Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!
For us, the NY Times is essential. But a full-priced subscription is really expensive at $17/month for Basic Digital and $25/month for All Access.[1]
Instead, we’ve paid $4/month for the past several years for Basic Digital, and last week we upgraded to All Access for just an additional $1/month.
How can you do it? Just follow these steps:
Go to Customer Care and click on “Chat with us”
Explain to the representative that you’d like to cancel your existing subscription. If you’re currently on a promotional rate, you can simply say that you noticed your current promo rate was expiring on [date], that you don’t feel comfortable paying the much higher rate, and would like to cancel unless that rate could be extended.
You may have to chat with more than one person, as the first may transfer you to another rep. And you may need to be firm that you’d only be comfortable paying the promo rate.
The first or second representative you speak to will likely offer you another year at the $4/month promo rate for Basic Digital, or $5/month for all access.
Then, make sure to set a reminder for 365 days from now to repeat these steps.
Each year, like clockwork, we follow these steps and renew our subscription promo, saving hundreds of dollars in the process. If you’ve followed this tip before, make sure to set a recurring annual calendar reminder to make sure you don’t get hit with a 4-5x price increase when your promo expires!
And, of course, the best price is free. You may want to check if your college (if you’re a student) or public library offers free digital subscriptions. I’ve written about free public library resources here.
And now, Andrew’s pick(s) of the week:
Last year, I highly recommended The Bear (streaming on Hulu), and its second season is even better than the first.
And, What May Be One of the Biggest Jewelry Heists Ever Is Still a Mystery
I hope this has been helpful. If you liked it, please share it on social media! Also, please send me your feedback, requests, and success stories.
[1] Including Cooking, Games, Wirecutter, and the Athletic.
Great tip, I just got the $5 offer :)
A little off today’s topic but hoping for your thoughts. I use an online bank to stash my emergency fund, higher yield then my primary bank. My question is, at what point would you consider moving to a new bank offering better terms? It seems as though every month a different bank will up their yield but I’m not sure chasing a .05% better return is worth the effort. Any thoughts on this?