It Ain’t as Interesting if I We Have to Buy It

At the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the execs are up in arms about what happened after they tried making the employees pay for the newspaper. Below is part of a letter to them:

“There has been one unfortunate and unacceptable byproduct of the switch – employees are stealing print copies from the vending boxes that we placed throughout our buildings as a convenience for those who still want a print copy. A single daily single copy can be purchased for 25 cents and a Sunday single copy for $1.

Employees, by the way, also can and should take advantage of a half-price discount on home delivery subscriptions – the cost of which, if you prefer, can be deducted from your paycheck.

During the first week that the additional on-site racks were in service, 43 percent of the Star Tribunes removed from those racks were not paid for. For the second week the rate was 41 percent.

This is called “pilferage” in our business; but put more plainly, it is theft, pure and simple.

Taking more than one newspaper from a rack when you have only inserted enough money for one paper is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Employees who steal newspapers will put their jobs at risk.

There is zero tolerance when it comes to stealing from our company, even if it is a 25-cent newspaper. And I encourage our hundreds of honest employees who observe co-workers stealing newspapers to challenge them on the spot to refrain from doing so.”