Does your community still have a free(ish)paper, weekly? With want ads. Freebies. Free pets. Services offered and asked for. Maybe coupons and announcements? Anymore?
Our little cluster of suburbia still has a free weekly newspaper, complete with coverage of the local school board and city council meetings, features on colorful local residents and of course, an advertising section with for sale, help wanted, and many, many real estate listings. Not only is it free at local supermarkets but it’s delivered directly to our driveway every Friday (or Saturday, if they fall behind.)
We had one. It had free want ads, a puzzle or two, and some coupons for local eateries. I sold and bought a few things through it. It came in the mail on Tuesday along with the week’s grocery ads. Alas, it was a casualty of COVID.
I miss it.
We have one, it shows up on thursday. Since I actually called them and complained they put it in the mailbox instead of tossing in the driveway. It’s basically “here, you throw this away.”
There are still a couple you can pick up at the Metro to read on the subway. None that come to the door anymore. My favorite is the Washington City Paper.
We had one for many years, based in the county seat. Then it died. A couple of years later the one from the next county over started showing up. No reporting unless you count the obituaries, but lots of ads, including ones from this county; also some puzzles.
We also have three more or less local papers that you have to pay for, two more or less dailies and a weekly, covering different but overlapping areas. They all do some actual local reporting, though with diminished staff from years ago. I subscribe to two of them. — come to think of it I think there’s another in the area that sends out the current freebie.
There is a distinctive difference between the free weekly alternative daily and the free ads “penny saver” style. The former are definitely still around; the latter have been supplanted by Craig’s List.
Years ago the free weekly used to be delivered everywhere, double stuffed in our paper boxes, left on the ground when the box was full, dozens left on the stoops of vacant houses. It kept coming couldn’t stop it. Eventually that all went away.
The local paper from the town next door (tnd) used to provide a free penny saver type publication that iirc was mailed. I used it to set the cat bowls on, as they liked to read the pet lost and founds. Then that was stopped and now there is no free newsprint anymore.
What to set the cat bowls on now? I have grandmas cloth napkins, i feed and water them from grandmas china, it’s akin to setting a fancy table for the cats now.
There are (were?) many great uses for yesterday’s newspaper, from lining a bird cage, to the first level of kindling in the fireplace, to what you spray painted something on to packing material, to papier-mâché.
Luckily, I was in a hotel last month that had free local newspapers; I grabbed a couple on my way out. Perfect place to put my boots that got muddied up later that day & then to use to spray paint on a couple of days later.
What do bird owners line their cages with in the internet age?
I still get the Arkansas Democrat/Gazette delivered. So we always have newspapers to wrap the fish(?) in.
I keep a stack of paper in the garage. It gets used by many for many things.
Our local paper which I also subscribe to(at the moment) is about 5 or 6 pages. Not much happening around here. I’ve been noticing they skip the crossword puzzle a couple times a week. They might not know it, but that’s the chief reason I subscribe. So, they are soon to be fired.
But the Bargain Leader and the Shopper guide are no more in my mailbox. Ah, well.
(Oh if you want papier mache’ material you can get unprinted newspaper in packing stores and art stores. When I did a bunch papier mache’ I went to the Shopper Guide printing place and ask for end cuts, I got a trunk full for free.)
Yes, and my wife sends them press releases for our writing club activities. They run an article - with her byline - and we get 2 or 3 people a month writing in to get the Zoom link. So it does get read.
My wife started writing for a free weekly near Princeton, and the Princeton proper free paper, Town Topics, is a delight. The last time we looked at it, when we visited 15 years ago, it still was quirky with no new pictures.
Most of ours have gone online. Near my part of London, there is a giveaway print paper all about (and only available in) the Canary Wharf commercial/office estate, but that’s primarily a fortnightly collection of puff pieces for different restaurants/events/activities around the place, plus some advertising from local estate agents.