KC Star paywall goes into effect in December

[shinatoo]

Finally got through to customer service, they have no record of my subscription, yet somehow they managed to charge my credit card. Please McClachy, sell our paper to someone who cares.

[grovester]

Found out Monday that if you don't report your missing paper by 8 am, they won't re-deliver til the next day. I usually try and cut them some slack when the weather's bad or it's a holiday, but since 8 is the norm on weekends, I'll be emailing at 7:55 every time. My newspaper guy is going to hate me.

/crank

[KCMax]

Blargh. Andrew Sullivan announced he's going behind a paywall. And he's not even breaking news, he's a blogger. Do people really expect readers to pay for online content when so much of it out there is available for free?

Do readers expect to get content for free when advertising doesn't pay the bills and other revenue streams have pretty much vanished?

Yes.

[kcjak]

I reported a missing Sunday paper several weeks ago by phone and got no response. A follow-up email also got no response, other than a notification saying they had received my email. Next, I had requested my paper be held Dec 22-28 while I was out of town...and returned to a heap of papers in my yard. That resulted in another nastygram sent to the Star asking for an explanation.

I don't care whether it's the Star's fault or the delivery person - it all reflects poorly on the Star.

[smh]

We have the NYTimes delivered and our requests that the paper be held are always honored--but I'm pretty certain it's because you make the request through the NYTimes and then the paper never gets printed in Columbia. Thus the Star has no opportunity to muck it up.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Blargh. Andrew Sullivan announced he's going behind a paywall. And he's not even breaking news, he's a blogger. Do people really expect readers to pay for online content when so much of it out there is available for free?

Do readers expect to get content for free when advertising doesn't pay the bills and other revenue streams have pretty much vanished?

Yes.

And how do they stay in business?

[lock+load]

The Star should have instituted the paywall years ago when they still had a decent product. It might not have changed what has happened the last few years, but I just don't imagine there are many that are willing to pay to access what little content the Star puts out these days. Those that do are probably still getting the actual paper.

[shinatoo]

My understanding was that the Star was a profitable paper when McClachy bought them and then McClachy (sic) was sucking off profits to support there failing papers and had driven the Star into the dirt.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

The Star should have instituted the paywall years ago when they still had a decent product. It might not have changed what has happened the last few years, but I just don't imagine there are many that are willing to pay to access what little content the Star puts out these days. Those that do are probably still getting the actual paper.

Absolutely. But, that's pretty much what the entire print industry did so it's hard to blame the Star. The same complaints would have been made then. "Why pay for the Star when everything else is free?"

[Joe Smith]

I bought today's paper...not sure why. Is it sinking into oblivion? Seriously, it was like a bad school newspaper. i usually like the Tuesday edition for the business section. The biz section was literally about 6 total pages. I thought the rest must have been lost when I opened the paper... Hardly anything in it. Are they not even trying? That giant printing press they built may end up being an aquarium or a museum sooner than later.

The Star makes up less than 50% of the material they print. It actually kind of gets in the way because of the strict print times that it has to be done in.

It's been said before but they also print

Wall Street Journal
Topeka Capitol Journal
different sections for the Sunday Wichita Eagle
Cass County Democrat
Lee's Summit Journal
The Pitch
Ink Magazine
The River Front Times (STL)
MiRaza
Ofertas

And many more.

Some folks just have a real hard time distinguishing the difference between the actual Star newspaper and it's printing plant. The Star could stop printing the Star and still do big business printing everything else. They could sell the building and everything in it and whoever bought it would still make great money. It's almost like they're 2 different company's

There isn't a high page count, high quality, huge quantity web press within 500 miles of the Star. Closest I can think of is in Milwaukee. Omaha has fairly new presses, but they can't come close to the numbers that the Star can print.

Sorry to disappoint all you aquarium lover's out there, but it is what it is.

Btw, you're in for a little surprise in about 3-4 months. To quote Steve Martin "Let's get ....."

[mailman641]

I know you said "and many more", but don't forget the weekly grocery ads. I don't have an exact number but I think it's around 750k they print every week. Since they print so much other stuff, my guess is that these grocery ads get the least amount of attention. Some are mangled up, others don't have addresses not printed on them, and a couple of times I've found metal pieces that must have fallen off the machines into the ads.

as for the paywall(just trying to stay on topic), I did run into it but it's more like a wall that's one foot high you can just step over. The text of the article is all there and you can either just scroll and read a few lines at a time above or below the pop up in the middle of the screen, or "view source" in your browser and scroll down to the text and read. But I don't even do that, I just use the mobile site. Easier than disabling java/deleting cookies every time I just want to read an article that may or may not be factual.

[smh]

Btw, you're in for a little surprise in about 3-4 months. To quote Steve Martin "Let's get ....."

Let the speculation begin.

[chaglang]

Can't get much smaller than they already are.

[smh]

Can't get much smaller than they already are.

Perhaps they go the Times-Picayune route. That would be a disappointment.

[flyingember]

I know you said "and many more", but don't forget the weekly grocery ads. I don't have an exact number but I think it's around 750k they print every week. Since they print so much other stuff, my guess is that these grocery ads get the least amount of attention. Some are mangled up, others don't have addresses not printed on them, and a couple of times I've found metal pieces that must have fallen off the machines into the ads.

I get my grocery ad in the mail. Paper not necessary

I wouldn't be surprised if their press still does the printing, though.

[earthling]

I recall reading The Star press prints for over 40 publications, didn't realize STLs Riverfront Times was one of them.

[Joe Smith]

I know you said "and many more", but don't forget the weekly grocery ads. I don't have an exact number but I think it's around 750k they print every week. Since they print so much other stuff, my guess is that these grocery ads get the least amount of attention. Some are mangled up, others don't have addresses not printed on them, and a couple of times I've found metal pieces that must have fallen off the machines into the ads.

The ads and other inserts get mangled up because of the inserter's they use.

Every section that has stuff inserted into it has a lap. The next time you see a copy of the Star or any other paper for that matter, look and see if the head and tail line up together when folded. If they don't, that's the lap. Usually about an inch difference.

[Joe Smith]

Can't get much smaller than they already are.

Believe me, it can.

[GRID]

I have laptops, smart phones, a home office with two desktops both with dual monitors and a tablet and I still continue to read the paper version of the Post every day. I hope it never goes away and from what I see around here, it's not. I see people reading the paper version every day on trains, at lunch etc and these are people that I'm sure are tech savvy.

Last time I was in KC and could not believe how tiny and ridiculous the Star looks now. There is nothing in that paper but big ugly fonts and photos. Even half the "articles" are phony and are really ads. The paper doesn’t have hardly any local stories, but it sure doesn’t have any decent national or world coverage.

The Star is now a complete joke of a paper which is sad because at one time it was a fantastic paper.

[earthling]

Is not really KC Star as much as the entire McClathchy empire sucking all their publications dry. Even Miami Herald lost over 200 employees. They print a lot of national reprinted material too, though a bit more local than KC Star. Is not surprising that mega papers would reprint many articles on all publications. It's called leveraging and is supposed to be one of benefits of M&A, but it hurts the local vibe of papers.

And when the parent losses money, it hurts all their publications. They have 30 dailies all hurting. Fort Worth Star Tele also had more layoffs a couple months ago. It's a downward spiral and will likely get worse.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/n ... in-q3.html