Yesterday we got the last of the new issue of the Gypsy Journal in the mail. It’s always good to get that chore behind us. And to get the load off of our hard working Ford Explorer.
It can be a challenge to find enough stamps in the correct denominations, and quite often no post office in the area where we are has them and we have to have them order them for us. And with the latest increase in postage it’s even harder to find enough stamps to make up the combinations we need. So some envelopes went out with four different stamps on them and some with five to add up to $1.64 each. Try doing that with thousands of stamps. At least they’re the self-sticking ones so we don’t have to lick all of them!
Recently somebody asked why we don’t use an online postage source like Stamps.com. For two reasons – number one, we used Stamps.com for over a year and there were so many errors and hassles that it was a waste of time and money, and two, with this new postage increase we’re currently making four cents on every paper we send out. The cost of the monthly Stamps.com subscription fee and the labels needed would put us in the red with every copy that goes in the mail.
I do have to say that Florence, Oregon is proving to be one of the friendliest towns we’ve ever visited. In the stores, the restaurants, the post office, wherever we go, people make it a point to smile and say hello, they hold doors for you, drivers stop in parking lots to allow you to cross in front of them. Yesterday at the post office, their employees carried all of the tubs of stuffed envelopes in from the Explorer. That’s never happened at any post office we’ve been to!
For a while now I’ve been saying that I want to get a boat, but I had no idea it would be so soon. Sometimes things happen when we least expect them. My son Travis and his wife Geli gave me this for Father’s Day. Isn’t she a beauty?
With the paper in the mail, it’s time to play. When we were done at the post office yesterday we drove out by the beach, and the first thing we saw was a sky full of kites. Not just kites, but speed foils like my Prism Snapshot 1.9! You can bet I’m going to get some flying time in in the near future!
Have you entered our latest Free Drawing yet? This week’s prize is an audiobook of Highland Passage by J.L Jarvis. It’s a time travel historical romance that begins with the heroine blacking out following a car crash on an icy road and waking up in a mysterious stone chamber being cared for by a kilted man who claims to be an eighteenth century Scottish highlander. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
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Nick Russell
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Come on Nick and Terry your smarter than that. Its long past time to kill that printed edition that costs you so much and focus on the digital that makes a profit. Yeah some people will be disappointed just like they were when you stopped doing your rallies. And you will lose a few who wont change over. But what are you losing at 4 cents a pop? If you lost 5000 subscribers it would come out to $200 an issue or $1200 a year. Your time is worth more than that.
Raise the price on the printed edition $5 per year and that will help with postage.
have fun with the new boat lol.
It’s not that easy, Bill. I was in the newspaper biz for over 40 years and fought this same battle before retiring last year. There is a point where you can’t raise prices any higher and still retain subscribers. It’s not like you can only print X number of copies to meet your subscription numbers. The big cost in printing is in set up and shipping. So whether you have 1 subscriber or 100,000 it costs the same to set up. And the post office has already announced plans to seek another rate increase in January 2016. Face it, technology is making the printed publication obsolete. Just look at how many big newspapers have folded, merged or gone all digital. Not to mention the huge numbers of small ones like ours that are gone.
Never mind the fact that you only make four cents per copy
if you have to factor in the time it cost you to get to subjects location
then you have to calculate the time that it takes you to write The article and proof the article as well as the time to digitally send it to the Publisher printer
then you have to meet up with your shipper to receive it
stuff. The envelopes
stick the stamps on it
Even if you don’t factor in the vehicles distance to subjects location
Think of the logistics you have to pick the bundle of newspapers up at the receivers you have to drive back to your motorhome spend the time stuffing envelopes put stamps on them and drive it to the post office
It doesn’t sound like you’re making any money sounds like it’s logistically costing you money
If minimum-wage was eight dollars an hour my calculation comes out you have to sell 200 newspapers to make minimum-wage and that’s not taking into account SS FICA state city and federal tax
my estimation you could do better off if Miss Terry sold her Superduper cinnamon rolls or some of her weaving goods at a craft fair (and remember that’s tax-free)
That’s my four cents on the subject
Who won the cook book kt. Just wondering ?