Toronto Paper Comparison: A Reader's Perspective

Newspapers periodically release circulation numbers and various readership studies. The release of the numbers includes percentage increases, number of readers and comparisons to previous years. The papers obviously try to portray the numbers in a positive light towards their readership that basically says "hey we are number one!". So many numbers and bragging it makes a reader's head spin.

This past October my wife found on Redflagdeals.com a free subscription for the Saturday Toronto Star and Monday to Saturday delivery of the National Post and the Globe & Mail.  So each Saturday until next weekend we will receive three newspapers on your doorstep.  I've found this to be a great opportunity to investigate which newspaper I prefer to read based on various aspects that I, as a reader, look for in a paper. I explore these various aspects below for the deliveries of the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and National Post.

Delivery: The first and most obvious is delivery of the newspaper itself.  For each of the papers I requested front door delivery and all promised delivery before 6:00 A.M.  Thus, every morning of delivery I should have a copy of the paper at my front door at 6:00 A.M.  Here is how the papers ranked:

1. National Post - Only had one missing paper the first Saturday.  After that, I've never had an issue with the paper not being there.   The paper has always come dry and on my front porch.

2. Toronto Star - The carrier on our route delivers the paper closer to 7:00 A.M. on a Saturday since subscription started.  On weekends this may not be such a big issue.  However, for some this may be an issue if they leave for work early before 7 and hope to take the morning paper with them on their commute (e.g. subway, bus, etc.) or to work. Otherwise the paper has been properly delivered. 

3. Globe & Mail - Over the past two weeks the paper has failed to show up on first attempt and sometimes many after that:

a) The first time my wife called circulation.  Circulation had an automatic recording saying there would be no delivery for the Globe & Mail that day and two copies would be delivered on the next day.  Well we waited for the paper to show up the next day and there was only one edition.  

b) The second time it didn't show up I called at 6:50 A.M. and was promised delivery within 90 minutes.  Nothing showed up after 120 minutes (i.e. 2 hours).  So I called again. I was promised again delivery.  Nothing.  The third call, the Customer Service Representative said I was basically out of luck and the next day I should have the regular paper. 

c) Then third time this past week I called and the Globe & Mail Circulation had an automatic recording saying there was an emergency situation at their place and they couldn't pick up the phone.  I called back 30 minutes later and there was a recorded message saying delivery of the paper was delayed until at least 11:00 A.M.  By 10:00 A.M. we had the paper delivered.

If we were paid Globe & Mail subscribers, we obviously wouldn't be pleased.  But as a free trial, the Globe & Mail fails miserably on delivery.

Customer Service:  We've had to call all three Customer Service Centres for the papers. Each paper was ranked based on, how annoying their automated systems were, how long after we dialed in we had to wait to speak to a live person and were the Customer Service Reps able to assist us in resolving our issues.

1. National Post - Called once about a missed delivery.  The Customer Service agent picked up within 30 seconds and had a new paper delivered within an hour. 

2. Toronto Star - Called to cancel our trial subscription.  The Customer Service agent was more interested in figuring out why we were cancelling and then offering us another paid trial offer.  Bottom line, if we were interested in continuing we would inquire about another offer to further our subscription.  

3. Globe & Mail - Called around five times to have the paper delivered in the first place.  An automated voice recognotition system picks up and asks you a bunch of questions in appearance of trying to help.  One time I called and told the automated systemd "missed delivery".  The system responded if I would like to add the Sunday New York Times to my subscription. I responded "no" and then it kept asking me what I was calling.  After repeating the "missed delivery" fiasco above two more times I hung up and retried.  Bottom line, every time I called in with questions on my account (i.e. to cancel the trial subscription or a missed delivery) I end up at a live person anyway.  Is it really hard to train a live customer service person to answer simple questions like: 1. "How much longer do I have on my subscription?" 2. "The paper didn't come today, can I have a redelivery?" After all the Globe & Mail has been around for over a hundred years, newspaper delivery on specified days to subscribers homes on time shouldn't be rocket science anymore.   To make matters worse, I can't remember ever waiting less than 5 minutes to talk to a live person,  but again I kept being reassured that "your call was important to us" and that there were "higher call volume".

Ottawa Bureau Coverage (Parliament Hill):  Newspapers that provided in depth coverage of the House of Commons and other goings on at Parliament Hill tended to rank better.  This coverage included the day to day goings on by the reporters to analysis and opinion by columnists.  

1. Toronto Star: The Star excels at covering Parliament Hill with in depth articles written by veteran newspaper reporters who know the workings of Canadian politics.  From the day to day coverage by Bruce Campion-Smith and Allan Woods  to the columns by Chantel Hebert and James Travers and in depth coverage by senior writers Susan Delacourt and Linda Diebel, it is hard to beat this coverage. 

2. Globe & Mail:  Not to be outdone, the Globe & Mail has a decent set of writers as well (e.g. Gloria Galloway, Jane Taber, John Ibbitson).  They are close to what the Toronto Star has in terms of quality.  However, being a "national focused" newspaper instead of a "Toronto focused" the coverage doesn't really tell me how the parliamentary decisions really affect those that live in and around Toronto.

3. National Post: The Post has gobbs of commentary by John Ivision (not to be confused with John Ibbitson of the Globe & Mail) but the straight news isn't really lacking.   There really is no memorable writers from the National Post that seem to be able to bring the straight goods from Parliament Hill without some sort of "analysis" or "comment" label being associted with their name.   However, the commentary by John Ivison and the odd feature article from the National Post's writers or associated writers from the Post's sister papers do provide some interesting reading.  But overall, the National Post needs to either grab a writer from somewhere else or grow a Parliamentary Bureau reporter that can dig into the goings on at Parliament and give the readers the straight goods without the bias that a columnist would present. 

Greater Toronto Area (GTA) News: Like the Ottawa Bureau Coverage, the GTA should have both reports of what is going on at City Hall (i.e. Toronto City Hall) and analysis provided by columnists. 

1. Toronto Star:  Obviously a Toronto based paper like the Toronto Star would have better coverage of the Toronto area than the other two national papers like the Post and the Globe.  The Star even has better local GTA coverage than it's main Toronto area coverage competitor, the Toronto Sun, as well.  The Star has the lead stories on the front page, letter to the editor on the comment page and a full "GTA" section everyday except on Sundays included in the paper.  The coverage is quite complete from Royson James and Christopher Hume providing their commentary of items both at City Hall and in the community to Jack Lakey taking on City Hall in one of my favourite columns "The Fixer" and of course the usual staff writers investigating the day to day goings on at Toronto City Hall.

2. National Post: On most days the Post has two pages and one or two letters to the editor on Toronto issues.  The Post really only ranks higher than the Globe & Mail as I've found a new columnist, Chris Selley, who I enjoy reading.  Otherwise, the coverage is focused on city hall and matches the same coverage provided by the Globe & Mail.

3. Globe & Mail: The Globe only provids two page on Toronto goings on and some letters as well like the National Post.  However, like the National Post, most readers want the national news instead of the local.  But for myself, Toronto and national coverage together better. 

Comics: The papers were ranked based on the number of comic strips in the paper (i.e. space taken up), are the comics humourous most days and were there comic strips that provided "reliable" (i.e. almost guaranteed to provide at least a smile on a daily basis).

1. Toronto Star:  The Star beats the others hands down.  The Star has really invested in being the number one spot for newspaper comics by having such reliables as "For Better or for Worse, " "Sherman's Lagoon" and others on a daily basis.  But the Star also expanded their Saturday paper's three pages of comics content by picking up  "Garfield" and "Baby Blues" from the Toronto Sun. Also, the newer strips like "Retail" have been a hit as well.

2. Globe & Mail: Beats the National Post because they have six strips and the Post has none. Although these strips are nothing to write home about.

3. National Post: Comics?  None.  Hence last place finish.

Overall: What do the papers bring to me overall that I appreciate.

1. Toronto Star: The Star has great local coverage of the Toronto area and compliments it's local sister paper, The Liberal, with local Toronto area coverage.  A full page of comics is a great asset to this paper that it probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves.  Specialty columnists like Jack "The Fixer" Lakey going after simple day to day problems around town and Consumer Columnist (and blogger!) Ellen Roseman provide good tips and provide an interesting read.

2. National Post: Reliable delivery!  I've never wondered where the paper was after the first phone call.  Every time the front door is opened int he morning there the National Post is guarenteed dry and ready to be opened and explored.  I've also enjoyed the City Hall Musings of Chris Selley as well and may look him up more often after our free trial subscription ends.

3. Globe & Mail: Poor delivery performance  and Customer Service issues seem to be major problems at this publication. After one hundred years in existance in the Toronto area, one would figure that delivering a paper to subscribers reliably wouldn't be an issue.   Otherwise the paper is a decent read for both it's National politicial coverage and business news.

Finally, the main question, will I subscribe to one of the above papers?  No it's not worth having a paper land on my doorstep every morning to read.  Not at a cost of over one hundred dollars a year for a subscription.  Besides for commuting the Richmond Hill area is well served by the freebies of Metro and 24 Hours that easily help to pass the time on the bus.  For news and information in the evenings and weekends I can usually turn to the newspaper and television websites for nothing more than the cost of an internet connection.

A Campaign Everyone Can Support...

Normally the word "campaign" is associated with "politics" and "politicians".  Thus, the words "campaign," "politics," and "politicians" tend to leave people with their eyes rolling and wanting to leave ASAP. 

However, I finally found a campaign completly devoid of "politics" and "politicians", or at least so far it is, that everyone can support. 

The Cookie Monster on SNL

Convinced?  No, didn't think so...watch Cookie's Youtube video...

Finally convinced?  Support the campaign via posting Facebook here.

Now finally there really is a campaign we all can support.

The Usual at Harvey's

Headed out for a hamburger and decided to head to an old reliable name in hamburgers in Canada.  No not McDonald's, but Harvey's (9471 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill).  

When I entered it was about 11:45 A.M. and there appeared to be one person working at the grill and not much else going on.  Turns out this location has a drive through and two ladies were working there when there was no one at the front counter.  

Within a minute one of the ladies kindly wandered over to take my order at the counter (i.e. when you arrive you go up to the counter and order like at McDonald's).

The Order: 1 Original Hamburger with fries and a Pepsi.

The burger came quickly and the server inquired what I would like on my burger.  Harvey's does have it's advantages.   Instead of having a prepackaged "here is what you get now go away" attitude you get at McDonald's, you get to choose your toppings.  Then the server puts on the toppings as you tell them what you want on it. 

Following the topping of my burger I headed over to a table with my meal.   The burger, as per usual, was delicious and, amazingly enough, topped just the way I like it.  The fries on the other hand have been better.  Normally at the Aurora Harvey's location there seems to be slightly more fries and better tasting too!  Perhaps at this particular location the fries had been out for a while and hadn't been sold.  Still that is no reason to give them to paying customers. 

Overall, for a decent lunch place Harvey's is pretty good.  However, the Richmond Hill location should pull up it's socks as they do have increasing competition in the area from McDonald's, A&W, Hero Burger and, a local institution, Steer Inn Burgers.  There is also a "Chef Burger" coming soon to Richmond Hill on Yonge Street just north of Highway 7, or at least that is what the sign in the storefront says. It seems Richmond Hill, Ontario is at the centre of a mini suburban burger war.  I think my tummy will have to decide who will win.

What I Expect at a Restaurant

Recently I had a comment come in reply to my review of Casey's Restaurant at Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket.   I've held off in publishing this comment to the post as I felt a reply was duly needed, hence this post.  Also, there should be clarification on what I'm looking for when posting a Restaurant Review on this blog and thought that the below response would also do that nicely.

So first the comment:

"you have obviously never served before... and reading your post is an absolute unreal complaint or even aspect. first off if a server is busy god forbid she drop everything for your table she has 7 others... they try and treat everyone as a guest in their own home but unfortunately there are tables much more needy then others. For you to insult a server at that and not tip... you realize they make less then 9 dollars an hour?? how about you take a step back next time pull your head from you but and realize your not the only table in the place.... ESP if they are understaffed or busy.... people like you make our job as servers so much harder. maybe try serving or realize our jobs are much harder then you think thanks to dicks like you. Iv never been to caseys but im sure as hell to go just because of your stupid complaint."

It is much more easier to reply to the comment when it is broken down into repliable bits:

"you have obviously never served before...and reading your post is an absolute unreal complaint or even aspect. "

Very true, I've never been a waiter in a restauarant before.  But I've had a lot of experience being a restuarant customer throughout southern Ontario, New York City, Vancouver and Las Vegas.  I've watched  many a server do their jobs.

"first off if a server is busy god forbid she drop everything for your table she has 7 others... they try and treat everyone as a guest in their own home but unfortunately there are tables much more needy then others."

No, I'm not expecting the server to drop everything and serve me.  I do have patience.  Where I get a little irritated is when I've duly requested my bill and she has served the other table with 8 people on two occassions before dropping off my bill.  At this particular restaurant, as stated in the review, she spent an large amount of time serving them:

"We watched our waitress first take the drink orders of a new large group (8 or so people) seated near us. Then come back with their drink order and return to take the order. A brief stare from myself as she was taking orders brought an apology that our bill was coming. The waitress dissapeared soon after taking the order."

It took at least 3 minutes for her to stop by and take their drink order and dissappear.  Another three for her to pull the drinks together and return to drop them off.  Then she could have easily excused her self by saying "I will be right back in 2 minutes to take your food order, I'm just going to drop off the bill to that table over there" and done that before scooting back over to the table to take the order.  All I was basically asking was to get the bill in a reasonable amount of time.  At a restaurant like Casey's where there was a host at the front and a couple of other servers around who could have helped, I wasn't asking for rocket science.


"For you to insult a server at that and not tip... you realize they make less then 9 dollars an hour?? how about you take a step back next time pull your head from you but and realize your not the only table in the place...."

Again, I realize I'm not the only table at this place.  However, when I visit a restauarant like Casey's I'm also paying for decent, not necessarily the best, service.  Thus, I could care less as to what the waiter/waitress is making.  That is a contract between the restaurant owners/managers and the server themselves.  As a customer I could care less what the serving staff is making in wages, here is what I'm looking for:

1. Decent timely service with a smile when taking the order, bringing the food out and attending our table to ensure our meal is satisfactory.

2. Decent tasting food that is not over or undercooked. 

3. I do appreciate value for money.

4. Timely presentation of the bill when requested (i.e. it shouldn't take 10 minutes to figure out how much a customer owes the restauarant).

5. Clean amenities (e.g. entrance, bathrooms, floors, etc.)

For all of the above I ensure I tip.  However, if I get irritated with some or all of the above (i.e. at Casey's Sweet Potato fries that taste like cardboard and 10 minutes to even present the bill), I do leave less to no tip.  I feel good service from serving and support staff should be rewarded, but bad service should not be encouraged.  Hence the tip I choose to leave will reflect this. 

"ESP if they are understaffed or busy.... people like you make our job as servers so much harder. maybe try serving or realize our jobs are much harder then you think thanks to dicks like you.".

I attended Casey's on a Saturday evening.  Most restaurants in that area of similar value (e.g. Swiss Chalet, Boston Pizza, etc.) are normally lined up out the door.  So Casey's would not be understaffed for this evening as customer volume is expected to be higher on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the year.  I would expect more customers on those nights in comparison to a Tuesday evening.  Thus, the staffing should reflect the need for more service due to more customers. 

If a restaurant on a Saturday is so run off it's feet because it is understaffed this is a reflection on poor management and the workers should be complaining about it as the tips will obviously be lower. This is because people are less likely to tip and return to a restaurant if they receive rushed poor service. 

A server's job isn't easy, I fully admit it.  But a customer has the right to expect a certain level of service, food and atmosphere.  This is after all what a customer pays for and tips.  So if a server wants that tip, they had better show a decent effort for it.  As for the waitress at Casey's, she seemed more interested in the tip from the table of eight than she did in finishing up a decent experience with us. 

"Iv never been to caseys but im sure as hell to go just because of your stupid complaint."


Congratulations! I hope you get/had better service than we did. 
 
So hopefully that clears everything up in terms of what I expect at a restauarant. I've nearly seen everything from the great (Swiss Chalet service) to the worst (also Swiss Chalet) and everything in between.  My wife and I obviously provide repeat business to places we like (Jonathan's Fine Foods in Aurora) and rarely return to places we have had issues with (recently at London Pub).  However, we do allow places to improve by returning in six months to a year to a place with a bad review.  We also return to a place we can't decide if we had a mediocre time (i.e. can't figure if we like the place or not) to give it another try.
 
Bottom line, if you want our business you have to give us a good time and decent food.

What's Going on at Yonge & Tyler?

Did you ever drive by a place and wonder what is going on inside?

Did you ever drive by a church and wonder what the people in side are up to? What draws them there?  What they believe in?  

Recently Aurora United Church released a video outlining some of the different groups and asked people what draws them to the building on a regular basis.  People of all ages responded and gave their thoughts and insights and this video resulted:

How to Improve YRT/VIVA: Part 2: A Success Story

This past Friday I left work on time and started walking along the route of the TTC 107B Keele North Route that YRT contracts the TTC to do through the southern end of York Region.  As I rounded the bend in the road, I noticed a YRT Supervisor sitting in his vehicle with a clipboard in his lap. 

I inquired if the bus I was looking for had gone by yet. 

His answer was "Yes" four minutes before the scheduled time.  I did a double take and hung my head.  It looked like it was going to be the usual walk up to Rutherford Road to catch the next bus on my commute home. 

The YRT Supervisor signalled to hop into his vehicle and offered to drive me to Rutherford Road.  I hopped in and off we went.   But before doing so he promised to talk to the TTC Supervisor for the TTC 107B on Monday about the earlyniss of the bus and the fact there was no excuse to be that early. He dropped me off and swung around to talk to the TTC driver who was waiting at the end of the route to turn around and head back south.

YRT, after a year of complaints from myself (including to the Mayor and Regional Councillor of Aurora at the time, Phyllis Morris) with very little to show for it results, is finally listening to it's riders on this route.  Often the TTC 107B is either really early or late in comparison to the posted schedule along the northern sections of its routing.  Since YRT pays the TTC under contract, YRT should be investigating this end of the route a little better than it has.  However, they have been a little better than the TTC.

When a complaint is filed with the TTC, the call centre contact takes the message and nothing is done, not even a call back to say they are investigating or whether any changes are going to be made.  

To make matters worse the schedule in the two years I've taken the route has never been fully revised.  Contrast this to the Route 85 which has had it's schedule changed at least three times in past two years.

For a little while I was quiet on this route. I figured since YRT basically refused to take action after complaints through YRT Customer Service and inquires from a Regional Councillor, Phyllis Morris, that there was no hope.  But a couple of weeks ago I was miffed that I saw at TTC 107B bus go roaring past me as I was crossing the street to the bus stop.  The bus was at least five minutes early.  So, with a walk ahead of me, I called on my cell phone to relay my anger to the YRT Customer Service line. 

Funny enough, a week later I had again lost hope.  There was no call back from YRT Supervisors or the TTC on the issue.  I called, the Friday before voting day, again letting my displeasure be heard.  On Monday I got a call from a YRT Supervisor who promised some follow up on the route.  He promised that periodically there would be a YRT Supervisor monitoring the route for schedule adherence.  The results that I've seen from one day show the bus is anywhere five minutes early to seven minutes late.  Out of seven buses headed northbound there were only one really on time (at plus 1 minute up) while there were three late (3 to seven minutes late) and three way ahead of time that they should have stopped to let the clock catch up to them on the schedule.   So obviously some supervision to ensure schedule adherence is required.

Hopefully with YRT Supervisors reporting the issues to the TTC the route will improve. This will come one of two ways:

1. Either the TTC will improve the service by better monitoring of the route drivers to ensure schedule adherence (i.e. having the bus hold at a stop to ensure it is not ahead of schedule). Also, hopefully the TTC will revisit adjust the schedule to better reflect actual travel times and make more timely revisions to the schedule on this route.

2. If the TTC fails to do this, perhaps YRT can take over the route at least in York Region and fix the problem themselves.  Although rumour has it that YRT doesn't have enough vehicles to replace the TTC vehicles on this route and others like it.  But perhaps in the future as YRT grows and purchases more buses that this issue will change.  

For now there is at least some success in getting YRT to pay attention to this route they contract from the TTC.  As a taxpayer and rider of YRT, I expect YRT to watch to better watch their contractors, even if it is the TTC who should be running a similar operation in the first place.   At least now YRT has taken notice and has so far refused to slough off the issue as a "TTC issue".   I look forward to improvements on this route in the future as a follow up on this first success.

Halloween Candy

Sometimes I'm left wondering what is going on in the world these days.   Halloween night was one of those days.  My wife and I dutifully bought one hundred pieces of candy and waited to see how Halloween night would turn out.    I had previously done a little observation of the local neighbourhood and watched kids come and go from the houses. 

But to my chagrin, things started at 6:45 P.M. with kids running next door to us for Tricker Treating.  Then the kids would run by our door and up the street skipping a bunch of houses.  The next group did the same thing.

 I studied this whole phenomenon by going for a walk around the block.  I noted the kids travelled in groups up and down the street hitting houses they seemed to know and skipping ours.  I also noted that barely one in four houses had their lights on and were accepting Trick or Treaters. The kids seemed to be all clumped with a few parents tailing in behind.  

At 7:20 P.M. we turned our lights out a little dejected.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year at my parents house in Aurora things were pretty much like they were in previous years.  If you had your porch light on and your place lit up, not necessarily with pumpkins, you would have forty to fifty kids show up looking for some loot.

Fast forward a year and instead of handing out candy to the kiddies in costume, I'm at home watching The West Wing on DVD while eating the overpriced Halloween candy I purchased.   Overpriced candy?  My wife says it is because as of November 1st the price for the Halloween candy drops in price big time for some reason.  

Well at least I've learned something for next year.  Enjoy a nice quiet evening at home or if I wish to see some fancy costumes, head to my parents place in Aurora.