i don’t know whether to feel guilty about this or not:
i get the newspaper for free. this is how it works. they call me with some special introductory rate. i say, sure, yeah, ok. (i always have a more optimistic picture of future finances than i should). anyway, the paper starts and the bill comes. the bill gets a fairly low priority. in fact, it just never gets paid.
and the paper stops. and about three weeks later, some cheerful newspaper salesperson calls me to say they’ve ‘had some problems’ and that i can tear up that last bill, and they’ll start my paper again for only two bucks a week, etc, etc. well i don’t know what they mean by ‘having problems’, or why that means i don’t have to pay the last bill, or why they’ve done this, consistently, over the last — year? year and a half? before that, it used to be something that was collected by the paper delivery person, but it’s no longer in their hands — all corporate. and i’m sure the carriers don’t have to pay for the papers and then collect like they used to, or else they’d sure as hell balk at starting my subscription again.
i don’t understand the business model at all. maybe fierce competition for advertising dollars, needing big circulation numbers? the numbers go down, they call all the deadbeats and say, hey, want the paper again? we’ll just send you another invoice *wink wink* and don’t worry about that last one?
i love my newspapers, even though it’s a luxury i can’t manage right now. so i’m grateful as well as ethically confused.
You should never feel guilty about someone else’s stupidity. Particularly if that someone else is a business.
Hey… I get my newspapers free too!
imagine that, Eric, imagine that.
anyway, i would have felt a lot better about it in general if i’d actually clarified things with mr. cheerful salesperson: you understand i never pay these things and you keep sending them, right? and you realize i’m not about to start paying you anytime soon, right?
i was less than upfront with him about the chances of his bill getting paid. of course, there’s always a remote chance it will, i mean, stranger things have happened.
I’m totally with Dru on this one, all ethical bets are off when a corporation is stupid and you’re not violating any law. If they want to keep sending you newspapers for free, let them… or have them send ‘em to me. I’ll take free news.
you know, the real weirdness here is that line about ‘we’ve had some problems with billing’ — when they have not. there was nothing at all abnormal about any of the bills i’ve received from them in the four or five times in a row this has happened.
i figure it goes like this: management says, get subscriptions up. sign up the deadbeats. so they do. and you know, it’s like a gamble. some of them might pay. the ones who don’t, accounting cuts them off as expected, then writes off the receivable (as an expense). ahh! bigger ad revenues AND tax writeoffs.
ok, i’m willing to absolve myself of guilt, if this is indeed the case. crafty of them, yes? yes.
That’s interesting. Very clever of them. I doubt the production of the actual newspapers costs them much in relation to the advertising dollars they can command with increased circulation.
Yes. Don’t feel guiltly. I wouldn’t.
Although I might worry about getting the bill someday.
I stopped getting the paper after 2 broken taillights and countless sprinkler soaked bundles of pulp.
oh, Space, they send the bill. then, i don’t pay it, they cut me off, they call me and tell me to tear it up — it’s a pattern. at least five times, it’s happened.
and our delivery persons are fairly competent, really, the service would be worth paying for. if i could afford it.
I like the part where they tell you to tear it up. That encapsulates the answer to this dilemma. They are specifically instructing you to let go of the past and just enjoy the present! It really is your obligation as a good citizen to enjoy this free paper, the more I think about it.
Oh kd… they certainly have had some trouble with their billing… you haven’t been paying them! So why not start fresh, eh?
Yup – their problem, not yours….
Here is a way to absolve yourself of the ethical dilemma: Studiously read the ads. Whether you act on them or not is not up to you, it’s all in your subconscious. But if you read them, you are allowing the ads to influence your buying power, thus paying for the paper.
Conscience clear.
Back long ago whe I was short on cash I used to do about the same for a dialup. Worked for like 2 years till I got a cable modem.
I think Jadedju has given you the absolute best answer. The newspaper is helping you towards enlightenment. Go towards the light (via the small print)
I won’t take the newspaper because I hate the extra work for recycling, so I read it online. However, I did cancel my cable – in writing nonetheless, and they still haven’t turned it off. A result of my good karma, I believe (but not so good that the premium cables were left on).
I think that scene from the 80′s movie where the paper boy hounds the guy forever for his two bucks ..
haha
Hugs
Tobey
you know, i always look at the ads – out of curiosity more than anything else, because marketing strategies fascinate me. i enjoy the heck out of the ads, the bad ones especially — better than the funny pages every day.
so i earn my free papers. i’m comfortable with that.
I used to love the suckers who would send me Easter Seals, and free Personal Address Stickers, and free Wilderness Foundation Christmas Cards.
For years, I used to think they were suckers for sending this stuff to me. I never asked for it, knew I was under no obligation to pay for it, and never sent them a penny. Not one cent.
I just found out this past Christmas that my heart-of-gold wife has been sending gifts of $50 per year to every friggin’ charity that comes along.
So who’s the sucker now?
oh, we get so many of those, because we took over renting this place from chris’s mom. at least a dozen charities had her pegged for a sucker, but considering she’s, well, beyond the age of responsibility, we just let the kid play with the stickers.
and at least that many of those things come to her husband, who’s been dead five years now.
well, the kid loves those stickers.
PI is an emotional fuckwit, as Bridget Jones would say.
He’s a total dipshit, as I would say.
You can tell it’s a he, all loser fuckwit dipshit trolls are.
oh, i wouldn’t say that. rudeness comes in so many different packages.
but the ‘emotional fuckwit’ part is dead-on — i was just reading about ‘emotional iq’ and how it relates to how people get along in society.
reminds me of a joke mom used to tell me:
)
mom: pi r square
me: pie are NOT square – pie are ROUND
heh! this PI are square!!!! >..
so, you’re getting something for nothing – good for you! … never mind the (legally binding) oral contract you entered into when you agreed to receive the newspaper … & how wonderful that you continue to receive these goods & services – without paying for them – as a result of some “mistake” at the corporate level … but guess what? … lying is still lying, & stealing is still stealing regardless of how you try to justify it … what goes around, does come around – eventually (perhaps you’re already experiencing retribution for previous errors in judgment if the price of a $2 per week newspaper subscription is a “luxury” you “can’t manage right now”) … but, hey – you have to live in your own skin & if you find it a comfortable fit, so be it – never mind the example (“something for nothing is a GOOD thing”) you’re setting for your kids … & btw, the carrier does have to pay for the papers he/she delivers & is the one who takes the “hit” on deadbeat subscribers …
umm, no, they don’t. they’re paid by number of papers delivered. they don’t have anything to do with billing, or collections, at all.
i don’t ask them to send me the paper. they offer to send it to me. they offer to let me ‘tear up the bill’.
they offer. i accept. that is neither lying, nor stealing.
Last June, we cancelled our cable right after the Stanley Cup finals. Trudged down to the cable office, and turned our box in. We told them we wanted only the bare minimum of cable channels. Just the locals stations, we said. Which they kindly accomodated, and our cable bill dropped from $35.00 per month to $4.00 per month. They said “we’ll be right out to put a trap on your cable.” Here it is…exactly one year later…and we’re still billed for minimum cable…only we still have all the channels we had before we dropped the box off. Gotta love Corporate America.
Hey PurpleMoose, that was quite funny
“Hi. My name is PI. It makes me really upset when people do things that I think are bad. People should always be perfect. Like me. I’m so darn perfect that my poop doesn’t smell. Why don’t people ask me before taking action? Since I know everything. And I never do anything bad. ‘Cause I’m so freakin special.”