Offing the Record

   Who cares?   We had subscribed to The Record for almost 4 decades.  When I was notified last November that my subscription was due, I made payment of $251.70 or half  the yearly rate of $503.40.  I paid online, through my bank, as usual.  When my paper delivery stopped, I called and was told the address had been changed, and I'd have to contact my bank to have them return the check.  OK, I said, though the pathway to that information had been  fairly convoluted, and was not to be straightened any time soon.
   First a rep called, offering a lower rate, but I declined until I located my check.  Then another subscriber emailed me a subscription notice with a rate of $314 instead of $503.  Efforts at taking advantage of either of these offers were in vain. Promised callbacks did not happen.
   I gradually got out of the habit of receiving a daily paper.  After several weeks, I didn't  really miss the daily trek out to the newspaper box for a slender sheaf of rehashed newsprint.  But when I came across a trial offer for another paper, I signed up--for 4 weeks.  Lo and behold, when the offer began, both papers were delivered.  It must be in about Week 4 now.  I figured it was just a glitch on the part of the carrier, since both papers consolidated delivery.
   Cut to the present:  Today a rep called, from some place in Floral Park, asking if I wanted to re-subscribe to The Record.  I asked what the rate would be, and he cited the $503 price.  I mentioned the lower-price offers: Why pay more when others pay less?   After an interminable time on hold, he returned with a offer of $336.  I said I'd accept, but then he said I'd been in a "grace period"since last November and would have to pay a past-due balance of $126. Except that my subscription was terminated then, with no delivery except for the last 3 1/2 weeks.  I guess it doesn't matter what I pay.  I was willing to pay the $503 rate, but won't pay for something I didn't receive.  I don't even know if I'll extend the other newspaper subscription.  The papers have been accumulating, largely unread. Once a routine is broken it no longer exists . Not to me anyway. No addictions for me, no coffee, no cigarettes, no wine, no health regimen---just a vast wasteland.