By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
Report for America corps member
We last increased the price of a subscription to The Woodford Sun two years ago. It was a simple decision and, with our gratitude, we heard fewer than 10 complaints.
As we explained at the time, given the cost of postage from the U.S. Postal Service, it had gotten to the point where we lost money on every paper we mailed. This was particularly acute with senior subscriptions.
The last increase brought the local subscription rate to $50/year; the senior rate to $38/year; the Kentucky rate to $60/year; and the out-of-state rate to $65/year. The bulk of you stayed with us as we struggled to stay afloat and keep providing a non-biased, fair and comprehensive news source for Woodford County . . . and for that, we thank you.
We are tweaking our subscription rates again, but this is driven by more than increasing postage, increasing printing costs and ongoing tariffs—our new website launched last week on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Given the integration of the pay system we are now using with the new website, and that we only have one employee managing that system, we are adopting a single, uniform subscription rate across the board.
This means we are simplifying our subscription rates into fewer tiers to allow us to add online-only subscriptions to our available offerings.
Our new rate will be $60/year for regular print subscribers; $60/year for regular digital subscribers; and $100/year for print and digital subscribers. Seniors will still be able to gain a print or digital subscription at a discounted rate of $40/year. Right now, you must call the office at 859-873-3211 to obtain this discounted rate.
If you are not an annual subscriber but see a story or photo you would like to access, then you can purchase a 24-hour pass to all of our content for $1.50, which will give you full access to that week’s paper as well as prior editions, which you can save as a PDF or print out.
Unlike large newspapers like The New York Times, we are committed to still offering a print copy. We believe $60 a year is a reasonable price for receiving a comprehensive and reliable newspaper completely dedicated to Woodford County people, government, stories, industries and businesses, schools and school sports . . . plus much more. It is a small increase from our prior rate, which had not been raised since 2024.
Also, let me conclude with this: as a long-term goal, one of the things the board of The Woodford Sun Community Newspaper (the new nonprofit corporation that owns The Woodford Sun as its sole asset) wants to do is to publish the paper for free, or at least the digital format for free. As a long-range goal, we cannot predict when this will happen. It may be in just a few years, or it may be in several years. This depends primarily on fundraising, receiving grants and building a healthy endowment.
For now, we hope you understand the new pricing model. And, as always, I am just a phone call away if you want to talk about it. You can reach me at 859-873-3211 during regular business hours (Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or by email at scott@woodfordsun.com.
Thank you . . . with all of our hearts . . . for your continued support.