USA Today doubled its cover price to $2 starting today, the first such increase in five years. The price hike is expected to reduce newsstand sales 35% and decimate vending machine sales, according to an internal company documents.
I don't see an editor's note or any other such acknowledgement of the increase on Page One.
[Image: Newseum]
[Image: Newseum]
Very fitting that the first issue with the price increase includes the headline: "Closing Time?"
ReplyDeleteYup, that's exactly what it is.
DeleteJim, the $2 price is duly noted in small print in the upper left hand corner. As far as notifying staff, I had to read Uncle Larry's justification for the price increase in a "staff memo" I never got. Since he seems to spend all of his time in New York, maybe it just went to the bureau folks.
DeleteHad to Read about it in Romenesko, homies!
Another improper use of the word decimate.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's an interesting wax from Michael Wolff in that edition that I've yet to read about how print advertising is plummeting, wondering whether it's the sales force or the product to blame.
ReplyDeleteHey genius 12:12p.
ReplyDeleteFull Definition of DECIMATE
1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from
3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number
b : to cause great destruction or harm to
— dec·i·ma·tion noun
Examples of DECIMATE
This kind of moth is responsible for decimating thousands of trees in our town.
Budget cuts have decimated public services in small towns.
Thanks for making my point. The first two definitions don't even apply to those examples.
DeleteIn other words, two more examples of the incorrect use of the word decimate.
Wasn't the blue ball actually supposed to have something in it every day? Not just sit there as a big, blue vacuum?
ReplyDeleteCan you imaging being the person who has to come up with some cutesy use of the ball every day? They should just make it the globe when it doesn't morph into something unique.
DeleteIn the initial publicity materials, the blue ball was supposed to be "dynamic," but not everyday.
DeleteWhen I first heard of this weeks ago, my immediate reaction was, "Wow -- that's a lot for a thin daily paper. Nobody will pay that."
ReplyDeleteBut I never took it a step further and thought through the logistics of actually paying $2 at a box. Who carries around 8 quarters? And somehow I doubt they'll be retrofitting their boxes to take dollar bills.
So, basically, they're going to sell about 12 papers a day from the boxes.
Many boxes average just one or two sales a day, according to the internal document. They will not be retrofitted to accept paper bills. That would require hugely expensive solar-powered devices. Many if not most boxes are to be junked. It's the end of an era.
DeleteYeah, I meant they'll sell 12 papers from the boxes nationwide.
DeleteAnd yet the stock goes up, up, up!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis latest move is the latest nail in the coffin. The gang that couldnt shoot straight lacks the ammo to compete qgainst national dailies. Shitty design, story selection and emphasis. Unsophisticated and naive reporting and writing.poor editing. The entire organization needs to be overhauled and virtually all of the barely mediocre cast fired.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that despite your numerous writing errors, you are more than qualified to step in. Good luck!
DeleteTypos aside, the sentiment is spot on and pervasive, 2:31.
DeleteThat big ol' headline could also be appropriate for the USA Today in the not too distant future. Yes? No?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI deliver to boxes and stores in an area in S. Carolina. No boxes on my route received papers today at all, and most of the stores were cut, some by more than half.
ReplyDeleteWow - that's an expensive National Newsletter.
ReplyDeleteThe 35% figure is interesting. Research we did in 2007, which informed a delay of the $1 cover price until after NYT and WSJ had already moved in that direction, estimated that ~40% of single copy volume would be lost by moving to $1 at that time. By waiting until competitors bumped up their prices, the impact on USAT was minimized.
ReplyDeleteScore another one for research!
What do you think about this current 35% estimate with the $2 single-copy price.
DeleteShouldn't you be out practicing with the other teenage mutant ninja turtles, Donatello?
DeleteBang Bang Donatello
DeleteJim, 35% seems low to me. But, I've heard many good things about the research team at USAT now. If they have a solid estimate -- which, of course, may vary widely based on many factors, including study methodology -- that suggests to me that USAT has shed most of the circulation it expects to lose. That is, a figure of “only” 35% against a doubling of price implies that a lot of the current circulation is very loyal, reliable, solid or whatever similar label you want to toss on it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @7:33 PM, I gave up wasting time with those guys to finish the doctorate. But you should certainly continue working on the comedy. You may get there one day.
"I've heard many good things about the research team now at USAT"
DeleteYes, Mike. Under the current research leadership, we actually conduct research.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey Mike -
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you. I agree with you. USAT is down to the last 65 readers. They are firm. All employee copies. But, that's a solid number.
$2 or free, this is a huge joke. The top news stories on mobile are about an injured kitty cat, a dog surfing competition and posion ivy eating goats. Am I reading The Onion?
DeleteP.S. Dancing With the Stars results just pipped up.
I have been buying the USA Today since the 1990's almost every morning for many years. It is ok paper, the money section is not as good as it used to be and the sports section is about the same since the 1990's, however, I really do not know doubling the price is a good ideal at one time. I have a feeling that all content will be on the web probably in 10 years from now. Just like the music industry, movie industry, the book industry, and many other industries, all sources are moving to the internet for media and entertainment. Hard to find bookstores and newstands in the United States.
Delete1:02 am: is that story on mobile about poison ivy eating goats available in print form, or on the internet? A guy in my county rents out his goats for this purpose; he was written up in our local Gannett print edition daily 3 months ago, and I am curious to see if it is him, or there are more goat renters out there.
DeleteHey Peter, if you're talking about the guy in Rhinebeck, yeah, it's probably the same goats, different story. Google it and the first link shows up in Poughkeepsie. It's a take on the gov't. shutdown that originated with the paper in Poughkeepsie late Monday or early Tuesday. The goat owner is removing them from federal parks and rec areas in case those places are shut and he can't get to them. USAT picked up the story (and video), as it's doing with all Gannett's USCP properties to beef up USAT content.
ReplyDeleteThe 35% decrease number is the estimate for newsstand locations only. If you take out all sales from racks, then the overall drop would be in the 50%-60% range for single copy. The plan is to leave some racks on the street, but no sales projections are including the sales that may come from the remaining racks. Remember, this is for single copy only, which is only around 30-35% of overall sales. Don't know for all areas, but the drop off at the remaining racks is not running as great as anticipated(90%) for some markets. Newsstands are not falling off 35% at most of the larger selling outlets, either. Still very early in the game, but so far, not as bad as I anticipated. Will see what happens over time as customers adjust to the reality of spending $508+ per year if they normally pick up a copy each day. At some point, I suspect most people will find this amount not worth the benefit the receive from buying the paper. Many customers have stated they may buy the weekend edition, and maybe 1 or 2 editions throughout the week. That buying behavior would equal out to a 40% to 60% reduction over current sales. Right inline with projections.
ReplyDeleteThat's some very useful context. USAT's print circulation is about 1.4 million, according to the March 31 AAM report. (Digital is another 249,000 copies.)
DeleteIf 30% of that is single copy, that's 420,000 copies. If the overall drop in single copy was at the low end -- 50% -- that would mean a net loss of 210,000 copies a day.
That leaves a net print number of a bit under 1.2 million. Throw the digital back in, and you'd get total circulation of about 1.45 million.
That compares with about 2.3 million circulation five years ago.