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Newspapers
Not worth the paper it's printed onPosted by Joel Martinsen, April 30, 2007 12:46 AM
At the end of last week the Beijing postal service was crowing about a new circulation record set by the Beijing Evening News. The 26 April issue of that paper contained 208 pages which, at a circulation of 650,000, weighed in at 400 tons. That issue was a pre-May First special edition that was boosted by additional sections for Labor Day tourism and health; it broke last November's record of 132 pages to become the thickest issue in the history of the Beijing Evening News. The paper publishes 48 pages in a normal issue. ![]() But as the post office was congratulating itself on successful delivery, non-subscribers were having a hard time getting their hands on the paper. From The Beijing News:
Beijing Evening News has a cover price of 0.5 yuan, less than its value as scrap. Beijing Youth Daily ran an article that calculated the paper's weight at 550 grams, worth around 0.7 yuan. A newsstand boss said that this happens once or twice a year - a normal occurrence rather than the price wars that rocked newspaper distribution in Kunming last year. Some Beijing newspapers have avoided this problem by bumping up cover prices on thick special issues, but Lifestyle (精品购物指南), at 256 pages, weighed in at roughly 1kg this week and still sold for the usual 1 yuan, which represents around one-fifth of its true cost. Links and Sources
There are currently 3 Comments for Not worth the paper it's printed on.
Comments on Not worth the paper it's printed onOkay, nice I suppose... *shakes head* But what of the trees? This is truly hilarious. oh China, how I hearteth thee.... :) |
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