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Steve Yanoviak of Centennial writes:

It’s been bad enough trying to read the Rocky Mountain News with all of your production quality problems, such as misfolded and ink blurred pages, coupled with the smaller font size. Now you’ve given me just another reason not to renew my subscription when it expires: front page stick on ads that obliterate part of the printed page, and destroy the print if you try to peel them off. In a time of declining subscriptions and readership, why don’t you try to improve the reader experience and hold on to the readers you have, instead of driving us away?

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Steve; get a grip. The little ad you rip off is keeping the price of the "almost newspaper" down. Newspapers don't make their money through subscription fees, they make it through advertising. And as the subscription base continues to shrink as people like you and me are getting disgusted with the lack of quality and content delivered to our driveway every morning and elect not to resubscribe, their readership numbers go down. This reduction results in their being able to command less in advertising rates charged to advertisers. Additionally, some "regular" advertisers are either cutting back on the size (and cost) of their ads, or eliminating them all together. Ergo, newspapers have to resort to gimmick ads to replace the real advertising revenues they were receiving when they actually published a real quality newspaper.

Their rush to fortify the bottom line of their balance sheets has resulted in a poor imitation of a quality newspaper. They're hanging themselves slowly, but are convinced they're doing the right thing. You might say it's similar to boiling a lobster; put them in cold water where they feel safe and comfortable -- slowly increase the heat until they are fully cooked and dead. They'll remain comfortable and self confident right into oblivion.

The so called merger into the Denver Newspaper Agency was the beginning of the end. Not only are they "prudently" trimming costs (to the absurd), they are recklessly destroying the newspapers.

Although I had given up on the quality of the newspaper I was still getting it delivered every morning out of habit. I canceled when one morning as I was leaving early to catch a flight the delivery person threw our paper under my wife's car right in front me. I asked him if he could be a little more considerate and not put it under a vehicle (happened quite frequently) and he cussed me out in Spanish (which I speak) and drove off.

A few days later, after I had canceled my subscription, I was laughing about it with some of the guys who work for me. One of the guys told me that he and his wife had a delivery route with the Denver Newspaper Agency for a couple of years. He said that by the time they quit the distribution centers were like a piece of Mexico. Most of the delivery people were illegal immigrants who didn't speak English and were using false documents and insurance (delivery people have to carry car insurance). He said that for a few hundred dollars you could arrange to buy either false documentation or full IDs right there at the center. No wonder the RMN has been pro amnesty -- they support and rely on the illegal workers on their own payroll.

Just thought I'd give you a little background of another's experience to consider while evaluating your subscription -- and it let me vent a little irritation at the same time.

Geoff L.

Rocky Mountain News --I thought it was against the law to hire known illegals. Can't you be fined for that?

Some say that illegals do the jobs that we won't do--who wants to work with a bunch of people who don't speak English feeling foreign in our own country?

The paper is not very enjoyable to read anymore and that is just the icing on the cake.

We won't be renewing.

C -- If the illegals are using false documents and IDs the Rocky has plausible denial ability -- one of the favorite loop holes embraced by politicians and big business when turning a blind eye to dubious or illegal activity. They can claim that they checked ID and accepted the insurance documents in "good faith", therefore they aren't KNOWINGLY hiring illegals.

Yeah, we believe you that you don't hire illegals (and the tooth fairy visits all your kids without fail).

I bet the fact that the employees don't speak any English isn't considered when they interview and hire these people. Of course they're legal, just ask them -- in Spanish!

That's another expense we go through--hiring Spanish speakers to hire illegals.

And the beat goes on....

Hell, I bet that not speaking English is worth a few bonus points when evaluating an applicant for hire. If the RMN hires illegals they know that they will work for lower pay and tolerate a lot more crap and abuse than a legal worker. Easier to take advantage of someone who is illegal than legal -- in other words, cheap slave labor at the RMN plantation.

I stopped getting the hardcopy of the RMN about a month ago. 5 out of 7 days it had a Mexican on the front cover it seemed. Trying to acclimate/desensitize the populace as it were. Like it's normal to have half a million illegal aliens in the state of Co. The RMN and Post hardcopies where only good to start a fire.

Grassroot

The RMN & DP can't afford not to desensitize the public in an attempt to support illegal immigrants. They are two of the largest and most flagrant exploiters of cheap labor. The same group who are bringing you crappy daily excuses for newspapers are benefiting their bottom lines by hiring illegals for the delivery so that they don't have to pay a fair rate to legal workers.

The cost of gas has gone from $1.40 to $2.75 and up per gallon but they still pay their delivery people who use their own cars the same rate as they did when gas costs $1.25.

Both newspapers are horribly out of touch with the majority of potential readers. I haven't spent a nickel on the Post or the News for many years now and it delights me that subscriptions are declining. I just got tired of John Temple, Tina Griego, Mike Littwin, Bill Johnson, Diane Carmen and all the other left wingnuts.

I guess it is a lot easier to understand the illegal alien cheerleader position of both papers given the comments by Geoff L. Without the illegals, they wouldn't have a work force.

What a sad state of affairs for what were once two fine newspapers.

But the Rocky Mountain News is such a cute little thing. Will it be a real newspaper when it grows up?

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