A limited time customer

SUBSCRIBE TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE ONLY $99.99 FOR ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION

Murdoch Sees End to WSJ.com Fees
News Corp. has seen a strong start to its second quarter, Chairman Rupert Murdoch told shareholders. He also said he expects to scrap subscription fees for The Wall Street Journal's Web site.

Does this paint a clear picture for you? The Wall Street Journal, the self proclaimed leading source for business news seems to have a little bit of an identity crisis. Though funny that they are offering a subscription directly above a story about how they will eliminate the cost to this subscription the problem drives deeper at the heart of what the Journal really represents.

I’ve subscribed to the Wall Street Journal for two years, no big deal except that I’m Generation Y and we don’t typically read newspapers. I enjoy reading it with my cereal and coffee in the morning, I am not allowed to use the computer during this time as I tend to be a spiller. A paper makes perfect sense. Plus, it beats having to watch the gag reflex invoking Matt Lauer and company. What I'm saying is my Wall Street Journal reading is forming what you'd call a life long addiction. It is becoming a habit. A tradition. A part of my life.

Aside from all the challenges facing newspapers these days the Wall Street Journal has issues (pun intended) in its subscription renewal policy. My subscription ended at the end of October but I began receiving renewal offers around May or June. This isn’t so bad compared to some others periodicals. When I subscribed to FastCompany I received a renewal offer less than a week after my initial subscription. Hold it guys, give me a chance to enjoy this purchase. The renewal the WSJ offered me was for a discounted renewal rate of $150.00. The letter I received in the mail said I was receiving $200 in savings. It also mentioned how valued I was as a subscriber and that this renewal rate was a limited time offer. Lucky me! I better jump on this limited time offer plus they really value me as a subscriber. I continued to receive these limited time offer letters for the next 6 months. I especially enjoyed the design touch where the news stand price has a big read line through it and the new price is written in next to it. It is really cute. Come on guys, maybe these direct mail pieces worked 20 years ago. But today? I don’t think so. Do you read your own paper?

So as my subscription really did approach expiration I decided to check the website, just to make sure I was getting the best deal possible when I renewed. On the website they were offering the print only subscription which I had for $49.99. Upset by the fact that I was receiving letters inviting me to renew at a discounted rate for $100 more than what they were offering new subscribers and on top of that what happened to me being a, “valued subscriber.” So I called the customer service number and pointed out that this must be a mistake hoping that they’d allow me to renew at the new price. After all I’d caught them, surely now they’d offer me a chance to renew at the lower rate. To my surprise the customer service representative informed me that this would be impossible since I was already a subscriber and the rate of $49.99 was only available to new subscribers. So I asked, “what if I let my subscription end, wait a day and then become a new subscriber.” She suggested that I do that since that “it is the only way you can receive that rate,” she said.

Seriously?

Today I am not a subscriber of the Wall Street Journal. I may get a subscription again, but since they are now going to offering it for free online perhaps I won’t