IMPORTANT UPDATE on Newspaper Subscriptions!
I know a lot of you have subscribed to score that awesome $20 per year Sunday Only Newspaper Deal I’ve posted about in the past. However, I just found out that both the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune have changed terms of your current subscription.
More than likely, you haven’t seen this new information or update because you don’t actually read the newspaper. You just open it up and take out the coupons, right?? So do I! That is why I was shocked to learn that there has been a change to all of our subscriptions and we weren’t really notified.
The newspaper is required by law to have this disclaimer (shown above) each week in the paper. As long as they do, that is the only notification they are required to give you. And like I said, you probably didn’t see it. And if you did, you probably didn’t read the fine print.
This is what it says:
That first half is pretty standard and what you guys probably already know. But the second half in red basically states that any SPECIAL EDITION copies of the paper will be charged $3 to your account, and could shorten your 52 Week subscription by a week.
So what everyone will want to do that has a subscription right now with either of these papers is call 801-204-6100 to opt out of receiving the SPECIAL EDITION copies of the paper. You can also ask them to credit you for any charges you have on your account for those special edition papers.
I have been assured by the paper that you will not receive any hassle for calling and opting out of special editions and asking for a credit for any special editions you have been charged for. **If you accidentally get a special edition paper after you opt-out, you won’t be charged for it.
(Thanks MaryBeth for the heads up!)
Angie
I canceled newspaper subscriptions completely because they were so dishonest about it. My subscription set to cancel 2 months earlier than what I paid for…maybe due to the special editions, I’m not sure. Plus, they missed delivery several weeks that I was supposed to have a credit for and add to the end, but I ended up getting only 10 months out of my year I signed up for. Honestly, coupons have gotten so worthless it’s not even worth my time to clip them anymore. With Smith’s I just use what I can with the online coupons, and print out from coupons.com on some things. Mostly I just shop sales these days and skip out on the hassle of coupons. I’m sorry, but .25 off isn’t worth the hassle anymore, especially with 4 kids under 7 (including a newborn). Sales and Sam’s Club/Costco coupons work for me. We do get 1 free set of coupons on Monday from our local paper that gives everyone a sample paper with grocery ads so that works for a few things I do use the coupons for. It’s sad that Extreme Couponing killed it for those of us that were honest and used coupons they way they were meant to be used. Also sad that the newspaper industry is dying, but they are trying to cheat people out of what they paid for.
Melissa
Great comment! I couldn’t agree more!
april bills
I actually just found this out yesterday after I called to see why my paper wasnt delivered on sunday. Yes, they did change the sunday $20 policy and the supervisor I spoke to said they have had a TON of problems with this. I subscribed in MARCH and they told me ive already ran outta money. I explained to her what was the point in the $20/year sunday subscription and she totally agreed. Long story short she credited me back the 2 Special Edition papers which I wasnt aware of nor did I even know about them and mentioned Thanksgiving would be that as well. She said I can “OPT OUT” of the special editions and stick with the $20/yearly sunday which I would recommend all you doing 🙂
Jen
Thanks!
cindy
Oh my that explains why I ran out early!!! I couldn’t understand why I was getting collection notices before my year was up!
Tiffany
Is the Thanksgiving special edition paper the one with all of the ads for Black Friday? I can see why I wouldn’t need 4 copies at least. Is it different?
Melea Johnson
Yes, Thanksgiving is a Special Edition.
Cari
I’m somewhat confused. I get the newspaper everyday but no extra ones on Sunday, so are you saying they are charging these extra fees for just the $20.00 Sunday only or for people like me who get it because we enjoy reading it. Thanks for straighting this out from me
Melea Johnson
They are charging “Special Edition” fees for ANY subscriber. It doesn’t matter if you just get Sundays, or if you get a paper every day. The “Special Editions” are extra copies of the paper that might not normally be in your current subscription. If you get the paper every single day, you probably won’t have special fees. But I would read that fine print inside your paper to double check.