Jul 30, 2017

IT'S A CONSPIRACY. I SWEAR IT TO BE TRUE.

In January of 1999 I moved back to Indiana from the Jersey Shore.  I had been living in New Jersey for about six years, and after finally moving to a lovely little condo on the beach, got homesick for...cornfields...apparently.

One of my favorite rituals of living in New Jersey, however, was the walk to the newsstand every Sunday morning for the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

A newsstand.

Right there in the little neighborhood...next to the place where you could get the good bagels and a great cup of coffee.

We don't have newsstands here in Hoosierville.  This was a sad fact that I discovered when I tried, that first Sunday, to find a place to buy the damn Sunday paper.

Over the course of the last almost twenty years I have done everything I can think of to continue my Sunday Times tradition.  At first, I started popping into Borders to see if they had a few copies for sale. Then, when Borders closed, I would drive from Walgreens to Walgreens, market to market, place to place to find that one little hidden gem that would set aside a copy for me on the promise that I would show up every Sunday morning with a shopping list and cheerful disposition.

Once a year I fell for the home delivery marketing voodoo magic, and I would buy a subscription at the low low price of a gazillion dollars a month (!), but in the eleven or so years that I tried this, I never once received the damn Sunday paper when or where it was supposed to be damn delivered.

But, because this is me we're talking about, and because I have a head like a rock and just can't seem to learn from my past cockeyed optimism...I caved and ordered a home delivery subscription once again for the new digs here at CS2 when I fell prey to an enticing ad on the Instagrams.

Wanna know what happened?

First...Exhibit A:
Current time is 1:13 pm EDT.

Exhibit B:
In case it's hard to discern...that would be the landing in front of my door.

Sans paper.

The worst part of this story is that when I called to report the missing delivery, the guy that answered (my new bestie, Tim) recognized my name and said "Oh, hi Miss Rich!  It's been a while since we've heard from you!  Did you get your paper OK this morning?  Looks like we delivered it to 1529 South Lake...oh, wait a minute.  That looks like it might be a bad address.  Did you, by any chance, move recently?"

So after living in my house for fifteen years and missing the Sunday Times delivery for almost every single one of them, it would appear that they finally got it right and started delivering there.

Except, of course, the fact that I no longer live there.

I'm going back to bed with high hopes that somebody somewhere will take pity on me, fix the address in the computer, put their shoes and socks on, and bring me a copy of the paper later this afternoon.

In the meantime, there are things to stitch and library books to read and chickens to grill and swimmingsuits to ponder.  I hope that your very own Sunday is exactly what you want it to be...and that your paper was dry (and delivered) your weather is lovely, and your needles are flying!

26 comments:

  1. While many people I know don't read the paper, I get my news digitally. Might that be an option? Does the NYT offer an online subscription.

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  2. Oh dear, I have the opposite problem. We stopped subscribing to our local paper a gazillion years ago yet every Wednesday the relief driver happily tosses a supplement paper (ads, coupons, just spammy trash) on our driveway. Which means you have to detour on your way to the mailbox to pick up the spam to toss it in the trash. We've complained to the paper many times but it still comes like clockwork.

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  3. Yes! I have the same problem! I LOVE to crawl back in bed on Sunday morning with the newspaper and a huge mug of coffee.....however, the Sunday newspaper has been delayed two out of the last three Sundays. I am just about ready to give up on my subscription. I want to do my part to support the news organizations and the press, etc., but I am tired of begging my local paper to deliver the paper in a timely matter. Coni, I feel your pain!

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  4. Coni, I hope you get your paper today at the correct address. We only get the local paper and it is delivered via USPS and appeals in the mailbox on Fridays (it only comes out once a week). Enjoy the rest of the day!

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  5. We have had a subscription to the Sunday New York Times for many years in Ohio and now in Florida. It has always arrived on the Monday. Gail H.

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  6. I'll give you a giggle....we subscribe to the weekend editions of our local paper which was Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday ( all the flyers are in Saturday's edition). The Friday stopped coming ( no longer considered part of the weekend package). Last month the S aturday stopped ( again-no longer part) but..... Thursday is considered the weekend edition, along with Sunday. Huh? Strange but true.

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  7. Love the "failing" New York Times. My husband sadly gave up his newspapers and went digital. Light switches and walls are free of newsprint!

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  8. My local library gets the NY Times. I don't read the depressing news I just xerox the puzzles. Maybe your library gets it too.

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  9. I second that! It IS a conspiracy!!! Hope it arrives soon. :( Love, hugs & prayers, Cathryn ♥

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  10. Oh Geez, what a tale...Is it perhaps online? I know that many of the big news papers have online subscriptions (though how complete or expensive they are I am not sure).
    In the meantime, I hope yours finds it's way to your door, maybe with a damn fine east coast bagel sitting right on top!

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  11. We subscribed to our local paper Sunday edition it was hit or miss on showing up. I would call, and they would apologize then it would arrive two or three times and then not. Finally, the aggravation of paying and calling to complain had brought to the point of cancelling. Now I have received the paper every Sunday for the last 4 weeks. Go figure.

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  12. The idea of Sunday paper delivery is sooo simple, but apparently, sooo difficult! I feel your pain. My father was told Sunday delivery was no longer available in his area, so he canceled his subscription. Now it is a wonderful surprise when the paper shows up in his box on random Sundays!

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  13. Wow - guess I need to give thanks because my NYT shows up early on Sunday
    mornings. And I love it.

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  14. They won't bring me the newspaper on any day! I have a gate, it's a line they won't cross, come h-e -double hockey sticks or high water. Instead, they will stuff it into one of those newspaper cubbies the newspaper company gives you advertising their particular brand of paper and I would have to walk my arse up to the street to retrieve it. That's not going to happen on a Sunday morning in THIS house! I opt for CBS Sunday Morning to be my Sunday morning, coffee in bed routine.

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  15. I finally switched to the digital edition of the daily and Sunday Times. I DO miss the paper version, but the digital edition works very nicely for me and I have an unexpected bonus doing the crossword online (the crossword costs an extra but very small amount). There are some nice features that help you to solve the crosswords and I need that help on the "hard" days if the week. It costs 25.00 a month but there is tons of content and I find it well worth it.

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  16. I second that! It IS a conspiracy!!! Hope it arrives soon. :( Love, hugs & prayers, Cathryn ♥


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  17. I get my New York Times and Washington Post electronically. It's much cheaper than home delivery and always waiting on my Kindle for me.

    I hope your paper finally arrived.

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  18. At out old house home delivery became a game. What time would it come and where would it land? kathie448 ours had that same weird schedule. Where we live now though we get it daily.I can't warm up to digital anything. I love the puzzles and this paper gives me a whole mess of them.
    Good Luck with your home delivery Coni!

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  19. Should have stayed in Jersey. This of course is coming from a Jersey Girl. LOL

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  20. My paper doesn't publish on Sunday. So, I never get a Sunday paper. Hopefully, your paper will continue to publish on Sunday, and you will get at least an occasional Sunday paper.

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  21. Coni, subscribe on your iPad (I think you said you have one). It's marvelous, and I know I donated enough for a year's subscription! You can even pay a dollar or 2 more for the daily crosswords. I read it every day, do the crossword, and try out the recipes in the cooking app. The subscription is a pretty good value!

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  22. We stopped subscribing bing to our local paper when they repeatedly failed to deliver the paper. At least the excuses they made were entertaining.

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  23. This was the first Sunday in my adult life that I wasn't expecting to see a Sunday paper, damp or torn usually, on my sidewalk. I unsubscribed when the paper decided to endorse a particularly horrible person for mayor...last straw in a litany of horribles. Am thinking about a NYT Sunday subscription....

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  24. Isn`t that how it always goes. Just like throwing something out and then needing it the next day. Hope your paper found you!

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  25. Thats why I finally quit home delivery. It just couldn't be expected to be delivered on time. I constantly called to complain, and they said it was supposed to believed by 6 am, which rarely happened. But, it is did, I would grab it and take it to work to read during lunch. I had to leave for work at 6 am sharp because of traffic, and if the paper wasn't there, then I had to go without or buy another one somewhere else. REALLY made me mad. So I insisted on canceling, and that was hard too. they really didn't want to let me go after 18 years. But, I kept insisting, and finally It stopped. Now, I just read the paper online or watch the news

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  26. Should have stayed in Jersey. This of course is coming from a Jersey Girl. LOL

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