Just asking…
Are you a subscriber to the Sunday New York Times, via the Sunday Star-Advertiser?
If you do, you know that you didn’t receive the Sunday Times — distributed by the Star-Advertiser, this morning –the second week this happened this month, since the NYT also was missing last Sunday. Transportation issues are the reason; the NYT delivery missed a flight to Honolulu, so delivery was not possible.
So, you go through the drill of dialing the circulation department here, and wait, wait, and wait some more, till an agent answers your call. My wait time today was 35 minutes, and 20 minutes last Sunday.
There is no other way to find out why the NYT was not delivered, along with the Sunday Star-Advertiser. You can’t call your delivery person, since you don’t have his/her number; by now, you must know there is a problem in Houston, er, Honolulu, but making the call is necessary since you don’t know if your carrier missed you making the rounds. Happened before…
When an agent finally answered my call, she knew little about why the NYT was AWOL, but muttered something about in-house computer glitches with the circulation crew, and said the missing paper was probably going to arrive with the Monday S-A, or maybe Tuesday, since Monday was the Martin Luther King holiday.
This missing-delivery angst happens several times a year. After talking to the agent here, I noticed I received an email from the Times that a transportation problem was the issue…like the papers missed a flight. The note included an apology for the delay and a thank-you for being patient. Oh, and a declaration that the paper would be delivered Monday.
If the Times can do that, why not the Star-Advertiser? Or if that’s too much of a burden for the circulation folks here, why not the carrier? Why can’t he/she send a text message or even an old-fashioned hand-scribbled note tucked in with the Sunday paper, so subscribes don’t have to call and wait and endure frustration? I mention this possible tactic today and last Sunday, and I was told to email the publisher. Like, he would care?
Newspapers are in the communications biz, but there’s simply no plan locally to inform subscribers that a problem exists.
Have you had any circulation problem? Seriously. Share your thoughts…
Yes, we did not receive our Sunday NYT today. We also missed it two weeks ago, but it did arrive on Monday last time, so we’re hoping to see it tomorrow.
When I have called the Star-Advertiser about this problem in the past, they told me they had nothing to do with the NYT delivery and couldn’t help in any way. And hung up.
There’s little sympathy or concern to communicate — my agent was chit-chatty, told me to email the publisher. Did you receive an email from the New York Times, listing “transportation problem,” meaning the NYT missed a flight. If the Times can do that, why not the local yokels here>, I daresay.
Hi Wayne, I’ve experienced the same poor customer service whenever the NYT is not delivered. A few years ago, I was given the mobile number of the local circulation manager in charge of the NYT deliveries, so I could always text him, and he was pretty good at responding. But I haven’t received a response for the past few times I’ve texted, and eventually, later in the morning, the email from the NYT about the transportation issue would appear. My only suggestion would be to have the email sent a few hours earlier so that we know to check our email if the paper is not there and not have to go through delivery angst. They must know they have a delivery problem from the night before. Also, there is a phone number to call 800-NYTIMES. A call to the Star Advertiser circulation is useless. That said, I love my NYT Sunday delivery. What a grand newspaper.
I just want the delivery guy to put the paper in the carport. Not on the sidewalk, under the car or in a puddle of water.😑
Missing for us again today. Lately seems like they miss Sundays more often than not.