It took a crazy "ninja" increase in their online subscription to motivate me to post a blog entry (after being lazy for some time), but when I saw a charge for $150 on my online bank statement from the Wall Street Journal online subscription I was seriously miffed. It was bad enough that a year or so ago they raised it to $99/year without telling us [though it could be that a letter - that looked like junk mail - did arrive]. This ninja increase of 50% is crazy. I could understand if I had the print version. This involves hard costs of print and distribution. And I understand that there are real costs associated with producing an online journal. But when the online is almost the same price as the print? Crazy.
The economy is in seriously bad shape, and companies are watching their bottom line fade like so much disappearing ink. They are looking for more sources of revenue and finding none, so they are simply raising rates. Our local country water just did this. There is a bad drought here in Georgia and we are all under severe water restrictions. Add to that the fact that many of us are really working hard to be good citizens and are doing a variety of things to reduce our water consumption. This translates into a dramatic reduction in revenue. The solution? Dramatically raise the cost of water. Crazy.
I can't cancel my subscription to the county water supply. I can, however, cancel my subscription to WSJ.com, which is exactly what I did. I'm sure I can find something better to do with that $150.
3 comments:
They just did the same thing to my combined Print/Online subscription.
In January 2008 I paid $317. Now in January 2009 they want $468, a nearly 50% increase in one year!
Fortunately I pay for my WSJ subscription by check, so they will not be able to charge my credit card for this ridiculous rate increase. Needless to say Mr. Murdoch will not be getting a check from me this year.
I understand that businesses need to increase revenues. I'm still amazed with the boldness of the many that feel that they can increase prices during a recession when people are just as likely to cancel. I've not renewed, and will not.
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