What was life like all the way back in 2003? It wasn’t all good and it wasn’t all bad, but it was surely different from what we are experiencing right now. Then again, what wasn’t?
That year is the last time The Lakeville Journal Company instituted a price increase for our print and online newspapers, either at newsstands, through subscriptions or online. Since then, keeping in mind the economic hardships some of our most avid area readers have faced during that time, we have tried to keep the price the same. And since that time, when our increase to $1.25 for a single copy sale at a dealer was expensive compared to other newspapers, the price of those other papers increased until that $1.25 is now among the most reasonable costs in the store.
So we have finally decided, as we are looking at new ways to survive the COVID-19 challenges and the threats facing local journalism in general, it is now time to increase the cost of our newspapers, The Lakeville Journal and Millerton News. The cover price at your local stores will now be $2 per copy, and the in-county subscription rate will be $82 a year.
Here is the upshot: $82 will be for one year print, including the website, or online only subscriptions of all kinds; $150, two years print, including the website, or online only subscriptions of all kinds; $42, six months print, including the website, or online only subs of all kinds. Outside county costs will be more, as postage and handling are more: $98 for one year, $180 for two years and $50 for six months.
Our wish is to be here to serve our readership, across the Tri-state region, for a long time to come, but to make that happen, we need to pay our employees, our rent, our printing bills and our insurance bills, among other expenses. We are just like every other small business, and in order to remain afloat, we need to constantly evaluate the best ways to improve our chances of being around.
More on this next week.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
