The Printed Newspaper, A Continuing Resource For Free Stuff

The printed newspaper is a continuing resource for free stuff, and it always will be for as long as it survives the digital revolution.

If Superman and many other superheros were created in modern day, their alter egos probably wouldn’t be reporters or photojournalists. They’d be bloggers, vloggers, and social media mini celebrities. Since the commercial advent of the internet, the number of newspaper-hired journalists has decreased by a fifth. At one time, newspapers received 70% of their advertising revenue from classified ads. Yet, people can now go online and use sites like Craigslist to get classified ads for free. Craigslist has cost the newspaper industry $5.4 billion between 2000-2007. Since alternate methods of reporting and advertising are available online, more and more newspapers have gone out of business. Those who are surviving are supplementing their subscriptions with digital subscriptions online. This evolution of the newspaper would cause one to wonder if print is dead? However, freebie hunters, expert shoppers, extreme couponers and others will hold onto the printed newspaper for as long as it will possibly last. Because the printed newspaper is an excellent source of freebies.

Freebies Found In The Newspaper

Here are the different places where you might be able to find freebies in the newspaper:

In the editorial (the portion that does not consist of advertising), watch for local announcements and giveaways. When large or local businesses have an announcement, they’ll often promote it through a press release. If the newspaper editor feels the press release is newsworthy, then they’ll include the announcement as part of the editorial. Some announcement that you might want to look for include special holiday giveaways, grand openings, special events, trade shows, new sweepstakes and other ways to get prizes.

If a local newspaper is conducting a drawing or contest, then you’re chances of winning are better than larger or national sweepstakes and contents. The pool of possible winners is limited to the actual subscribers of the paper who participate.

Another place to find free stuff in the paper is in the advertising space. Most ads will not have freebies. However, every once in a while an advertiser will offer something for free, if only to track how well the advertisement performs. If the ad is retail, then they may have some standard freebie offers, such as products for sale that are free after rebate.

Newspaper Inserts are among the most coveted part of the newspaper. Extreme couponers often try to acquire multiple newspapers just to get the inserts and the coupons that come with them. Black Friday is a particular day of the year where you’d want all the retail circulars to assist you in getting Black Friday Freebies.

Although the classified ads are not used nearly as often, there may be freebie opportunities there. One such opportunity might be to become a research test subject or opportunities to participate in market research.

Once you’re completely finished with the paper, then you can get paid to recycle it.

How To Get the Newspaper Free

Technically there’s an arguement that if you have to pay for the paper, then none of the freebies that you get from the paper are actually free. However the cost for a paper is minimal compared to what you get in return. If you must insist on getting the paper for free or if you’re an extreme couponer who needs multiple newspapers, here are a few ways to get them free and get more.

The dollar store might sell old newspapers; they’ll be a dollar each, which is not actually free, but it is one way that extreme couponers get more.

You can use newspapers for free at the local library. It will have all the editorial and print ads, but it won’t have the inserts and coupons.

Local shops might have older copies of the newspaper in a newspaper stand next to free publications. These are especially nice when they come with the inserts still inside.

Dumster divers could potentially find newspapers with and without the inserts. Most of them time it so that they’re dumpster diving one or two days after the paper is delivered.

Friends and family might be willing to give you their paper once they’re done with it.

The airport has been reported as one of the best places to get the newspaper for free, often still with the inserts inside. People have a lot of waiting to do at the airport so they might purchase the paper for a session and then leave it where they were sitting.

Print will probably never go away, but it will settle into a balance as other forms of media become more prominent. Newspapers survived the onset of television. How they will survive the rapidly changes caused by the internet time will only tell. For now, enjoy the printed newspaper as an excellent resource for freebies.