Coupons are not worth the paper

Your article on attempts by newspapers to boost circulation with coupons (MW January 31) arrived appositely in the same post as a “once in a lifetime offer” from The Times and Sunday Times. In order to beat the February 17 deadline, I rushed to call on the evening of January 31, only to be told by a recorded message that the offer had closed.

Undaunted – why pay 40p a day for a paper that is being given away six days of the week for free? – I checked the next day with three local newsagents. Unfortunately, they all said they would not accept coupons, as they received no extra copies, their margin was lower, so they kept the papers for cash paying regulars. I tried the offer number again, got through and asked where the coupons could be redeemed, “get the newsagent to ring the NI circulation department,” was the response. I gave up, but the promotion did have an effect. After 25 years of reading The Times, I’m thinking of changing to the Telegraph.

Dominic Moseley

Moseley Consulting

London, SW1