For the past two days the 7-11 guy has given us the TT for free (look, it’s my $NT15, OK? 
). It was a different guy each time. Was this some New Year bonus I didn’t know about, or were they just freaked because the bar code moved due to the CNY banner? That’s the only theory we could come up with.
Just curious.
They couldn’t find the bar code, which was moved to an inconspicuos place at the bottom of the page. It also looks smaller than usual. I almost got mine for free, but fool that I am, I pointed it out to the clerk.
The first day, the clerk searched for the bar code, couldn’t find it, shrugged his shoulders, and handed it to me with a big smile without ringing it up (I’d bought a load of other stuff, so still had lots to pay, and only confirmed that it hadn’t been included when I checked the receipt outside). Wondering if the Taipei Times management had decided to give it away for free because it was such a slimmed down version, I looked closely and found the bar code at the bottom of the page. So the next day, I was able to point it out to the clerk and pay the requisite NT$15 for it.
I am off to the 7-11 then. Chances are in Tachia that the 7-11 clerk wouldn’t know what the bar code was even if I showed him.
I got my China Post free the day before yesterday ( no bar code printed on it )… same today - although there was no bar code I still had to pay - it was just rung up on the register as miscellaneous items I guess… couldn’t be scanned.
Well, I’m glad other people admit to buying the Times after all the bagging I’ve read on this forum about it Thanks for the explanations - we really didn’t know what was going on, and I had read something about the TT not being delivered to subscribers (even though we don’t) over the CNY period so thought they’d decided to gift it or something. Because if it was just a matter of finding the bar code obviously they would just enter it manually, knowing it was NT$15, right? OK, so I was wrong about that.
NT$15 makes the TT an expensive paper on a normal day for what you get; the stripped down version ought to be free, or at most about NT$5.
By the way, the Taiwan News put out all its issues for the holiday on new year’s eve. No distribution, though. Amazing how they knew all the leads for the days in advance…
I’ll have to remember not to point out the bar code next time either and maybe I can get it for free also. I can’t see paying the 15NT for the paper during CNY as it’s so dang thin…
Despite being so drastically stripped down and providing but a fraction of its usual substance, it was still well worth the NT$15 – and a great deal better than either of its rivals even on their best days.
I didn’t think so, all the newspapers had basically the same articles.
I think that Omni, being such a TT-lover and a rich lawyer, ought to be charged NT$250 for each copy of the paper.
Ex-lawyer, please! Like being an ex-con, I do prefer to stress the ex.
And while I’d be willing to pay as much as NT$50 per copy for the TT, I’d baulk at paying the equivalent of almost a fiver.