![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Though the numbers vary widely by newspaper, the last time NAA checked, in 1993, single-copy sales accounted for 18% of U.S. "Everyone's trying to make honor boxes more user friendly," said Howard Hay, vice president for circulation at the Chicago Tribune and president of NAA's circulation federation. They have to market themselves to get consumers to part with the money." Newspapers are in the same boat as soft drinks, candy or snacks. "Newspapers today are trying to merchandise their single-copy sales," said Leon Levitt, the Newspaper Association of America's vice president for circulation. Racks are being designed to accept $1 bills and $1 coins, to sell papers in drive-through lanes of fast-food restaurants, to open upward for easier access from a wheelchair, to be part of circulation data systems and to compete with other products inside retail stores.Īnd looking toward a cashless future, when readers may need a pocket full of quarters to buy a Sunday paper, newspapers are also experimenting with racks that let readers pay with a "smart" card carrying "cash" in a tiny computer chip. The goal is to increase single-copy sales and profitability by cutting waste.Įither way, a lot is happening to the basic coin-operated newsrack. Newspapers agree that economics is pushing the pace of change, but they see the broader issue as adapting newsracks to be easier and more convenient. Soaring newsprint prices are driving sales of electronic coin mechanisms and sophisticated data retrieval systems, vendors say. Into electronics, data systems and new conveniences sp.ĪS NEWSPAPERS RACE headlong into cyberspace, one of their more mundane operations is also going electronic: newsracks. By: George Garneau Not ready for cyberspace, honor boxes are moving ![]()
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