The company said this morning that Starbucks will sell the daily at its approximately 6,500 U.S. locations starting today. USA Today joins The New York Times and local dailies on in-store newsstands.
Monday, March 15, 2010
USA Today now available at Starbucks stores
The company said this morning that Starbucks will sell the daily at its approximately 6,500 U.S. locations starting today. USA Today joins The New York Times and local dailies on in-store newsstands.
10 comments:
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Seems to me some Starbucks around here carried the paper for a while then quit as numbers never matched up. Oh surprise. This time, it's sprung upon the carriers without forewarning. I wonder if the carriers will get paid from this venture as there's a bad track record for carriers getting their profits from these kinds of setups.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today seems awfully light on content. Not sure it will do very well in Starbucks where people have a million other distractions to keep themselves busy. Also worth noting that most people who pick up a paper (any paper) in Starbucks never pay for it. I don't see this move as a big winner for the nation's newspaper. I would suggest USA Today get back to bolstering its content (and reducing its errors) if it's looking to improve its numbers.
ReplyDelete3/15/2010 12:01 PM
ReplyDeleteThis is not correct and nothing was sprung on the carriers. This has been in the works getting set for almost four weeks.
I'd Iike to know whether these are Blue Chip Program sales -- i.e., sold in bulk at a big discount (50%?), as with the hotels.
ReplyDelete3/15/2010 12:01 PM
ReplyDeleteMaybe at your paper but I walked in for my USA's and got these handed to me without warning. Not the first time this has happened this way.
They'll sell a couple of papers, and claim tens of thousands. ABC doesn't give a shit what you do anymore, they're worried about their own existence.
ReplyDeleteStarbucks is probably getting a lot of consideration for this on the ad side. And watch for the old standby coffee-and-a-paper bundle scam. Gannett will get a penny for every one sold and Starbucks will miraculously sell out (wink wink) almost every single day.
NY Times paid millions of dollars to get exclusive deal with Starbucks many years ago. USA Today was smart to walk away from it, I don't see it would benefit, because it paid more than revenue from Starbucks. I heard that NY Times dumped their papers in Starbucks. I believe NY Times don't want to pay extra money in Starbucks now, so USA Today can get back and sell there. The copies should be counted as single copy sales, same as those copies sold in McDonald.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today seldom get pay a penny. Wall Street Journal is sold to the hotels with lower rates than USA Today.
Anyone on here that trashes this thng is totally stupid.
ReplyDeleteThis is a retail program Jim (so don't create incorrect rumors just to get something going or create controversy or doubt) and Starbucks is paying USA TODAY for what is sold like any other retailer. If a carrier didn't know this was happening they are either slow themselves or they have a boss that didn't communicate. It happens when you are rolling out nearly 7,000 locations on one day. Carriers will get paid automatically.
There is a great article in Ad Age this week.
Anyplace else (other than at the NYT) this would be cause for celebration. It is disappointing indeed to see the negative comments hear, partly inspired by the owner of the blog.
I don't like the negative comments, either. It's heartening news. The only dispiriting note: When the publisher announced a complimentary cup of coffee to all, in the lobby the following morning. All? Morning? It would have been nice if they had served a second round of celebratory cups in late afternoon, when those of us who put out the actual newspaper and appreciate a good cup of coffee to help get us through the shift would have been there.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today sold newspapers in Starbucks for years. The NY Times bought the business by offering millions of dollars in advertising to Starbucks and a sweetheart circulation deal. They wanted circ numbers because they were trying to establishe the Times as a 'national' newspaper. Since that happened, I see many more people in Starbucks taking advantage of the free wi-fi than I do actually reading newspapers. One thing seems certain, circulation will not decline with thousands of new sales outlets. It is hard to tell how much of an increase there will be, though. If NY Times was willing to walk away, it must not have been worth their effort.
ReplyDelete