Post, Rocky hope to profit from Obama editions — at some serious markups

Call it the Newspaper Preservation Act of 2009.

Act now, and you can shell out more than six times the cover price for a souvenir bundle of five inauguration-day copies of The Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News. That’s right, if you call before — well, before they run out — the Denver Post Inauguration Keepsake Pack including FIVE Jan. 21, 2009, editions can be yours at the low, low — I mean, horrendously inflated — price of $15.50. That’s for a set of five 50-cent newspapers, which would’ve cost ya a cool $2.50 at the 7-Eleven on Wednesday.

1/21/09 Rocky front page (Image/Newseum)
1/21/09 Rocky front page (Image/Newseum)

No, they’re not wrapped in silk or delivered in a humidity-controlled, hand-carved keepsake box (you’ll have to supply your own). Just five copies of yesterday’s newspaper.

The Rocky version costs the same, but has an impressive wraparound cover.

Better yet, if you absolutely need FIVE original (emphasis in the original) Jan. 21, 2009, editions, rummage through the recycling bin and call some neighbors before trash day.

But readers who really do believe newspapers publish history’s first draft — but don’t bother to save ’em while history is obviously in the making — expect to shell out the truly big bucks for the Denver Post Limited Edition Pack (includes one copy of each edition of The Denver Post: Nov. 5, 2008; Jan. 18, 2009; Jan. 20, 2009; Jan. 21, 2009). (That’s the day after the election and a couple recent editions, PLUS inauguration-day coverage.) Considering one of the editions is a $1.50 Sunday paper (and could contain coupons!), this package is a bargain at $43 — that’s right, not the $3 you’d expect to pay at a newsstand. What’s a mere $40 markup on history? Those are the kind of profit margins news conglomerates expected in decades past, but you can help supply them today. Of course, the Rocky offers its own four-paper set at the same historic price.

With that kind of marketing savvy, it’s a wonder both the Post and the Rocky are facing frighteningly uncertain futures.

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