We were getting ready for breakfast on the porch this morning when I was struck by the items on the table:
[singlepic id=108 w=300]
Sometime last winter, after a spate of delivery problems, I got fed up and cancelled our subscription to the Boston Globe. You know that there is something wrong with the way things work when a newspaper changes its subscribers more for the paper than they charge at the newsstand… I thought that the having a subscription (and being a loyal customer) would merit a discount not a surcharge.
I probably would not have minded the delivery surcharge if the Globe could have met its own deadline. They say that the paper will be delivered by 6 AM… many mornings the paper was not in the box when I left for work at 7:30. So, in a fit of frustration, I cancelled the subscription and began reading the paper on-line every day. (I had been reading on-line on some of the days when the paper was late.)
It took me quite a while to get used to reading the paper (and doing the crossword puzzle) on-line each morning. But by now firing up the laptop is simply part of the morning routine just as making the coffee is. On weekends, at least, Joan does the same. The scene shown above is the result!
As far as the Globe goes, the story gets worse.
For other reasons, I have been using FireFox with Ad Blocker Plus, to surf much of the web. Now the Globe website, along with many others, load four or five time faster than they used to and there are no advertisements cluttering things up…not that I every paid any attention to the ads before.
I may be a codger and a curmudgeon, but I am a modern up-to-date with technology one!
The Globe is not alone in their ‘wisdom’. Consumer reports charges more for the online version than the magazine, and the online articles have less depth and detail.
The guys that thought up these policies probably got huge raises, too.
Go figure.
Comment by Dana — 20 June 2010 @ 2:25 PM
Ad Blocker Plus? I need to know more on this Frank.
K
Comment by Kevin — 20 June 2010 @ 9:14 PM
@Dana… stupidity abounds! Maybe if I add incompetence to my skill set I can get a raise too!
@Kevin… Ad Block Plus is an add-on for Firefox and a few other browsers (not including Internet Explorer) details at: http://adblockplus.org/en/.
The easiest way to install it is to pick the Add-in item under the Tools menu in Firefox. Click on the Get Add-Ons tab and search for Ad Block Plus.
Comment by Frank — 20 June 2010 @ 10:07 PM