I Might have been Wrong

For five decades I have received a delivered newspaper to my home.

Since relocating to Ohio, we subscribe with home delivery to the Columbus Dispatch.   It was never a question not to subscribe to the paper as we both grew up reading the the paper and and have continued with home delivery wherever we have lived.   Online just didn't seen very cozy.  And I'm a self proclaimed Luddite.

A four week subscription to the Dispatch is now $70.   I'm no mathematician - but that is more than double our current subscription price.   As a courtesy, since I was a long term customer, they did offer me a price of $65.  Thanks?   Time to make a decision.

To me, this is a lot of money, especially when many of the articles refer you to an online article - but frankly, we both enjoyed sitting at the table every morning, enjoying a cup of coffee while reading the paper.

This is hard.   I love reading the paper.   I love circling things for my husband to read.  I love writing pithy comments below the editorials and letters to the editor.  I cut out comics and put them on the refrigerator. 

But, I also love money.

I feel guilty about our paper delivery service.  A young couple delivers our paper every single morning by 5 a.m.   It has never been late, wet or missing a section.  I feel like I'm taking money from them by not resubscribing.

Ultimately, the money won and we now have a digital subscription with weekend delivery.  We welcomed ourselves to the 21st century.   I joined kicking and screaming.   I was adamant about not reading a newspaper online.  It wouldn't "feel" right.  I can't sit at the table and enjoy my coffee while holding an Ipad.  I did not want to sit in front of my laptop and read the paper.  My phone is too small and my eyes are too bad to read it that way.

Reluctantly I downloaded the Columbus Dispatch Electronic Edition app cursing the entire time.

This morning I begrudgingly got out of bed knowing there would not be a paper waiting for me. I fixed my coffee and sat down at the table with my Ipad.   The transition was smooth.  I was able to find everything I wanted to read.  I could make the font as big as I wanted.   And as I was reading, stories had the potential of updating.



I don't say this often or lightly.   But, I might have been wrong about reading online.

Do you still subscribe to a newspaper?