When we moved into our new home in July 2019, I waged a campaign to get our newspapers and mail delivered accurately. All I wanted was for the newspapers and Post Office to provide the services my husband and I paid for—either directly in the case of the newspapers, or with our taxes and postage fees in the case of USPS.
Despite my campaign, it took weeks to get our papers and mail delivered reliably. Still, we did reach a point where I was satisfied. In fact, once she figured out where we were, our paper carrier was excellent—she dropped the paper at about the same place on the driveway every day, and we could always find it. Often, the paper was there when my husband got up at 4:00 a.m. (Why he got up at that ungodly hour is another story.)
Then last month, about two years after we moved, we suddenly had problems with newspaper deliveries. By that time, we were only getting The Wall Street Journal in hard copy. After forty years as subscribers, we’d stopped our print subscription to The Kansas City Star, though we continued as online subscribers.
So our problems last month related only to The Wall Street Journal delivery. First, we missed a couple of Saturday papers (which we had been receiving on Sundays, because the WSJ used the Star carriers, and the Star was no longer printed on Saturday—a separate issue).
Then, we got a Monday WSJ . . . But no paper on Tuesday . . . Nor on Wednesday.
I filed complaints about each missed delivery through the online WSJ Customer Service Center, which is the fastest way to contact them. After several complaints, they emailed me that because of our ongoing problem, I should call 1-800-JOURNAL for more assistance.
The WSJ had escalated our issue. I didn’t know whether to cheer or groan.
After a call to 1-800-JOURNAL and a series of follow-up emails from someone in their Delivery Operations Support Department, I learned that the WSJ no longer had a carrier for our area. I assume that means the Star also does not have a carrier in our neighborhood, though I don’t know that for sure. Does that mean the local paper cannot be delivered locally? Since I am no longer a Star print subscriber, I suppose that should not concern me, but it does.
A couple of weeks went by in which we did not receive the WSJ. I complained online everyday, and I emailed the Delivery Support Department every few days. Finally, on August 9, the WSJ offered to put us on mail delivery—we would get the Journal the same day it was published, I was assured.
Not ideal, I told them, because my husband likes to read the paper in the morning, and our mail is usually not delivered until late afternoon. (I didn’t mention that I like to do the WSJ crossword puzzle over my lunch hour, though that is also a factor making mail delivery less than ideal.)
But, if mail delivery was the only way to receive a print copy of The Wall Street Journal, we would try it.
As of August 11, we were supposed to receive the paper in our mail. On August 11, we did in fact receive the August 11 WSJ. And on August 12, we received the August 12 paper.
But on August 13, there was no WSJ in our mail box. On August 14, both the August 13 and August 14 papers were there.
No paper on Monday, August 16, but the August 16 and 17 papers came on August 17. Ditto for August 18 and 19—both delivered on the 19th. And the 20th and 21st delivered on August 21. And the 23rd and 24th delivered on August 24.
USPS seemed to believe that “same day delivery” meant “every other day you get two papers.”
On August 24, I finally called both our local USPS branch and 1-800-JOURNAL to complain about this pattern of poor service. The Wall Street Journal representative assured me they would contact USPS to try to improve our service. And the USPS branch employee agreed to “make some inquiries” on his end to determine if he could find out what was happening.
Lo and behold, on August 25, we received that day’s WSJ. Two same-day deliveries in a row! And the next day we received the August 26 paper. Our success continued through August 31, with same day paper deliveries each day. I guess my squeaky wheel gets the newspaper.
I hope it continues. If USPS regresses, we’ll be switching to only an online-only account with the WSJ, as with the Star. It will save us money, and it will save me time I’d otherwise spend on crossword puzzles. But what will my husband do at 4:00 a.m.?
What pet peeves do you have these days about poor service?
I have the same battles with newspapers in my rural part of Illinois. I would just go with the online version on all of them but like you, I enjoy doing the crossword puzzles. The paper I prefer stopped doing house to house delivery in my town about two years ago. So I get it by mail. It does come on the day that it is printed except the weekend issue arrives in two parts–half on Saturday and half on Monday. The newspaper no longer does a separate Monday issue for mail delivery. It instead combines the Monday/1/2 Sunday issue.
I would drop that paper all together but from time to time, I submit guest columns and I want to have access to the paper copy. It is interesting to get a call or email from a friend who reads the column on Sunday, even though I wouldn’t see it in print until Monday.
Most of the time my local post office gets my copy put into my post office box. However, there are a couple of times a newbie at the office assumes those two papers are for the same person and both copies get put into the mail box for my neighbor three blocks away. Or both copies get put into my mail box. Not a problem as long as we are both in town and we discover the discrepancy before we drive or walk home with both copies. But we both sometimes leave town to visit grands and the errant copy is delayed by several hours or even days.
There is a paper from my county seat that still does house to house daily deliveries but they want almost $400 per year for that service. I have done some stories for them but stopped when the editor ordered two many special articles on a “hurry up and get it researched and submitted by this deadline, but don’t worry if you don’t see it in the paper until a couple of months down the road. “
Hi Roxanne,
I can relate to most of your issues, both with paper delivery and with editors.
Print newspaper delivery service is becoming increasingly unaffordable, even though print copies are nice to have.
Yet with respect to digital only, I’m of two minds as well. I struggle with how many digital subscriptions to buy, when so much digital content is available for free. But as a writer, I want to support paid content. It’s a conundrum.
Thanks for commenting.
Theresa