LancasterOnline.com is charging a fee to browse obituaries:
Fresh on the heels of a story posted by my LR colleague Cory Bergman about paying fees to leave online comments, is news that a local paper in Pennsylvania is charging readers to view death announcements. The obituary section of LancasterOnline.com now has a paywall.
LancasterOnline.com, the online news affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers Inc,. launched the obituary fee on Monday. Out-of-county online readers will be charged $1.99 per month, or $19.99 per year, if they view more than seven obituaries in a month. Local online readers, subscribers, or any out-of-county readers who only look at a few obituaries a month online will not be required to pay a fee.
I would pay good money to see Esbee's face if the Winston-Salem Journal's site did this. I think the head spinning would be Excorcist-esque.
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It wouldn’t affect me, as I fall into the “local online reader” category. That said, I think it’s an awful idea; it falls into the “milking the grieving” category.
It wouldn’t affect me, as I fall into the “local online reader” category. That said, I think it’s an awful idea; it falls into the “milking the grieving” category.
Good point about the local, but I still had fun thinking about it. Agree with your milking the grieving as well.
Don’t funeral homes already do that?
CollieDollies, this isn’t to place the obituaries in newspapers, which is arranged by the funeral home and does cost money (The Journal’s are about 25% of the cost of the WaPo, for the record). This is for the obituaries to be viewed by the readers of those newspapers.
CollieDollies, this isn’t to place the obituaries in newspapers, which is arranged by the funeral home and does cost money (The Journal’s are about 25% of the cost of the WaPo, for the record). This is for the obituaries to be viewed by the readers of those newspapers.