I opened my latest May 2015 Sacramento Bee home delivery subscription invoice and was surprised at the rate increase. In just three months (February to May 2015) the weekly rate had jumped from $7.48 to $9.18 per week. That’s a 19% increase which included a recently designed format with what appears to be less content. How does the Sacramento Bee justify their daily subscription fee increases when the paper is half of what it was several years ago?
Sacramento Bee daily delivery price doubles in two years
The Sacramento Bee daily delivery always seemed like a reasonable proposition; lots of news delivered to the driveway every morning. A couple of years ago I noticed the subscription prices slowly start creeping up. I renew at the 13 week option so I always paid about $60 for three months or $80 with the carrier tip. On September 4, 2013, I wrote a check to the Sacramento Bee for $80. On February 21, 2015, I paid $120 for three months of delivery. Now in May 2015 I will write a check for $140. The rough math, excluding carrier tip, indicates the Sacramento Bee has doubled their daily subscription price in approximately two years.
Publisher and Editor silent on rate increases
Sacramento Bee Publisher Cheryl Dell and Executive Editor Joyce Terhaar were excited to tell the readers about the new Sacramento Bee format changes that occurred on May 12th, but I’ve yet to read anything explaining the redesigned subscription fees (see: Welcome to the new Sacramento Bee). Seriously, did I just pay for the Sacramento Bee to become less of a readable newspaper with less content under the ever-increasing subscription rates?
2020 Update Rate Increases
On February 12, 2020 I paid my Sacramento Bee subscriptions, 3 months for $196.59, $14.10 per week. I pay $10 per month for the L. A. Times and a similar amount for the Washington Post, both online. I have Sac Bee access online and only receive the a physical paper Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – although I’ve read they will do away with the Saturday deliver sometime in 2020.
It was also reported on February 13, 2020, that McClatchy, owner of the Bee, filed for bankruptcy. Well, it wasn’t because I didn’t pay my bill. The Sacramento Bee has a problem with expenses and revenue. They need a new model to survive. I spend more time reading the L. A. Times for California news than the Bee. I want to support local journalism, but there seems to be a shrinking number of subscribers to support the Bee operation, which in turn leads to higher rates, that pushes people, like me, to cancel subscriptions. #DeathSpiral.
New Sac Bee format is less news for more money
I understand that the Sacramento Bee is competing with the Internet. But now I feel like I’m surfing the Internet when I read the morning Sacramento Bee because there is no discernible logic as to how articles are placed in different parts of the paper. There have been gaping areas of white space, headlines that are italicized for no reason, and basic sports news on the Giants and A’s that is just missing with no explanation.
Is $11 per week for home delivery worth it?
The Sacramento Bee has done some great award winning journalism over the years. I value their contribution to local news, in-depth reporting on big stories, and their efforts to force more transparency in government salaries and pensions. Now the Sacramento Bee needs to turn the reporting magnifying glass on itself and explain their skyrocketing subscription rates. I, in turn, need to re-evaluate spending $11 a week for home delivery of a newspaper that won’t tell me why they need to raise their rates so much.
2017 Rate Increases
The 13 week home delivery rate was $197.34. In May it jumped to $215.54. In November it jumped again to $229.84. That is a 14% rate increase in less than a year. I really don’t think the Sacrament Bee wants to produce a physical newspaper. As is their method of operation, the publisher’s give no reason for the increases but they have their staff beg people to keep subscribing to the newspaper to support journalism in Sacramento. The Bee does some good investigational journalism. Perhaps someone on staff needs to investigate the rapid rise in subscription rates and where the money is going. It isn’t going into more local reporting. There are not 14% more stories in the Bee since the beginning of the year.