By Joel Thurtell
I felt like a chump when I found out a friend was telemarketed by the Free Press and wound up paying half what I’m shelling out for the new threely home delivery and fourly e-mail set-up that I got by calling many times and bouncing off the Freep’s ridiculous web form.
I paid for the e-mail version to start on March 31. It was not easy placing my order. Phone lines were busy, computer order form malfunctioned, but finally I found a human located somewhere in the Far Midwest who would take my order. The person told me the free Web version of the Free Press had been extended a couple days, but would end April 3.
The e-mail version of the Free Press began more than a week late, on April 8. It has a weird look, with an unreadable shot of the whole page that does, however, allow for clicking and migrating to large-type versions of the story. Nice, but I still like the freebie Freep better, and that’s where I’m feeling like a chump again.
Because, you see, the old free-for-all freep.com is still doling out free news in an easier-to-read format than my chumpster’s pay-to-read version.
It leaves me asking once again, why the hell am I paying for this product when anyone can read it for free?
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
