Don’t drop Herald subscribers in outlying areas

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 26, 2019

The Herald has been delivered to our home address on a daily basis for more than 35 years. On Aug. 1, we stopped getting the paper. We called and asked why and were told that they would no longer provide delivery service for our area along the Mountain Loop Highway. Some people got prior notice of this stoppage. We did not.

The excuse was because of declining subscription sales and high expense associated with serving our area. Really? We understand that printed newspapers and magazines are all suffering from the competition of the digital world. But how can a newspaper company whine about declining printed subscriptions and at the same time cut off an entire community from delivery service?

This action creates more declined subscriptions of their own making. We do live in Snohomish County after all. They did give us other options. Online subscription. Mail delivery that would be “a few days later.” Or drive 10 miles to the nearest pickup spot every day. None of those options are even close to being as good as the old-fashioned morning paper delivery. Please give us better options like raising the subscription rates for our area or placing and delivering to a paper dispenser outside the Mountain Loop General Store (upon owner approval). Please don’t just cut us off.

Laurie French

Granite Falls