We hope we're worth 83 cents a month
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
In true “Jeopardy!” fashion, we’ll begin with the answer in the form of a question: “What is now?” (When is now?!)
“Now” is the answer to a question brought forth this week by two of our good friends, Louise Hapner and Bill Horne. Their question was: “When are you going to put a subscription price on The Highland County Press?”
It seems that Mr. Horne and Mrs. Hapner (who may not always agree on matters political) are in agreement that their local newspaper has some value. We sincerely thank them for that vote of confidence, too.
For current and future business considerations, and after much deliberation, discussion and internal debate, we have concluded that it is necessary to put a price on The Highland County Press. However, before any of our loyal readers begin wondering if we will fit into your respective monthly budgets, please relax. We will.
Effective with this week’s edition, we are asking 25 cents per single copy purchased at our Main Street office. (And if you mention that you know the publisher, we’ll probably continue to give you a copy.)
For all of our store and vendor outlets, as well as deliveries to post offices and other locations, The Highland County Press will continue to be free of charge (one copy per customer, please!).
Should any vendor decide to implement the 25-cent single-copy fee, we will let that vendor keep the money or donate it to a worthwhile charitable cause.
Where the new subscription fee does come into play, is for home and business delivery. If you are currently receiving The Highland County Press from one of our motor route carriers or from one of our staff members, we are asking for $10 per year, beginning Feb. 6, 2010.
This is a voluntary payment. It does not apply to our out-of-county or out-of-state subscribers. We’ll continue to manage those accounts as we have in the past. This only applies to those of you who are currently receiving The Highland County Press via home or business delivery.
If you decide that 83 cents a month is too much for the only locally owned and operated newspaper in Highland County, we will respect your decision and continue to deliver the newspaper as we currently do.
Believe it or not, this is not something we want to do. The reality is it’s something we must do – not only to offset our increasing expenses, but also in order to offer additional newspaper services. For several months, we have been approached by various public agencies and departments about publishing their respective legal advertisements. By Ohio law on legal advertisements, a free newspaper cannot publish these legal ads. There was a General Assembly proposal to change that in 2009, but it didn’t make the cut. That’s too bad for Ohio taxpayers.
By allowing free publications to offer their bids on legal advertisements, the state could avoid unfortunate expenses such as Clinton County witnessed in 2005. To borrow a term from Drew Hastings, that was, indeed, a real FEE-ASCO! (see www.highlandcountypress.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=83&Articl…
231&TM=17048.47).
It seems to most of us that the ultimate objective behind government bodies requiring legal advertisements is to better inform you, the taxpaying public.
Granted, there’s the argument that some “free papers” do not have sufficient readership. With all due respect, The Highland County Press ain’t one of them.
We are the county’s most-read newspaper. Bar none. We print almost as many newspapers in one day as some print in a week. We’ll put our local readership, both in print and online at www.highlandcountypress.com, against any non-locally-owned, corporate-controlled medium any day.
(Recent history – which we have diligently tracked – supports this.)
So, here’s the deal. The Highland County Press is now a paid newspaper.
But only if you, our readers, think we’re worth it.
We’re asking for 10 bucks a year – if it fits in your budget. We’d like to believe we’re worth it.
If not, stop by 113 West Main Street and ask for me. I’ll give you a copy of a local newspaper founded by a great community newspaperman (Mr. William Latham), and one that’s tried hard to serve Highland County’s readers and advertisers for more than a decade.
Just for the record, our first paid subscriber is none other than Bill Horne. While Bill and I have had some monumental (and entertaining) disagreements over a few political issues, he is a friend.
I’m not sure he really thinks we’re worth the $10 a year, but he’s loyal.
Thanks, Bill.
Thank you for reading The Highland County Press.
People like Angie Matticks, Lisa Wharton, Stephen Forsha, Caitlin Ryan, Rosemary Ryan and our many, many wonderful contributors work mighty hard to make each week’s deadline and to make each edition worth reading.
Please respect and appreciate their efforts. I know I do.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
“Now” is the answer to a question brought forth this week by two of our good friends, Louise Hapner and Bill Horne. Their question was: “When are you going to put a subscription price on The Highland County Press?”
It seems that Mr. Horne and Mrs. Hapner (who may not always agree on matters political) are in agreement that their local newspaper has some value. We sincerely thank them for that vote of confidence, too.
For current and future business considerations, and after much deliberation, discussion and internal debate, we have concluded that it is necessary to put a price on The Highland County Press. However, before any of our loyal readers begin wondering if we will fit into your respective monthly budgets, please relax. We will.
Effective with this week’s edition, we are asking 25 cents per single copy purchased at our Main Street office. (And if you mention that you know the publisher, we’ll probably continue to give you a copy.)
For all of our store and vendor outlets, as well as deliveries to post offices and other locations, The Highland County Press will continue to be free of charge (one copy per customer, please!).
Should any vendor decide to implement the 25-cent single-copy fee, we will let that vendor keep the money or donate it to a worthwhile charitable cause.
Where the new subscription fee does come into play, is for home and business delivery. If you are currently receiving The Highland County Press from one of our motor route carriers or from one of our staff members, we are asking for $10 per year, beginning Feb. 6, 2010.
This is a voluntary payment. It does not apply to our out-of-county or out-of-state subscribers. We’ll continue to manage those accounts as we have in the past. This only applies to those of you who are currently receiving The Highland County Press via home or business delivery.
If you decide that 83 cents a month is too much for the only locally owned and operated newspaper in Highland County, we will respect your decision and continue to deliver the newspaper as we currently do.
Believe it or not, this is not something we want to do. The reality is it’s something we must do – not only to offset our increasing expenses, but also in order to offer additional newspaper services. For several months, we have been approached by various public agencies and departments about publishing their respective legal advertisements. By Ohio law on legal advertisements, a free newspaper cannot publish these legal ads. There was a General Assembly proposal to change that in 2009, but it didn’t make the cut. That’s too bad for Ohio taxpayers.
By allowing free publications to offer their bids on legal advertisements, the state could avoid unfortunate expenses such as Clinton County witnessed in 2005. To borrow a term from Drew Hastings, that was, indeed, a real FEE-ASCO! (see www.highlandcountypress.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=83&Articl…
231&TM=17048.47).
It seems to most of us that the ultimate objective behind government bodies requiring legal advertisements is to better inform you, the taxpaying public.
Granted, there’s the argument that some “free papers” do not have sufficient readership. With all due respect, The Highland County Press ain’t one of them.
We are the county’s most-read newspaper. Bar none. We print almost as many newspapers in one day as some print in a week. We’ll put our local readership, both in print and online at www.highlandcountypress.com, against any non-locally-owned, corporate-controlled medium any day.
(Recent history – which we have diligently tracked – supports this.)
So, here’s the deal. The Highland County Press is now a paid newspaper.
But only if you, our readers, think we’re worth it.
We’re asking for 10 bucks a year – if it fits in your budget. We’d like to believe we’re worth it.
If not, stop by 113 West Main Street and ask for me. I’ll give you a copy of a local newspaper founded by a great community newspaperman (Mr. William Latham), and one that’s tried hard to serve Highland County’s readers and advertisers for more than a decade.
Just for the record, our first paid subscriber is none other than Bill Horne. While Bill and I have had some monumental (and entertaining) disagreements over a few political issues, he is a friend.
I’m not sure he really thinks we’re worth the $10 a year, but he’s loyal.
Thanks, Bill.
Thank you for reading The Highland County Press.
People like Angie Matticks, Lisa Wharton, Stephen Forsha, Caitlin Ryan, Rosemary Ryan and our many, many wonderful contributors work mighty hard to make each week’s deadline and to make each edition worth reading.
Please respect and appreciate their efforts. I know I do.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]