Photos submitted by an NIT reader:
Bundles of Mason City Shoppers, all dated May 1, 2012, found in dumpster. Photos were taken at about 11 a.m.
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would like to get the shopper have not got it for over a year
You can have mine. They are now delivering it after I asked them repeatedly not to.
I would be interested in a poll to see how many residents would read the shopper but have not had one delivered because my neighborhood has not had shopper delivery in several years, or just random haphazard delivery over those several years. I figured there was some plan and that maybe we were not considered to be target audiences so that is why we didn’t get the shopper. Nice to know what is really happening because now I know why we never get any calls on things we advertise. Half the city doesn’t even get the paper we are paying to advertise in. We have gone to exclusive online advertising anymore.
I’d be upset if I paid to have advertising put in the shopper and then it goes in the dumpster. Companies and people pay good money to put ads in. Do company’s know where these shoppers ended up? I know personally I’d be fighting to get my money back. I’d even be willing to go to court. A lot of money is sitting in that dumpster. We know the Globe is not going to report this.
Really??
i delivered shoppers for a while, dont get paid enough and when you deliver it FREE to people they complain when it isnt on the top step or right by their door they call and complain. finally dropped the shopper when i got complaints it wasnt being delivered to the customer on monday when i got them. Thing is we have til tuesday at 6:30pm to get them to people.
It isnt worth it from the money angle or dealing with people that dont know how little you get paid for a FREE delivery to them (about $7 a week for 80 or so shoppers in my case).
I used to get too many shoppers and would take the extras to the Waste Management place near Shalom and recycle them there and many times there were many many bundles of shoppers there.
even if you wanted to complain to the globe about the case in the pictures, without the bundle top with the carriers address on it theres nothing they can do.
How long does it take to deliver 80 shoppers?
I do understand folks wanting it right away on Monday when the adds come out. People like to be the “first” at the sale so things are not picked over.
The Shopper is a good vehicle for advertisers but it does need changes to both the format AND the delivery system.
Ask yourself how you might make the Shopper more appealing and advertising more interesting. As it is right now, it is bland and disorganized. This is the day of easy, so look into a different layout.
On Delivery? There are times I want to look at the shopper and then there are times I am not around, to busy, and just full up on everything and just not interested.
I have asked to NOT have the shopper delivered, when I want one I go find one. I sure won’t go looking for a Shopper in the dumpster!
My point here is simply this, the advertising dollars are more effective if the recipient WANTS the Shopper. I believe it would be more successful if the owner of the Shopper (the Globe Gazette) would require your delivery people to ask every recipient their PERMISSION to leave them a Shopper. You should also consider paying them more for this extra effort.
Another possibility is to pay a commission to the delivery people for the sales advertisers get due to the Shoppers delivery to a particular individual. Today’s electronic age makes this possible.
I personally don’t believe that just throwing them on every doorstep is all that effective. In fact, I think it angers a lot of people that they have to constantly pick it up and throw it in their garbage.
PS:
Matt, who knows, this may be another way to create a revenue stream for NIT as a by-product of this web site. Hmmmmmmm?
Huh?
What a waste! The Shopper used to be worth getting with articles and special features and now is just used to insert ads. The Shopper died a long time ago and the Globe will probably follow.
I used to deliver the Globe over 10 years ago. Honestly from my experience is that they don’t really care if they get delivered or not. They push the shopper routes on the Globe carriers just so the district manager doesn’t have to deliver them! I had a shopper route and I got rid of it after only a few months because what they pay to deliver those things isn’t even hardly enough to compesate you for your time to find a dumpster to dump them in! Not a surprise here.
While i have to admit the shopper folks need to do a little better job of inspection what about the person who is getting paid to deliver it. says a lot about the work ethic or ethics at all (or lack there of. i used to deliver as kid would never think to just dump them, it was my job. have to wonder how this carrier goes about his “real job” if they have one. i agree waste all around but due to the cause of a lazy, stealing (he/she i’m sure was paid to deliver them no dump them) unethical delivey person. through aside most on this sites view of the globe, this person has cheated a lot of people, those that want to get the shopper, those that paid to be in it and the shopper itself.
That is pathetic. Good example of what our American work ethic has become. “Deliver the Shopper? Hell with that. I’ll throw them in the trash and still get paid”
Globe still gets it’s advertising $. They don’t care either.
I get mine every week. Don’t want it either, but can’t seem to stop it.
call the Globe and tell them you dont want it, its that simple. Going in and telling them is also an option
What is really sad, all the businesses and citizens that pay for ads in the shopper to help with their business advertising and the citizens trying to make some money for themselves. I guess they are not getting what they paid for. I sure would not advertise in the shopper. What a waste of money and resources. What next? Globe Gazette papers in the dumpsters? Just sayin.
I haven’t got a shopper for several years. I thought they were a thing of the past. What a waste of resources!
Haven’t gotten a shopper in probably 10 years
I get mine now, but didn’t used to unless I wanted to crawl up on the roof to get it. The old delivery guys used to drive crazily up and down the street and just throw them where they would land. But this is too much waste. Also, aren’t they owned by the Globe?? No wonder the globe is filing for bankruptcy protection if they allow this kind of waste.
They could have put these shoppers on the sidewalks in the new downtown to catch all the goose and crow droppings. What a waste!
Have lived in Mason 3 years and told the Globe many times that I NEVER get a shopper, but they assure me that I do! And as a business they wonder why we can not afford to advertise with them $125 for one small ad on a Sunday!! Now I know what they do with the shoppers at least!
You do get a shopper, you just have to go out to these dumpstars and pick it up!! 🙂
Several times in the past, while walking the trails in east park, I noticed bundles of the shopper in the cans along the trails. At first I didn’t think much of it, until it happened several more times. I said something to one of the park employees, and he told me that it happens all the time, and not just in east park. He said that they had called the globe and told them, but nothing became of it. I guess the globe doesn’t care. Aren’t they loosing money somewhere?
Another example, print is DEAD!
Gosh I thought the shopper went belly up we have not got any for so long….Jim
where was this dumpster? i havent gotten a shopper for atleast 5 years!
I remember delivering the Cedar Falls record on wednesdays for $3.75 a week. they checked up on us a few times.
Judging by the first few comments, might be interesting to see how many people actually get a Shopper. From the sounds of it, most people aren’t or they’re not getting delivered properly.
Would be good to do a poll followed up with a story of the comments and results.
For the past three winters I have complained that whoever the carrier is in Northwood, was throwing them 3 feet from the road in the snow-filled yard. Spring would come and all the residents down our street would have 15-20 papers in their front yard completely rotted.
This winter, same thing, but the newspaper was at the end of the driveway, city crews plowed, covered it, then I went to snowblow and the paper got lodged into the snowblower chute so hard that it took me 45 minutes to dislodge it.
I called and screamed at them. After getting off the phone, my wife says, “I’ve never seen you that hot in all the years we’ve been married”
I vowed that if I see another paper in my yard and not on my porch, that I would be contacting every single advertiser within their paper showing them pictures of all their advertising dollars sitting out in the middle of the snow of nearly the majority of the city of Northwood.
do you clear your sidewalk right away? how deep was the snow? could you see where the shopper or paper landed?
Now this is funny! The carriers never deliver the shoppers except to the very few customers who complain and want one! What a waste of ink/paper!