in the resources necessary to deliver USA TODAY’s award winning content. This increase still positions USA TODAY as a value to readers and we will be priced competitively with other national newspapers.

We anticipate this price increase will bring a minimal drop in print sales, as we continue to evolve how we distribute USA TODAY. As consumers habits have shifted, we have gradually been decreasing the number of racks on the street, while giving consumers additional options to purchase our print edition. In the last quarter alone, we have added more than 1,000 retail sales locations.

Thanks to the hard work from all of you, our total audience is bigger than ever and we expect those numbers to continue to rise in the future.

Larry

 

[LongTimeListener]

Excellent -- I'll save even more money by never buying it!

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Do people actually buy it? I thought the circulation was entirely from being slipped under doors in hotels.

 

[DanOregon]

 

[steveu]

The worst part is USA TODAY never had anything in its Friday edition telling people a price hike was coming. I expect to see a LOT of unsold papers on Monday.

 

[Boom_70]

The worst part is USA TODAY never had anything in its Friday edition telling people a price hike was coming. I expect to see a LOT of unsold papers on Monday.

Do you really think that would have made a difference?

I bet the people who will be pissed are the small retailers that now will
have to put out more money. I get my daily papers at a small coffee shop
and the guy is always complaining about how slow it is to get credits for his
unsold papers.

I read that USA Today has a circulation of 1.7 mil papers. i would be
curious to know how many are actually sold retail.

 

[Tarheel316]

The worst part is USA TODAY never had anything in its Friday edition telling people a price hike was coming. I expect to see a LOT of unsold papers on Monday.

Do you really think that would have made a difference?

I bet the people who will be pissed are the small retailers that now will
have to put out more money. I get my daily papers at a small coffee shop
and the guy is always complaining about how slow it is to get credits for his
unsold papers.

I read that USA Today has a circulation of 1.7 mil papers. i would be
curious to know how many are actually sold retail.

Wouldn't the Audit Bureau of Circulation have the actual numbers?

 

[Joe Williams]

At $2, it's almost worth swinging by the local Courtyard Marriott and mooching one off the front counter as if I'm a paying guest.

Wait. It's the same paper for $2 that they charged $1 for, and routinely give away for free?

Never mind. What the Interwebs site doesn't have isn't worth reading anyway.

 

[Batman]

When I leave the office for a while to eat lunch, I've always enjoyed buying a USA Today and reading it while eating. I figure I've read our local stuff already (we're a PM paper), and checked out the AM edition of the major metro at the office. USA Today at least has a few features that were worth the 50 cents ... and the 75 cents ... and the $1.
Not $2.
No bleepin' way. Not for a newspaper.
Every product has a price that's just a bit too much, and anything over $1 for a weekday edition of ANY newspaper is that price.

I'll be curious to see, too, how long it takes other Gannett papers to hike their prices. They quietly did it after the last two USA Today price hikes.

 

[Joe Williams]

Let's do the math: If 75% of that 1.7M circulation figure represented paid copies (retail), at $1 per that would mean $1.275M five days a week.

At $2, all they have to do is top 637,500 copies sold.

Or, if they really want to get efficient, just sell one copy of the newspaper and charge some silly ******* $1,275,000 for it. Done!

 

[DanOregon]

But if most of the hotels are charging guests for the newspaper anyway (unless you opt out), it might be a decent bump.

 

[Boom_70]

But if most of the hotels are charging guests for the newspaper anyway (unless you opt out), it might be a decent bump.

I don't recall ever paying for USA Today at a hotel. I doubt many do.

Also read that bulk price to hotels would not be increased.

 

[DanOregon]

Check your hotel bill next time. If they don't say complementary up front, you are likely being charged. Don't know what the status of this suit is.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/08/jawdropping-cost-unwanted-hotel-newspapers/40783/

 

[SixToe]

That makes two papers in my local racks I won't be buying. I'll spend two for a NY Times or Wall Street Journal, something with some substance, but not McPaper or my local pub.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Business travelers won't care.

As was pointed out, I'd bet a ridiculously high percentage of that daily circulation are from people getting it for free at the hotel.

 

[HejiraHenry]

I think this is what Jeff Bezos was alluding to when he said that newspapers might eventually become "luxury items" in many markets. A move to $2 pretty much does that.

 

[exposbabe]

it's a big jump but I really don't see it as a luxury item. Not even close.

Don't know how much it is in your neck of the woods but it's about the price of a pack of gum or a chocolate bar here, less than half the price of a latte. And in the last few years tickets for the big lottery (equivalent of Powerball) have gone from $1 each, to $2 and now, suddenly, $3 each.

And yes, I realize that none of our salaries have doubled or tripled in the interim.

 

[steveu]

Today's page count: 32 pages, $2. Ya, that'll sell some papers. ;)

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Yes, but the weather map is in color. And there's news from <b>all 50 states.</b>

 

[Boom_70]

It's worth the $2 just for the Al Neuearth Plain Talk column.