Ongoing Unreliable New York Times Delivery on Long Island

I suppose it was only a matter of time that The New York Times -- which regularly published Jason Blair's flights of fancy as fact -- would forget the fundamental meaning of another word: service.

Here on Long Island, the delivery service of the Times in my experience has been horrible. During the past four weeks, the Times has missed at least one delivery at my home each week.

Even after the Times' customer service specialists – “Umair” and "Danielle" – have stepped in, the service has remained lousy.

The reason I know the missed deliveries are the Times' fault is because my apartment unit has outdoor video surveillance. No one can steal anything from the doorstep without that act showing up on video tape, and no one has done so.

Compounding the problem is the Times' woefully ineffective protocol for righting a delivery problem. Essentially, the Times procedure is to:

1. Answer the phone about a missed delivery
2. Apologize to the customer profusely
3. Promise the problem will be rectified
4. Answer phone the next time a delivery is missed
5. Apologize to the customer profusely, again
6. Repeat ritual the next day, and each
additional day, as required
7. Communicate to the customer through these
repeated actions that the Times really could
care less if its paper is actually delivered
to a paying subscriber

During the coming days (and I hope not weeks), I'm going to be chronicling the way the Times handles this ongoing delivery problem to determine if the Times can resolve a simple delivery snafu. The paper itself will have knowledge of this blog, and daily entries will be sent to the Better Business Bureau Online, and various consumer watchdog agencies.