The inside enemy of Sunday newspapers

On Sunday morning, a chain drugstore charged me only $2 for the New York Times. This kind of mistake happens a lot, as clerks assume I'm buying the Boston Globe (not many Times readers in Malden, it seems). It was especially odd this time because $2 was too cheap for the Sunday Globe as well. But the sales clerk had scanned the Times, and then I saw "$2.00" printed in the top right corner, along with "New England Edition."

Hours later, at home, I couldn't find the Week in Review section, and the mystery was solved. Someone at the drugstore had stuck the Sunday magazine and book review section into a copy of Friday's Times. I always look for the magazine, since I discovered it missing after I got the paper home more than once, and now I'll have to doublecheck the date as well.

The Sunday Times is supposed to be $6, and more than one clerk in my blue-collar suburb has expressed astonishment at the price to me. ("You pay $6 for this?!") I used to buy it at an independent convenience store, but a clerk there got annoyed at my interrupting the steady line of Lottery ticket buyers to purchase newspapers (even $6 ones), and he finally told me that my supply had been cut off. ("We don't carry that anymore!")

In yet another convenience store, I attempted to buy the last copy of the Globe but discovered the magazine and other pieces missing before I got to the counter. When I pointed this out, the woman who co-owned the store cheerfully said she would give me a double helping of store circulars and coupons to make up for it. When I said this didn't solve the problem, she just stared at me perplexedly. I'm sure she thought I was rude to leave the newspaper on the counter and walk out. Why didn't I put it back on the rack, as she undoubtedly did after I left?

Don't tell me I should have the papers delivered. I'm out of town several Sundays a year, and I like to get the papers wherever I am at the moment. (The crossword cannot wait.)

I would be willing to give up the news sections, though. I'm on the Times and Globe websites all the time, so I already know all the breaking stories. Just give me a weekly magazine with all the feature and opinion pieces that doesn't have to be assembled by people who don't seem to know what a newspaper is.

Comments

[Frank Curran]

I don't know why you wouldn't have taken the extra circulars and coupons. Can't we all use an extra roll of toilet paper or an additional 50 cents off a box of Jell-O?

[Robert David Sullivan]

Not worth it. It wouldn't be as much fun to glare at the people ahead of me in the checkout line who fumble about for coupons. And being able to complain about others is always my first priority.

[Gabrielle Gurley]

Always check the Sunday Times before you leave the store! Sorry to hear about your convenience store reaction. The folks in my store are always happy to see me on Sundays!