I’m with you on the annoyance of not having a clear, easy path to unsubscribe — that’s direct-mail marketing 101 and, in fact, puts them at odds with the Direct Marketing Association (the national DM trade group), which supports opt-out.

I *do* think this is the future of newspapers — at least, profitable newspapers — in many circumstances. Yes, the hyperlocal trend has been overstressed. But there are lots of situations where a paper like this makes sense both for the community and for the publisher:

* Rural/exurban markets poorly served by regional dailies. These markets typically also have older demos and a bit less internet penetration — both factors that make a product like this a better fit. Even when there’s an existing, entrenched weekly (as is the case in my rural community), it’s often run as if nothing’s changed for 30 years — that’s a market opportunity.

* Extremely cohesive sub-communities in an urban/suburban environment where there’s daily coverage, but it’s not granular enough. Off the top of my head I’m thinking of communities like Irvine, CA, which is a large city in its own right, but is also carved up into many large, distinctive master-planned regions that each have their own feel, their own community activities, etc. Does The Orange County Register cover Irvine? Yes. Do they have a successful weekly product (The Irvine World News) zoned for the city? Yes again. Is there still room for a 2000-circ weekly or twice-monthly covering, say, just the area of Woodbury? I think so and I suspect a market survey of the community would back me up on this.

I don’t think the big dailies will capitalize on these opportunities well overall because their cost structure is too high to make it work. But just because they likely can’t make money at it doesn’t mean there’s no money to be made.

You both make interesting points, but Robert — who pays for the locally generated copy you can find free online at your will?

I’d suspect it’s generated by the very reporters published in the paper you don’t want to get in your mailbox.

We do the same thing. We publish a paper every week and deliver to 10,000 driveways. But most of the same information is up on our Web site, too, free. But there’s no way the Web traffic pays the bills for the office.

The fundamental question is whether you value local news. If the content-generators are doing a good job, and the news you want/need is available to you, then the answer is yes. You’re getting it free, either over the Web or in your mailbox.

But the mailbox is paying the bills, through advertisers paying for that circulation. So if you value the infomation you get for free, please just drop that weekly paper in your recycling bin.

And Doug, you raise interesting points, too — I’m a former Register employee who worked in the community news section. The Irvine World News is well respect and does a good job (the Register bought it, by the way) — but does a 2,000-circ paper pencil out financially? I’m not so sure.

Web printers generally want 5,000 copies to touch a job. And advertisers, would they pay for such a small reach? No.

So you create smaller neighborhood zones within a community paper to create the numbers that make sense … but even in Irvine, do we live in such a small bubble that nobody in Woodbridge cares to read what is going on five miles south?

@jonathan
“who pays for the locally generated copy you can find free online at your will?”

It doesn’t matter who creates it. The only time i find it “valuable” is when it is free.

Your argument: “We do the same thing. We publish a paper every week and deliver to 10,000 driveways. But most of the same information is up on our Web site, too, free. But there’s no way the Web traffic pays the bills for the office.”

This highlights the fundamental problem with newspapers which argue that they can’t make money online- as if the only problem is with cost structures and plaforms. The internet has changed the way in which people communicate information. Newspapers need to rethink what their value addition is now, in light of the internet paradigm.

Stuffing a valueless paper in my mailbox is not helping anyone out in the long run.
See also The Publisher’s Dilemma http://metaprinter.com/?p=987

well, I for one can’t believe that a phone call could not get this paper to stop delivery.

The web site even offers to not deliver if you go on vacation;

https://ssl1.gmti.com/asburypark/secure/icon_app/index.html?&t=1168620658341

And there are probably quite a few people on your block who neither have a computer nor can afford one, so to suggest that Newspapers should go away because you have access is silly.

But, regardless of that, you are far from alone calling for the madness to end;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/shut-em-down_b_156016.html

and googles really not helping (even thought they say they want too in public !)
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/07/technology/lashinsky_google.fortune/index.htm

the fact is, that what I have just done above is why newspapers will fail, not because they can’t figure out how to stop delivering papers you do not want stuffed in the analog input device installed at the end of your driveway on that custom vertical platform designed for snail mail portal support – it is that we can quickly share news – very releavant news – and quickly.

Have fun !

I also receive the Asbury Park Press’ Community Reporter, for a slightly different community. They do a good job of zoning their total market coverage product and I actually like getting it. I could look the stories up online , but I don’t often do it. I could get the paper delivered and then I wouldn’t get this product, it’s only for non-subscribers I suspect. The point is, I’m getting this news the way I want it. Newspapers need many different methods to deliver their news to pay the bills these days. Each one is right for some, wrong for others. I see this as about as benign as email I didn’t ask for. I’m grateful that they’ve figured out how to turn this into a kind of weekly news vehicle. Before the change, you got the inserts and flyers and classifieds, but no news at all.

@Sara

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7701, et seq., Public Law No. 108-187, was S.877 of the 108th United States Congress), signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States’ first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. The acronym CAN-SPAM derives from the bill’s full name: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003

The newspaper offers no such feature. There is no “unsubscribe” number or email listed in the paper.

What does the future of newspapers have to do with your being, as far as I can see anally upset over the reciept of a local paper delivered into your mail box?

Take a breath and prioritize on what is important in your life and on a wider plane all of our lives. Whether it be in business or personal life we all choose what to focus our attention on. WHY focus on the negative? Do you post the number of times that you are thankful to read a great article from your paper or do you express your gratitude to your paper for posting an ad that answers a need that you have in your life?

To headline your post with “The Future of Local Newspapers? It’s Shoved in My Mailbox…” Is a sensationalist headline for you to do what? Vent about receiving mail that you don’t want? Do you post in the banking group complaining about the 1 day late charge on your amex bill?

I love reading my newspaper and as a friend and supplier to hundreds of production mgrs, pre-press mgrs., I am just irked that you an entreprenuer and founder of metaprinters can’t find something more .. pressing to complain about.

Let’s discuss our industries critical issues and put our minds together to share solutions to real problems. Let’s leave the rest at the portal…

How about the free weeklies my local paper throws in my yard? When did littering on private property become legal?

Talk about annoying.

please call 732-643-3730 to be removed from the list

Annette,

I called that number above and unsubscribed! Hallelujah! By the way, the number is for the advertising department, which also handles the direct mail department. Lastly, 732-643-3730 appears nowhere in the newspaper.

The very nice lady on the other end of the line was like, “who gave you this number?” perhaps equally stunned that I found her.

The circulation department at the APP just gave me the number of 732-643-2577 and that goes to the desk of the person in charge of the Community Reporter. She said it takes about 2 weeks for the paper to stop coming as the paper has to contact the local post office to have your address fromoved from thier list as well… She was very nice and hopefully this will work.