Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
A printed newspaper deserving of Thanksgiving, but....
This is a Thursday, not the Sunday which usually brings the biggest newspaper of the week. It is, however, the day before what is probably the biggest "sale" day in the US and surely in this market.
The paper weighed 3.5 pounds or a little over 1.5 kilos!
Most of that was advertising (printed by someone other than the newspaper to which I subscribe), which pays the bulk of the "freight", as we says, for the editorial content.
As just one consumer, what value did I draw out of the paper?
+ I learned that Carla BRUNI, the wife of French President Nicholas SARKOZY, will appear in the next Woody ALLEN movie.
+ Unbeknownst to us, a small plane had crash landed in a field just to the south of us yesterday and I was glad to know of this, and to learn that the two people onboard survived.
+ One of our office supply retail stores is joining in the sales that start tomorrow with very good prices on computer printers; I need one of those and may use the advertisement to go purchase one.
+ There were many stores advertising GPS devices; I am in the market for one that either comes with driving information for Europe or into which I can insert that capability -- but none of the words associated with the advertised products suggested this was possible. Did they lose me as a customer simply by not telling me something I needed to know in order to make a purchase or is the answer simply that none is being sold with this capability?
+ An inserted card offers me a 20% savings on my total purchases at a bed and bath store, provided I do my shopping between 6 AM and 10 AM tomorrow! That's worth a lot of money if I needed anything there, which I do not.
+ I learned about all of the people in the next town who lined up at a service station to get free turkeys - 145 of them given away for Thanksgiving.
+ The local center for Latinos and Latinas is closing in another neighborhing town. That's troubling to see their funding go away with the recession, and it inspired me to learn more about what happens to the needs they were serving.
+ Another piece reported on food preparation for Thanksgiving meals to be distributed at a church nearby.
+ A very slick insert told me of all the great deals offered only to members of one of the wholesale markets that are so important to so many of us in the US. I am not a member of that market, and so this was interesting advertising telling me what I cannot buy unless I join.
+ Another store is offering "free" earphones for iPods and similar devices. You may for the earphones, but get a credit for the same amount on your account at the store. I am part of that program and need earphones, so will head off in the next day or two to take advantage of that offer. It will save me up to 10 USD.
+ I also looked briefly at the television program listings in the paper, but did not see anything of interest. I later used the web to search programs and found a documentary that I watched while preparing the Thanksgiving meal earlier today.
