Frustration With The Arizona Republic

Most of you know that I have subscribed to the AZ Republic (Phoenix) to receive multiple Sunday papers. In the past, they have more coupons in their paper than the AZ Daily Star (Tucson)which I also receive. Two Sundays ago, my Red Plum and Proctor and Gamble coupons were missing from my Sunday AZ Republic newspapers. I though someone had just made a mistake. But this Sunday, the same thing happened.

I was preparing to shoot a news story today with KOLD13 on using coupons to save money and was going to mention the multiple papers in the story. But before I could do so, I needed to know what was happening to our coupons. So, I spent the morning on the phone trying to find out if this was permanent thing.

This is what I learned. The management person from the AZ Republic told me there was nothing that they could do and that Red Plum is the one who decided that it would no longer be included in papers sent down to our Tucson area. So, I contacted the people over Red Plum to find out what was happening.

Katie sent me the following email:

"Stephanie,

Thank you for your call earlier. We have shifted to a blend of coverage in the Phoenix area of both mail and newspaper distribution. In regard to your question about the Arizona Daily Republic, I talked with the team here and we are still delivering the RedPlum coupon booklet through that paper. We update our market list twice a year, based on our clients’ directional marketing needs. We continuously evaluate our coverage and performance of the program in any given market. Below is a list of newspapers around your area that carry our RedPlum coupon booklet. You may also want to visit www.redplum.com to view additional deals and offers and print online coupons.

Thank you,

Katie



Newspapers:

Phoenix Arizona Republic

Phoenix Gannett Sunday Select

Phoenix Community Newspapers

Mesa/ Sun City Tribune/Sun

Prescott Courier

Flagstaff Arizona Daily Sun

Tucson Star

Tucson/Green Valley NW Explorer/NE

Yuma Sun



Katie Brown
Corporate Communications
Valassis
19975 Victor Parkway
Livonia, MI 48152
Tel 734.591.3000
Fax 734.591.4503
brownk@valassis.com
www.valassis.com

RedPlum is the ultimate source of value — online, in your mailbox, on your doorstep, with your newspaper, and in your store."

So, now I am even more confused, if it is being included in that paper why am I not receiving it?

So to make a long story short, I have canceled my subscription to the AZ Republic. The whole reason that I subscribed was for the coupons. I am not going to pay what the people in Phoenix pay just to get 1/2 the coupons. I was paying @ $30 per month for 6 Sunday papers with the AZ Republic. It's not worth that much. If they fix this problem, I'll probably start subscribing again in the future.

The Arizona Daily Star right now offers a weekend special- Saturday and Sunday Delivery for just $5 per month! $60 per year.

If anyone else would like to contact Katie to complain, please feel free to do so.

The KOLD13 news feature story will air on the 10 p.m. news on March 30th. We have a second part to film after spring break.