Karns Quality Blog

From time to time, The Patriot News blankets their reading area with a publication for non-subscribers known as The Patriot Plus. According to their advertisers rate guide, a full run of The Patriot Plus consists of 102,103 copies delivered on the doorsteps of residents who never asked for it. The purpose of it is pure capitalism. A token amount of fluff content is included to mask the fact that the only real use of The Patriot Plus is to sell advertisements and to get them into every house in the Midstate.

Officially, a resident can opt out of receiving The Patriot Plus. However, this has proven to be no easy task. I have called numerous times to request that my residence be removed from their distribution list, and I do believe that The Patriot News has my address marked for no delivery in their database. The problem seems to be getting this to translate to the delivery guy. I’ve seen him out slowly driving down the street just chucking one of those ugly red bags at every single door. Buildings with apartments get multiple copies, vacant buildings get one for the ghosts of residents past, and I just end up lost in the shuffle with a bright red bag of unsolicited advertisements laying on my stoop.

Even if the opt-out system did work, The Patriot Plus has issues. Last night I walked around the five-block area surrounding my house, and I gathered up 25 of these that were still laying on the sidewalks. They were delivered a week ago! The action of blanketing our neighborhoods with these unwanted advertisements is nothing less than systematic, wholesale, corporate littering on the part of The Patriot News. Huge amounts of resources are being wasted to produce and deliver these unwanted objects, which ultimately end up in a trash can or storm drain. It is a sickening example of consumerism and the placement of business interests ahead of social and environmental concerns.

Midtown has long had a trash problem, but no litter in the neighborhood is as pervasive as these ugly red bags. They have become so ubiquitous that I don’t even really think the residents notice this nuisance anymore. Neighbors, wake up! It is not okay for us to allow a corporation to sprinkle its trash around our neighborhood just to make a few ad bucks. Demand that The Patriot News reduce its impact on our neighborhood and our planet by moving The Patriot Plus to an opt-in or digital delivery model.

Last night I sent a message to The Patriot News about my disgust in their inability to stop the unsolicited delivery of their garbage to my doorstep. I took those 25 unwanted papers and returned them to their rightful owner. I just left them on the sidewalk, much like they do to me.

To The Patriot News, I’d love to have a dialog with you about this. The status quo is no longer acceptable. We need you to stop littering in our neighborhood.