I used to work as an editor for my city's metro newspaper.

As someone who wants to see local journalism succeed, I would be willing to subscribe at a reasonable rate.

But the only subscription plan they offer is {ridiculously low rate for first 6 months} then {ridiculously high rate after that).

And I know what a hassle it is to cancel. No online option. You have to phone in, endure 20-30 minutes on hold, then resist a retention specialist's multiple efforts to get you to reconsider.

No thanks. I want to support local journalism, but this is not the way.

The FTC recently announced that it's ramping up enforcement of subscription services cancellation rules:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-r...

"Marketers should provide cancellation mechanisms that are at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to buy the product or service in the first place."

I hope that these efforts do make a difference with news subscriptions.

Absolutely true, and this is where i found subscribing to those through Apple’s App Store helps. This way, i am subbed to a bunch of newspapers, and i can always easily cancel them with a single click from a single UI in the “My Subscriptions” section of the app store.

I did that experiment with NYT (note: not a California resident), where i signed up regularly through their website first and tried canceling, and then did the same through App Store.

With the first one (website), i had to call or email them to cancel, no way to do it through a UI. Took me a few days to get it done. With the second one (App Store), all it took was one click from “My Subscriptions” page that has all my subscriptions from App Store.

I use privacy.com for those kinds of services. Always works like a charm. The WSJ ends up chasing you when the card declines (gets turned off), often with continued low monthly plans.

Definitely a concern unless you're in CA. I do wonder if the newspaper industry as a whole would not be better served by allowing CA-style easy cancellation nationwide. Sure, you get more cancels, but you also get more people signing up initially, and a bunch of those probably don't bother cancelling.

I would subscribe to the New York Times but do not for that reason.