Category Archives: cancelled subscription

Dear Rupert: You’re Fired

Yep.

Last week I put a bullet through my lifelong relationship with Denny’s and this morning when I fetched my wafer-thin copy of today’s Wall Street Journal, I figured it was time to put an end to my 23 year relationship with the Journal, too.

Being a professional sales-type, I must say I was impressed with your staff’s effort to “keep me on board”, asking why I wanted to cancel, asking me what – specifically – I was unhappy with to the point that I’d ask to have the balance of my subscription fee returned to me.

“Content.

There’s not enough of it and of what there is, the information / viewpoint is not unique enough from the other sources of news that I consume (say, NY Times, MSNBC, The Economist, etc).And, oh btw, I hate seeing the left half of the front page content replaced by bullet-summaries of the content of that issue – I read the complete issue without reading the bullets, that’s why I subscribe. Also, I don’t care much for how the Journal is being loaded up with USA Today-style color graphics, pics and art work – I really DO want thoughtful business / financial analysis / content.

Seriously, if I wanted the fluff you’re putting up these days, AOL or Yahoo would be my home page.“

As much as I enjoy the physical relationship I have with my early morning coffee and newspapers, after all these years of reading and subscribing to the Journal, I say good luck to you and the WSJ in figuring out your new business model / paradigm, Rupert… I’m outta here and will be watching your progress via WSJ.com.