Home Delivery?

Newspaper readership nationwide is down, and I'm about to add to those statistics. As many of you know, I have been an avid Boston Herald reader ever since my parents decided to boycott the Globe in the early 1980's. We're a two newspaper town and like many in this area I prefer the conservative editorial slant as well as the easy-to-read tabloid format over the competition. Eating a sandwich and reading the Herald over lunch has become an enjoyable daily ritual that I've participated in for many, many years. Sadly, that tradition may be ending very shortly.

I blogged last week about the fact that I have not been receiving my paper on a daily basis. It turns out that the lack of a morning newspaper was not the work of an inside Herald bandit but rather the work of newspaper delivery contractor PCF. PCF has a monopoly on Canton and until recently they have delivered my paper without fail, though it has been rain drenched on several occasions.

As home delivery is a service that my parents pay for as my annual birthday gift, I am pretty annoyed that I haven't had a Herald waiting for me daily at 7:30am as it has every day for the past three years. A blogger on Universalhub.com was so irate that his Globe didn't arrive before he caught his 8am train that he actually cancelled his subscription. I work out of the house so I'm pretty flexible as far as when the paper actually arrives, so long as it does so before lunch.

I've had daily conversations with both the Herald and PCF who have both promised to elevate my complaint. PCF even offered to drop off my paper later on in the day, which they have done 3 out of the past 9 days. Yesterday they sent someone out to deliver it but I didn't receive it until almost 5pm. Today I didn't receive it all, despite 2 calls from PCF claiming that I would.

I understand that delivering papers is a shitty, unrewarding profession, as it has been for over the past 100 years. However, it is a service that people pay for and count on daily in order to help keep them informed. Unfortunately if I don't receive my Herald tomorrow by 0800 I will no longer need to complain - I will be an ex-customer.

I certainly won't be subscribing to the Globe, as I probably won't receive it since the PCF racket delivers that subscription as well. The onus of home delivery ultimately falls on the Boston Herald, since they are free to fire PCF if they are not performing the duties that they promised to do. Much like ex-Governor Jane Swift, "I'm in a firing mood" and the Herald has a stay of execution that's about to expire tomorrow.