KCRag Forum

This blog post by a former star employee goes into some of the distribution problems there - as well as many other problems.

http://jimmycsays.com/2015/10/12/the-st ... bscribers/

Thank you! Distribution problems have gotten so bad that I have seriously considered writing advertisers to tell them they are being mis-led about circulation figures. People can't see the ads if they don't get the paper. I handle the subscription for my elderly mother, as well as ours. In the past 2 weeks, I have probably spent 1 1/2 hours on hold at their customer service number. I have asked at least a dozen times over the past 6 years for a manager to contact me about our delivery issues. No one ever does.

This post explains a lot. Distribution to our condo building used to entail the carrier setting the papers in a stack on our lobby entry table. Now they are thrown on the floor in the mail room, always in general disarray.

I've also noticed many print articles with underlined portions because they're just copying them over from the online version, where those words would probably be hyperlinked.

I still maintain, and I know I'm not the only one, that the next great effort by KC's philanthropic community needs to either be purchasing the remnants of the Star and converting it to a 501(c)(3), or starting a new entity with a focus on creating a strong local daily. A city without a strong newspaper is a city adrift, imho.

McClatchy is consolidating the offices of the suburban papers to downtown starting next month.

just thought i'd put this out there. my subscription to the star was around $91 for 52 weeks last year. they originally wanted more, but i negotiated it down to that. this is for the sunday/wednesday papers only, by the way. i got my renewal bill late last week. for the same 2 paper/week plan, they want an absurd $254.75. that's just shy of $5/week. it's hilarious if they think anyone would pay that.

my digital sub is $142

You can get the digital for free through the library.

Wichita Eagle (another McClatchy paper) will be printed/distributed via the Star plant. Laying off a couple dozen people. They're also selling their ugly as heck building in Wichita.

Is there anyone actually running this paper any more? I do not understand them at all. My Mom (elderly, I manager her affairs) has gotten 1 newspaper in over 2 weeks. This has been an on-going problem since she moved to the New Mark area. The account has been escalated to VP-level and they still can't make delivery happen. They tell me that the distributors are almost like a union and you can't really do much about it. Huh? Are you still paying them? If so, why? Failure to perform work that has been contracted should be grounds for dismissal. There are a lot of people looking for work out there. Surely you could find someone better. If they can't resolve this issue this week, I will ask for a full refund of the $200+ that I just paid them.

no delivery problems with my digital subscription...

I knew they were going downhill quick when they started hosting what can only be called soft core porn ads on their site

https://twitter.com/flyingember/status/ ... 7169327104

We went digital also, mostly due to inconsistent delivery, but also due to the price bump. Surprisingly, they tried to solicit our return with steep discounts. I had assumed their goal was to get to an all digital subscriber base.

maison rustique wrote:Is there anyone actually running this paper any more? I do not understand them at all. My Mom (elderly, I manager her affairs) has gotten 1 newspaper in over 2 weeks. This has been an on-going problem since she moved to the New Mark area. The account has been escalated to VP-level and they still can't make delivery happen. They tell me that the distributors are almost like a union and you can't really do much about it. Huh? Are you still paying them? If so, why? Failure to perform work that has been contracted should be grounds for dismissal. There are a lot of people looking for work out there. Surely you could find someone better. If they can't resolve this issue this week, I will ask for a full refund of the $200+ that I just paid them.

after i canceled the renewal of my subscription back in january, the last paper i was to receive from the previous year's subscription was the wednesday feb. 3rd paper. i did not get it. so i called to tell them they didn't give me my last paper i was due on my subscription and i told them i wanted the next one i'd normally get (the sunday paper). the csr was obviously in india and had been trained to speak without an accent (at which she failed miserably), and she couldn't get past her computer telling her that i canceled my subscription and don't have one anymore. we went back and forth trying to get her to understand that yes, i no longer have a subscription, but the wed paper that wasn't delivered was already paid for. she finally understood and said that i could expect to have the next paper that i'd normally get delivered to fulfill the subscription.

sunday came. no paper.

i decided that maybe someone higher up had said that they'd give me the next wednesday paper instead of the sunday (since it's the same price as the one i missed), so i waited to see what happened that wednesday. again, no paper. i called customer service once more and explained the situation. again, terrible listening comprehension from her, and i could barely understand what she was saying to me because her english was so bad. after about five minutes of explaining, i finally said, "listen, i paid for a subscription, and your own statement indicated that my last paper was to be delivered on feb 3rd. i never got that paper. i was told i'd get the next one in line. i never got either of the next two and here we are now." then i followed up with a final statement, and while not rude or disrespectful, i did say it forcefully. "i want the paper that i paid for and that you owe me!"

she said ok and that my issue had been escalated and would be taken care of.

two days later, on feb 12th, i received a package in the mail from the kansas city star. it was the feb 3rd paper. *sigh*

i was torn between thinking they were just sticking it to me by sending me a week and half old paper that was useless to me, and thinking that what i said got lost in translation to her and she heard me saying that i literally wanted that one paper that i had been due for my subscription. regardless, i said to hell with it and let it go. i mean, they actually paid more to ship me that old paper first class than it would've cost to have them deliver the next one. morons.

We have the opposite problem and get three Sunday papers for some reason.

longviewmo wrote:We have the opposite problem and get three Sunday papers for some reason.

I can see this happening if someone used to live there and they paid for one and you do too, but you would know if this was the case

Nope. Have a subscription for the LS Journal which includes a Sunday Star for some reason, but that should only be two papers.

Well, I asked for a full refund, plus the month of credit from last year that we were due. They are supposed to be crediting my credit card. I have no faith this will happen any time soon. The last time there was a billing issue, I was told that there is only 1 woman who works in billing and she is often months behind. I see no future for this paper. I think they are now relying on their income from printing other newspapers to stay in business.

Yael is out...
https://twitter.com/YaelTAbouhalkah/sta ... 80?lang=en