Washington POST online fee.

[mitlen]

The POST is gonna start charging for viewing online articles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/washington-post-to-phase-in-a-paid-online-subscription-model/2013/06/05/d2e1bce4-cdd4-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z2

[GburgNatsFan]

I'm hoping that hard copy subscribers will get the online material for free (I just checked: print edition subscribers have full access). If not, I'll discontinue my hard copy AND not subscribe online.

I understand why newspapers need to go this route. Most of the big ones have (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, etc.). Even many of the smaller ones have. But $10 seems, at first glance, steep.

[TigerFan]

My question is, and no will will probably ever know, but is this just lip service or is it the truth: Katharine Weymouth, said the company would “listen to reader feedback and modify our model accordingly. . . .

Edit: and as Gburg said anyone that currently subscribes, is a student, teacher, gov't worker and ton of others will continue getting free coverage online. 

[mitlen]

Edit: and as Gburg said anyone that currently subscribes, is a student, teacher, gov't worker and ton of others will continue getting free coverage online. 

When I read the article, I could see education and military folks   ...   but mundane government workers?

[GburgNatsFan]

Well, their model is up to 20 retrieves a month are free, and you get to read it online for $10, and $15 gets you some special content or format or something. So they could probably make some adjustments there. Or some folks might say "how about $100 for a year?"

Have you ever browsed their e-replica? It's online-add free, and pretty damn cool. 

http://thewashingtonpost.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

My question is, and no will will probably ever know, but is this just lip service or is it the truth: Katharine Weymouth, said the company would “listen to reader feedback and modify our model accordingly. . . .

[GburgNatsFan]

Probably they are just trying to ease people into the idea that online content is still provided by paid reporters, and they still need to get paid. You give it away free to people to whom the advertising means the most - locals.

When I read the article, I could see education and military folks   ...   but mundane government workers?

[HalfSmokes]

When I read the article, I could see education and military folks   ...   but mundane government workers?

maybe they want to be a source for policy makers but don't want to say GS 15 or SES or congressional staffers free

[1995hoo]

.... (I just checked: print edition subscribers have full access). ....

What they haven't said is whether that applies to all subscribers or just to subscribers who get the paper every day. In other words, we get the print edition on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. It wouldn't surprise me if they said "that means you get online access only for those days." I don't know how they'd police that, though.

Either way, it's a better model than Car and Driver, who are charging $9.99 on top of your print subscription if you want the tablet edition. I receive the paper magazine but won't pay for the digital version.

BTW, the Post's $10 charge is only for the website access. If you want to use their apps, apparently that's an extra $5 a month.

[Slateman]

Why would I pay $10 a month for that piece of crap when every other site on the internet is free and links me to pictures?

[GburgNatsFan]

This survey could use a "I might..." option. That's where I'd be. I've been getting the Post since I graduated from college. If I could interact with an online version well enough, I might buy it. That e-replica they do is pretty slick. If I had a 22-inch tablet, I'd be all set.

[mitlen]

This survey could use a "I might..." option. That's where I'd be. I've been getting the Post since I graduated from college. If I could interact with an online version well enough, I might buy it. That e-replica they do is pretty slick. If I had a 22-inch tablet, I'd be all set.

There is no gray in my surveys.   

[PowerBoater69]

No chance I'm paying for the Post.  I think I fall in the under 20 articles a month anyway.

[Mathguy]

Well, we in OBX land NEVER get the latest version of the Post for Nats games.  So we rely on the Post online to know what happened the night before.  This would hurt.

[PANatsFan]

I canceled my kindle subscription in anticipation of this. No big deal.

[comish4lif]

I hate the WashingtonPost.com - that site crashes every browser I open it with. There's always some crappy ad trying to load with a floatover command.

[imref]

i pay for the Sunday post for the magazine and the coupons, but that's it.

[HalfSmokes]

They won't do it when they realize they can't charge nearly as much for advertisements with such a low hit rate. 

they might pull an NYtimes- clear your cookies or block cookies and you get unlimited articles

[OldChelsea]

I get home delivery Sunday (used to get it daily but the weekday editions are delivered after I go in to work so I dropped that part) - hopefully that will be sufficient.

[HalfSmokes]

I get home delivery Sunday (used to get it daily but the weekday editions are delivered after I go in to work so I dropped that part) - hopefully that will be sufficient.

if not, you can call to cancel- you never know what deal you'll walk away with

[1995hoo]

I get home delivery Sunday (used to get it daily but the weekday editions are delivered after I go in to work so I dropped that part) - hopefully that will be sufficient.

It said federal employees read free if you sign on from your workplace computer.

[mitlen]

It said federal employees read free if you sign on from your workplace computer.

Nothing else to do at "work"?   

[PowerBoater69]

Nothing else to do at "work"?   

When I was a Fed my job was to make sure that the internet was up in running all day.  Couldn't take it anymore so I quit and got a real job.

[Mathguy]

When I worked in a military facility, lunchtime was pretty vacant time.  Reading the Post online was accepted - as long as not on a classified computer.

Nothing else to do at "work"?   

[GburgNatsFan]

Agreed. Their current website is awful, because they are trying to squeeze every dollar of revenue out of a free site they can. I'm assuming that the paysite will be (almost) add free.

I'll probably cancel home delivery and give it a shot.

I hate the WashingtonPost.com - that site crashes every browser I open it with. There's always some crappy ad trying to load with a floatover command.

[OldChelsea]

I hate the WashingtonPost.com - that site crashes every browser I open it with. There's always some crappy ad trying to load with a floatover command.

I don't have problems with it on my office computer, but at home it's the dickens to bring up because of all the banner ads and whatnot (rather a 'busy' site).