Much to the chagrin of my liberal wife, I have subscribed to The Wall Street Journal for over thirty years. Today I canceled my subscription, because the Journal could not find a way to restor on time deliveries. Of course, it blamed the U.S. Postal Service, but the problem preceded the most recent cutbacks.
On repeated calls to off-shore customer service representatives, I received assurance after assurance that the problem was temporary and fixable. Absolute fabrications. As best I can understand it, this “Diary of the American Dream” cannot reach lots of people in the hinterland (six miles from Penn State University) on the same day of publication. The Journal wants me to migrate to a screen, just like Verizon wants its copper wire holdouts to embrace wireless.
Call me old fashioned, but I so prefer the feel, serendipity and reliability of papered news and wired telephony. I accept no substitutes, because they are inferior, not matter what one hears. Yes, a broadband delivered edition provides hyperlinks and wireless can integrate fixed and mobile applications. But there are far more downsides. Consider
The experience of reading the Sunday New York Times as a newspaper versus maneuvering on a screen.
The Journal appears quite willing to risk the occasional subscription cancelation as a small cost relative to the upside savings in not having to spend sleepless afternoons trying to get their product delivered on time. Apparently, Down Jones is powerless—simply unable—to secure timely delivery of a product that quickly rots.
I am unworthy of their fresh news.
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