There is no better time to celebrate the "free" in
Free Community Papers of NY than this week when we celebrate the birth of
freedom in America. It's been 237 years since our founding fathers signed the
Declaration of Independence and legend has it that the free paper industry's
American roots go back even farther than that, fathered by one of the most
famous delegates to the Continental Congress.
In 1728, at the age of twenty-two, Benjamin Franklin opened
his printing office in Philadelphia where he published The Pennsylvania Gazette
as well as Poor Richard's Almanac. His printing career started ten years
earlier. Twelve year-old Ben began to learn the business of printing the truth
when he signed on as an apprentice in his older brother James' printing office
in Boston. Scientist, inventor, statesman but first a publisher. Makes our industry
proud, doesn't it?
Despite our somewhat mythical link to one of our nation's
founders the free paper industry hasn't always garnered respect. Looked down
upon for years by our cousins in the daily & paid paper business we have
had an uphill fight for readership and ad dollars in post World War II America.
We did well, too. Highly exaggerated reports of the death of print had been
attributed to the Internet, the worldwide web of free publishing and free
information exchange. Think about the Internet: a totally free medium,
available to everyone in the market that is funded by advertising sales. A
familiar sounding business plan, n'est ce pas? Al Gore didn't invent the Internet.
Neither did the free paper industry but we sure put a lot of work into
perfecting the concept.
The founder of a paper I used to work for long ago told the story of
a local dairy chain that wanted to test the free paper with a free offer of
their own. It was a coupon for a free half-gallon of milk. Redemption rates
were awful. They tried it a second time but changed the offer to a half-gallon
of milk for a nickel with coupon and a minimum purchase. Redemption rates went
through the roof. Both the ad man and the client surmised that "free" had no
value, was too good to be true or had a hidden catch to it that scared
consumers away. Perhaps. Value is in the eye of the beholder and our industry
has done as fine a job of providing value to the markets we serve as can be
done. We have receivership rates that approach 100% with very high readership
and motivated-to-buy consumer percentages that prove consistent value in an ever-changing
marketplace. Numbers our paid cousins would die for (and in many cases are). Proves
trust and acceptance by otherwise skeptical consumers. Proves that free is very
valuable. As the Association of Free Community Papers, our national trade association
says, "If it's free, buy it!"
Have a happy Fourth and celebrate all that is free in our
great nation!
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