-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Talk about sticker shock. Imagine my surprise a few days ago as I grabbed a carton of eggs from the cold case at the local store: $7.45 for a dozen large eggs. Usually, grandson Jorden supplies eggs, fresh from the poultry pen, but his supply was depleted.

Needless to say, I changed my menu plan and returned the carton to the shelf.

Accordng to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index has seen an 8.2% increase in the last year. Electricity prices shock a lot of us, with a 15.5% average increase. Groceries don’t fill as many bags when prices jump 13%. Health insurances prices make me feel ill, with a record 28.2% jump.

For the record, the CPI shows egg prices scrambled to a 30.5% increase from one year ago.

Your local newspaper is feeling the inflation pinch, too. A year ago, we increased subscription prices due to an anticipated postal rate increase that went into effect in July.

During the National Newspaper Association Foundation Annual Convention and Trade Show, held the first week in October, publishers learned, from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, that mailing rates will increase an additional 7% in January.

That’s a 15% increase in one year.

NNA’s incoming chair, John Galer, of Illinois, called the proposed increases “daunting.”

“We understand the damage that inflation inflicts upon the U.S. economy and, as loyal customers of the postal service in our industry for more than 200 years, we try to take actions to help USPS control its own expenses,” Galer said. “But price increases of this magnitude will hurt newspapers as well as the postal service. This is not the time to drive business away if the postmaster general’s goal is to fill his mail trucks and his mailbags, as he told us today.”

I believe transparency is important with readers so here it is: we appreciate and value each of you, our subscribers. On an in-county subscription, the $45 price tag you pay covers a little more than half of the printing and mailing costs. Out-of-county and out-of-state subscription prices cover around 55% of those associated costs.

About 60% of SAM’s revenue comes from advertising. We depend on support from our subscribers to preserve local news coverage.

At this time, I do not plan for an increase in subscription prices for 2023, despite the increase in mailing fees. We’ll continue to build additional revenue streams that, hopefully, will offset the cost.

To those who believe news coverage should be free: It costs money to produce a story. Wages, fuel, research fees, etc., add to the production costs. Covering a meeting takes time, too. Travel expenses, research, followup. If local news isn’t covering local government entities, who will serve as watchdog?

Scott and I appreciate each of you who subscribe and/or support the newspaper. If you are a first-time reader, or haven’t gotten around to subscribing, we encourage you to subscribe today. At a cost of 86 cents a week, you can receive local articles about the people and places we are proud to call home.