Fresh on the heels of a story posted by my LR colleague Cory Bergman about paying fees to leave online comments, is news that a local paper in Pennsylvania is charging readers to view death announcements. The obituary section of LancasterOnline.com now has a paywall.
LancasterOnline.com, the online news affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers Inc,. launched the obituary fee on Monday. Out-of-county online readers will be charged $1.99 per month, or $19.99 per year, if they view more than seven obituaries in a month. Local online readers, subscribers, or any out-of-county readers who only look at a few obituaries a month online will not be required to pay a fee.
Now that I have provided a little backstory, it’s time for me to riff here a bit. How common is it for out-of-town readers to view the obituaries setion of a local paper online? It strikes me as something that happens rarely if ever. Trying to charge out-of-town readers to view more than seven obituaries in a month seems pointless. Why would an out-of-towner read them in the first place, or ever look at more than one (perhaps a long lost friend or teacher)? How much money could Lancaster Newspapers Inc. possibly make from this initiative?
Even if a person had the desire to read countless obituaries on a local paper’s website, would he really go so far as charging his credit card to so? How would he explain it to his wife if she happened upon the $1.99 fee?
“Honey, I got caught up reading obituaries on LancasterOnline.com. I just couldn’t stop after the seventh one, so I paid $1.99 to read more. Feel free to log in and read as many as you want for the rest of the month.”