Two more journalists weigh in, from opposite sides of the fence. First, Kurt Schlosser of MSNBC.com:

Eli,

In my 10 years at the P-I, I heard countless stories from staffers and readers who “mistakenly” got the Times on their doorstep instead of the P-I. In some cases, certain sections of the Times would end up inside the P-I “accidentally.”

When I was a P-I subscriber, I’d say this happened to me half a dozen times. I canceled the Sunday paper and it took forever for it to stop being delivered. I’ve even received the Sunday Times/P-I instead of my Sunday NY Times, which is all I get now.

There can’t be that many carriers just committing “random errors” across the Times’ circulation area.

I’m sitting here in an office with another former P-I person, and she just now forwarded me your SLOG link with the subject line “some things never change.” She left the P-I 11 years ago.

Kurt Schlosser
Senior Entertainment Producer
msnbc.com

And now Mary Rothschild, formerly of The Seattle Times:

Hello Eli:

You asked whether anyone has encountered difficulties with their Seattle newspaper subscriptions. When we moved from Seattle to Port Townsend, we decided to subscribe to the Seattle Times and the New York Times. For weeks, the P-I was delivered despite our daily requests for the Times. When I finally talked to someone in circulation, she asked, “What’s the difference?” To this day, from time to time, the P-I mysteriously shows up in our paper box. And every summer, when my parents return from Arizona to Whidbey Island, they go through the same rigmarole—they want the Times, they get the P-I.

Likewise my next-door neighbor here in PT. She prefers the Seattle Times but the delivery guy keeps bringing the P-I. Conspiracy? Nah, just the problem of relying on a cumbersome, 19th century distribution system that for every other enterprise has gone the way of the milk man. The P-I‘s delivery record may have even improved under the JOA. Remember, the P-I managed to squander its morning position long before it declared itself a failing newspaper and hooked up with the Times. When I was a reporter at the P-I in the pre-JOA days, we used to get peppered with circulation complaints in the newsroom. Even though it had all night, Hearst somehow couldn’t get a morning paper to its customers. Once when we gave away a free blanket as a premium with every new subscription, people called to say they got the effing blanket, but wanted the effing newspaper.

What you’re doing is an unscientific sample at best, because isn’t it likely that people have more incentive to provide anecdotes about P-I delivery than the other way around? People see the P-I as the underdog, the Times as the evil empire. Yet circulation screw-ups probably are not sinister, just a case of a hapless delivery guy. I love the P-I and hate to see what’s happening there, but why does Hearst—which is infamous for throwing its people to the curb like it did in San Antonio—keep getting a free pass? It should have been/could have been the dominant paper in Seattle.

Mary Rothschild

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

12 replies on “Re: Re: Delivery Switcheroo?”

  1. My first job–15 years old!–was in the circulation department of a small town newspaper. My father was Circulation Manager for 15 years. I must say that I agree with Miss Mary–a chaotic, antique delivery system is to blame–the same carrieer (in these instances) probably delivers the PI AND the Times, and mixes them up accidentally (or just sloppily), or interchanges them when a “short” results (ie the carrier doesn’t have enough papers–it happens a lot, for many reasons). a conspiracy? indeed, what for? an upsell? cross-sell? silly. it’s just a messy system!

  2. Yes Kurt, it is a conspiracy that has been kept quiet by the, I’m guessing, thousands of independent contractors that have delivered the paper over the last 11 years. All the disgruntled employees chose to keep this secret as well when blowing the whistle could have gotten them some revenge and their 15 minutes of fame.
    Isn’t Strangeways an ex-circ employee of the Times who got fired? You know that d-bag would’ve been shouting it from the rooftops.
    (my apologies if I have you mixed up with some other d-bag)

  3. Yeah, that nineteenth-century delivery system in Bombay whereby 5,000 illiterate dabbawalas deliver lunches with an error rate of one in six million, yeah, that proves that it can’t be done.

    The incentive to piss off your customers by bringing them the wrong thing is irresistable, I’m sure. Because life is a battle between good and evil, right down to the 25-cent paper on your doorstep in the morning.

    I’ve been a home delivery customer of the P-I for twelve years and I’ve never once gotten the wrong paper.

  4. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    what crap

    I subscribed for years to both papers – like clockwork for years… could set my watch by the morning delivery … ONE missed Sunday edition – course I gave the delivery people a 20.00 now and then …

    All you fucking cheap bastards deserve to suffer….

  5. I’m probably one of the few subscribers left who even trip their carrier. I don’t even know who he or she is, but that’s a thankless job and in six years I’ve never had a problem with delivery. I like both papers, but I get the Times because I used to work there. And let me just say: MARY ROCKS. She’s one of the many co-workers I miss.

  7. I am a former papergirl for the Seattle Times. The PI was delivered by a completely different person, and I never even met him or her. So no, there was no chance that your paper girl/boy would mix the two papers up. The only explanation I can think of is – new person to the route delivering papers to the wrong houses, OR the person who brings the bundles of papers to be delivered brought the wrong paper. But I believe the distribution centers are completely different, so……yeah it makes no sense.

  8. @7: That’s no longer true. The same carrier delivers both papers now, so it’s all too easy to see how this would happen. Particularly with sleep-deprived drivers delivering in the dark at 5 in the morning.

    That said, I’ve subscribed to the Times for 15 years, and have *never* received a P-I. But I’m sure Eli can find plenty of anecdotal evidence to support charges of a vast right-wing conspiracy.

  9. We cancelled the Times in ’06. We moved in ’07, and about a month after we moved in, the Times starts appearing in our driveway for a couple weeks, followed by this “Please try the Times!” thing in the mail, and another couple months of the paper in our drive that went straight to the recycling bin, and then it stopped.

    For a month.

    Then restarted for a month.

    And hasn’t come back since.

    Maybe we were part of some ploy to bump circulation.

  10. This isn’t scientific or anything but I went to get a Stranger out of a box the other day and a BUM HAD SHIT IN THAT BOX!

    In conclusion: Eli Sanders is FULL OF BUM SHIT!

    SCIENCE FTW!

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