Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Peeve Patrol
The Making of a Medley
Third Floor, First Rate
Just like blogTO, Torontoist got a tip from one of our readers Thursday morning, alerting us to the imminent disappearance of Toronto Star newspaper boxes around town. And just like the recent spate of National Post newspaper box cutbacks, this had us worried. That newspapers are on their deathbed is a well-worn cliché, promulgated first with the rise of web-based news sites and whose spread accelerated with the economic meltdown that is stripping media outlets of their advertisers. We didn’t want to jump to conclusions, though: the Star is—at least relatively speaking—a strong performer. According to the Newspaper Audience Databank, in 2007 the Toronto Star outperformed all other newspapers in the city: it had 2.1 million weekly readers, compared to 1.2 million for the Toronto Sun, 1 million for The Globe and Mail, and 500,000 for the National Post.
Newspapers often stop servicing boxes that fare poorly, preferring to retain only those locations which have brisk sales. Many of the Star’s soon-to-be-discontinued boxes, however, are on busy intersections with lots of foot traffic: Yonge and Eglinton, Church and Gould, College and Robert, Yonge and King, Queen and Duncan. While we are not privy to Toronto Star’s sales figures, these aren’t obvious candidates for lower-than-average performance. We tried to contact the heads of both the circulation and marketing departments of the Star; unfortunately, none of our messages have been returned as of yet. A customer service representative did tell us that boxes were being pulled only because of poor sales, and not as part of a concerted strategy to cut back service. While we certainly hope that this is the case, it is also a little worrisome in its own right: if a newspaper box at Yonge and King isn't selling out, times may be even tougher than we thought.
Photo of newspaper box at Yonge and Eglinton by Jamie Bradburn/Torontoist.
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just cause the star outperformed the other newspapers doesnt mean that the newspaper business is thriving.
also maybe busy intersections arent the place for newspaper purchasing. maybe the quiet side streets with benches or a place closer to one's java would be ideal.
I wonder if it has something to do with a store close to a box - the store owner would want people to come into the store, not just buy a paper out of a nearby box.
It is my understanding that newspaper boxes are essentially marketing loss leaders - there to get the brand name out on the street, but not very effective as a way to sell papers.
I've heard that these boxes sell an average of .5 papers, which does not pay for the rental of the space, upkeep and having someone fill them everyday. That's not to say that papers aren't in trouble, it just mean that they may be realizing this is a poor use of money.
Saw a newspaper box for the Toronto Sun that accepts credit card. crazy.
Ha! Maybe it's because of people like me?
Whenever I buy a paper out of one of those boxes, if the weather's not wet or windy, I either prop the box open with something, or I take the rest of the papers out of the box so that people can have their news for free.
Who has time to read a newspaper? And the format is a waste of paper and awkward in size.
Why, exactly?
People don't deserve to get paid for their work?
Just go to the nearest Staples, muffler or lube shop, trade show etc. and pick up a free Star.
They're selling eyeballs for advertisers now.
The only one being paid for their work by papers in boxes is the guy delivering them to the boxes.
I remember some rep from the Star mentioning not too long ago that they are starting to see a big shift in readers moving from physical papers to online. I'm sure that the decline in boxes located around the city is not really an indication of much, since a lot of their readership has moved to their website to read their articles.
It now appears that the "nearest location" line is being filled in, at least along Eglinton (boxes at Eg and Bayview point you to Metro, while Yonge and Eg direct you to 7-11).
Just because an intersection is busy doesn't mean paper boxes should do brisk business. Nobody in the financial distrct reads the Star at work. I also doubt that too many University students are buying it regularly either. The 20-35 group is more than likely reading online if at all, so younger neighbourhoods probably don't move much to walk-up traffic.
i recently noticed a sun box removed from the front of my brother's shady etobicoke building... these things are disappearing and papers are now working on their digital strategies and less so on their circulation.