The Daily Cal is currently selling back copies of the November 5th edition for $2 each on Sproul.
Do you want a piece of history? Yes, you do! I was walking down Sproul this morning when I passed by a Daily Cal table (a rare sight), where a girl was stationed to hawk the post-election issue of the paper for $2 a piece.
The Daily Cal is only the latest newspaper to charge a premium for the November 5th (post-election day) back issue. The Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Times are charging much higher rates for the November 5th paper, at $10 and $14.95 respectively. The Times online store has suffered from such heavy traffic that a click on “buy paper now” will occasionally bring up an error message with an apology promising, “Don’t worry, we still have an abundance of November 5th papers!” And those are the cheap ones…apparently there are issues of the Times going for over $200 on eBay. Luckily, the Daily Cal isn’t so vicious; you can find a complete PDF version on the web for free. Still, it’s a good thing I grabbed 3 copies yesterday…who knew they would one day have market value?
While I don’t think newspapers should be charging so much for back copies, I do see the no-brainer business sense behind it. You have a coveted item, so why not sell it for more than its face value? I just find it surprising/amusing that the trend trickled down to the the college newspaper level.
You hear that MVers? Go stack up on those El Estoques while you still can!
