Lodi News-Sentinel is having an internal debate: Whether to print free class ads or only publish them online.
One party says: free print ads will enhance the content and therefore the circulation of the newspaper; free print ads send the strongest message possible that the newspaper's classified section is the town's marketplace; nobody is going to bother to type in their credit card information to get a cheap ($1-$5) print ad; if we get overrun by free ads we can lower the cut-off price and charge for more ads.
The other party says: We're competing with free online ads — Craigslist doesn't have a print publication; by creating cheap print ads for items of low value, we can have a little income, build considerable ad volume and enhance the content of the newspaper without sending the message that print is value-less; if it doesn't work, we can start free print ads later; people buy iTunes for 99 cents, why not a class ad?
Here are a few other things I'd like to know about other publications' handling of free classifieds:
1) Which newspapers are doing free classifieds? (Please include a Web address.)
2) Among those publishing free ads, do they publish free ads in print?
3) Are free ads only allowable for items under a certain price? What is that price?
4) If free ads are allowed on a different basis, what are those policies?
5) Are the ads spread out through various classifications or are they lumped together in an group (called "free ads" or something similar).[b]