I made my first layoff-related change today, cancelled our subscription to our local newspaper. This is something I really wrestled with. I've subscribed to a newspaper ever since I left home to go to college. Reading the paper is a part of my morning ritual. For a long time, though, our newspaper has been making cuts. Features, entire sections of the paper, reporters, columns, etc. They never print results for my favorite sport, high school swimming, in their print edition unless it is a championship meet. In short, for a long time I have been getting less content for the same amount of money. Even the size of the page has recently been reduced by an inch. This morning's edition weighed a whopping 4.4 ounces.
So, I called this morning and cancelled it. The operator tried to get me to stay on by offering me a 30% discount for one billing cycle. Nope, not gonna cut it. He then tried to get me to just suspend it for a while, in "protest" for the changes they made. Uh-uh. I am saving $182 per year because I will still pick up a Sunday newspaper at the newsstand (for the grocery coupons, of course).
