More on variable Star-Advertiser subscription rates

I’ve written previously about the problems of trying to get a direct answer to the question–What does it cost to subscribe to the Star-Advertiser?

This week I received another anecdotal report from a friend that you might find of interest.

Most publications offer financial incentive to customer to subscribe, which, in turn, is better for the publisher than to hope it gets purchased at Safeway or the bookstore, etc. And, the longer-term the sub, the less expensive it gets.

But not this newspaper. It’s been getting more and more expensive to subscribe. In early 2017 it was $24.70 a month; by early 2019, my bill was $40.73 a month! Not that the quality has improved.

To purchase daily at the store, it would be $33/month (including Sundays).

Does not make sense.

Worse yet, they have this weird, inconsistent pattern of cajoling the squeaky wheels who complain.

When I called to question the manner of charging, the person answering the call said to wait a moment. I could hear her talking to herself and making some calculations, then asked how about if they charged me $29.47/month?

I said that would be fine, but even better if they just offered that rate to all subscribers. She said that decision was not part of customer service (although cutting 25% from my cost was).

A friend of mine had a similar experience. Neither of us had said we planned to drop our subscription. She thinks they offered her an even lower rate!

That’s the story.

Here’s my add-on. I noticed this week that my own subscription expired in December. So I tried to go online and see what my current subscription options are.

I opened Star-Advertiser.com, selected “My Account” at the top right, then signed in to access account information. It confirmed that my subscription is running on empty. So I clicked the link for to make a payment for renewal. There the form requested that I enter credit card information before possible costs or options were disclosed. That doesn’t seem like a wise thing for a consumer to agree to.

So it appears that the only route open to me is to call and have to see what I’m offered.

I would actually prefer a digital only subscription in order to avoid all the newsprint that goes into the recycling bin, but it doesn’t seem the S-A offers such a plan for Hawaii residents.

I want to support our only daily newspaper, but they’re making it difficult.

This seems like a strange way to do business.