Why I don’t subscribe to the Saturday Globe and Mail

Every now and then I get asked to subscribe to the Globe and Mail. And I’m interested in subscribing, but, well, it’s like this.

I like the Globe and Mail. I read it almost every Saturday. I walk down to the corner store or make a trip to shop somewhere to pick it up. I like the paper. The columnists are excellent and I use it as a once-a-week synopsis of the news of the world. So I’m a very receptive audience for their marketing pitches, but I never bite. Here’s why.

I once received a year-long subscription to the Saturday Globe and Mail as a gift. I liked that - the paper arrived in the lobby of our building so when I got up it was there. Some weekends the paper disappeared and some weekends we were out of town, but generally I liked getting it. A one-year subscription costs $123, or $10.25 a month.

So here’s the rub. My habit of walking to the corner store, maybe getting a coffee too, some bagels and some fresh air, costs me $117 a year for the Globe and Mail, or $9.75 a month. It’s more expensive for me to give the Globe and Mail my money up front, guaranteed for the Saturday paper, than it is for me to get it when it suits me, where it suits me.

That makes no sense to me, so I don’t subscribe. Every time I get the pitch to subscribe I tell them this exact story. So far I’m still getting the same pitch.