by Jan Baughman
(Swans - July 4, 2011) This is an unfinished story whose plot and protagonists are ever changing; but without knowing how, when, or if it will end, and already exceeding 2,000 words and needing to meet a deadline, it's best to break it into chapters. The setting is bucolic Boonville, Anderson Valley, California, the home of the publishers of the iconic alternative Web site Swans who, despite their iconic alternative views, begin their ideal Sunday languishing over the home delivery print edition of The New York Times, watching the least worst of the MSM blather on the weekend "news and analysis" shows, and sharing an omelet. Fundamental to the plot is the fact that "bucolic" is a synonym for "remote," and "home delivery" a euphemism for "we'll drop it off at the bottom of the hill a half mile from you're house." The system worked -- more or less -- for a couple of years until April 2011. Thus begins Chapter 1 of an ongoing struggle to enjoy the otherwise simple pleasure of reading the Sunday paper...
The odyssey began on April 3 with the following e-mail to [email protected] after a frustrating call to the automated 1-800-NYTIMES number.
Hello,
I subscribe to Sunday-only delivery, and for two weeks in a row I have not received a paper. There does not appear to be an option to speak to a live person regarding this, so I am writing to request assistance. I live in a rural valley and last Sunday and today, April 3, the NYT was at our local store, so I know that the delivery person has missed my paper and not the whole valley. Can you please contact the delivery person to determine why I am not receiving my paper? Please note that (when I do receive the paper) it is, unfortunately, not delivered directly to my house, but left about a half mile down the bottom of the hill.
My information is below:
Jan Baughman
[address]
Boonville, CA 95415
[phone]
Thank you,
Jan
Now, it's worth elaborating on how the typical Sunday morning transpires. The paper is supposed to be "delivered" by 8:30 and on those occasions that it appears, it is usually there by at least 7:45. A figurative coin toss determines who will make the drive down the hill for the paper and be back and settled before the day's chosen show, be it This Week or Meet the Press (wherever John McCain and John Boehner are not appearing) -- both of which begin at 8:00. If there is no paper, requesting a replacement is not an option because of the remote location, so a call is placed to 1-800-NYTIMES for credit. Then, at 9:00 when the local market opens, a call is placed to ask if they received it. If so, this author makes the 3-mile trek to purchase the paper of record, but by then the day is already out of sorts...
On Thursday, April 7, [email protected] wrote:
Dear JAN BAUGHMAN,
Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention and are addressing the missed paper problem that you experienced. We will contact the distribution center to ensure that this gets the attention it warrants so we can resolve the problem for you. In addition, your account [...] will be credited, which will reflect on your next statement.
If there is anything else we can do to help you, please e-mail at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) from 5 a.m. to midnight Monday-Friday and 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday & Sunday (ET).
Your satisfaction is very important to us.
Sincerely,
Patrick Hennessy
Online Customer Care
The New York Times
www.homedelivery.nytimes.com
On Monday, April 11, Jan Baughman wrote:
Dear Mr. Hennessey,
We are making some progress on this matter. Sunday (April 10) the paper, minus the extended section with the magazine, etc., was delivered to my neighbor's house at [the wrong address] Highway 128. I reported the missing section via phone and was told my account would be credited accordingly. I tried to report the improper delivery problem but felt it was easier to explain in this follow-up e-mail. Would you kindly once again contact the delivery person and ask that he/she either:
1) deliver the paper directly to my home at [...] Highway 128, or
2) leave the paper at the base of the "Vista Ranch" sign (this is just before [the wrong address] Highway 128 to which my half-paper was incorrectly delivered).
If the latter is the chosen solution, would you kindly have a New York Times box installed at that location so that whoever is delivering does not have to wonder what to do with my paper?
I'm really trying to enjoy the print edition of the Times while it still exists, but the Times is not making it easy. I appreciate any help you can offer in rectifying this situation. Getting the paper used to by the highlight of my and my husband's weekend. Now Sunday's are turning into a repeated disappointment.
(For reference, I have appended my original complaint at the bottom of this message.)
Sincerely,
Jan Baughman
[address]
Boonville, CA 95415
[phone]
Account [...]
cc: Gilles d'Aymery
Yes, there is something else you can do to help me: Help me!!! Get the paper delivered!!!
On Sunday, April 24, Jan Baughman wrote:
Dear Mr. Hennessey,
It's been a couple of weeks since I contacted you -- let me update you on the situation. Today, 4/24, I did not receive the advanced section, and once again, the paper was delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128. I didn't write last week because I was so thrilled to receive the full paper, even though it was delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128. Thankfully for me, the residents at that address have no interest in the NYT, but mine is rapidly waning. As a child, did you ever get up on Christmas morning with great anticipation and excitement, only to be devastated because that special gift you wanted wasn't under the tree? That is what every Sunday is becoming for me -- a disappointing Christmas -- as I drive 1/2 mile down the hill in anticipation of getting my paper, to no or partial avail. Or, as is appropriate for today, I have to go on an Easter-egg hunt to find it.
Here is a summary of the last 5 weeks:
4/24: Paper delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128; no advanced section
4/17: Paper delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128
4/10: Paper delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128; no advanced section
4/3: No paper
3/27: No paper
As I requested [above], please either
1) deliver the paper directly to my home at [the right address] Highway 128, or
2) leave the paper at the base of the "Vista Ranch" sign -- not at [the wrong address] Highway 128
If the latter is the chosen solution, would you kindly have a New York Times box installed at that location so that whoever is delivering does not have to wonder what to do with my paper?
Finally, I would request the implementation of a quality-control step to ensure that all sections of the paper are included, as well as retraining of my delivery person. At my company, corrective action would have been implemented weeks ago to avoid losing a customer.
Thank you,
Jan Baughman
[address]
Boonville, CA 95415
[phone]
Account [...]
cc: Gilles d'Aymery
On Wednesday, 4/27/11, [email protected] wrote:
Dear JAN BAUGHMAN,
Thank you for contacting us. In response to your inquiry, I first would like to apologize for the delivery problems you have been experiencing recently. The paper should be able to get to your home at [...] Highway 28 and we are working hard to make sure this happens. I have continued to escalate the matter with our distribution partners in order to make sure this happens. Please let us know if you have any problems with future deliveries and we will begin to bring this matter to management.
If there is anything else we can do to help you, [blah, blah, blah...].
Your satisfaction is very important to us and we thank you for your feedback.
Sincerely,
Orlando Rivera
Online Customer Care
The New York Times
www.homedelivery.nytimes.com
On Sunday, June 26, no paper arrived so I drove to town to fetch one. Ironically, one of the articles in that day's paper was Lessons in Communication, for Newspapers Themselves, a review by Bryan Burrough of James O'Shea's The Deal From Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers. Says Mr. Burrough, "But it wasn't investment bankers, no matter how irksome their behavior, who caused newspapers' woes. It was, by and large, newspapers themselves, especially their managements, as Mr. O'Shea makes abundantly clear." He concludes his article, "The old business model is broken, and it's unlikely to be fixed. Maybe the day will come when the American public appreciates what it is losing. But I doubt it." Thus prompting the following June 26th letter:
Hello,
I'm not going to repeat the entire series of problems I've been experiencing in the last 3 months -- you can read the e-mail chain [above]. Just to update you since April 24, since May 1 my paper has been delivered to [the wrong address] Highway 128. Fortunately for me, the residents of this house appear to have no interest in The New York Times... For the past two weeks, June 19 and 26, I/they have not received a Sunday paper; however, I have been able to purchase it at the local market, so the delivery person clearly drove past my house on the way (please see the description of my rural setting in my first e-mail of April 3). I really do not understand why it is so difficult to consistently and reliably deliver a newspaper. It requires a vehicle, a list of delivery addresses for each day, and newspapers. I am trying very hard to remain a loyal reader and subscriber, and I very much wish that The New York Times paper version will perdure, but I have yet to receive satisfactory "Customer Service" and reach a resolution to these problems, so you're not making it very easy for me.
I doubt that this message will ever reach Mr. Sulzberger or Mr. Heekin-Canedy -- it doesn't even reach my delivery person -- but if it does, I implore you both, is this any way to run a business? I know that if I consistently failed to deliver according to the expectations of my job, I'd be fired...
Sincerely,
Jan Baughman
[address]
Boonville, CA 95415
[phone]
Account [...]
cc: Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman & Publisher, New York Times
Scott H. Heekin-Canedy, President & General Manager, New York Times
Gilles d'Aymery, Editor and Publisher, Swans Commentary (www.swans.com)
On Tuesday, June 28, 2011, [email protected] wrote:
Dear JAN BAUGHMAN,
Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention and are addressing the missed papers on 6/19/11 and 6/26/11. We will ensure that this gets the attention it warrants so we can resolve the problem for you. In addition, your account [...] will be credited $15.00, which will reflect on your next statement.
If there is anything else we can do to help you, please e-mail at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) from 5 a.m. to midnight Monday-Friday and 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday & Sunday (ET).
Your satisfaction is very important to us.
Sincerely,
Trina Rodgers
Online Customer Care
The New York Times
www.homedelivery.nytimes.com
On Wednesday, June 29, Gilles received a phone call from yet another sympathetic and apologetic NYT "Customer Care" representative -- could it have been at the direction of Mr. Sulzberger and Mr. Heekin-Canedy, or at the threat of an exposé on Swans.com? I was on a business trip to Nashville, but Gilles offered to summarize the problems on my behalf; she kindly indicated that wasn't necessary, as she had read my e-mail thread. She explained that the delivery person for our house (or the spot a half mile away from it) was different from that of the valley store, and that she'll again attempt to resolve the situation with the distribution partners and look into the possibility of a New York Times box.
Will the most recent Customer Care representative be successful and make sure the paper arrives July 3rd and each week thereafter? Will the print edition of The New York Times outlive this saga? We won't know until well after this article's deadline, so the answers will have to wait until Chapter 2, in which the plot will hopefully have matured toward a happy ending with all the news that's fit to print, still in print, and appropriately delivered to its few remaining willing and paying customers. Meanwhile, Mr. Burrough, I do appreciate what I am losing, and if there is anything you can do to help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Last minute update before going to press (or on screen): No paper again this Sunday...
Continue to the Chapter 2 of this saga.
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About the Author
Jan Baughman on Swans -- with bio. She is Swans co-editor. (back)