November 5, 2008
Special Edition Washington Post to Hit Stands between 3 and 5 p.m.
It's been virtually impossible to pick up a paper copy of the Washington Post today (or any other major paper, for that matter), but Editor & Publisher reports that a special edition should hit the stands around 3 p.m. The special election edition, of which there will be at least 150,000 copies, will cost $1.50, $1 more than the regular newsstand price. Lots of other papers around the country are printing extra copies, too. If only Obama could win the presidency every day, every newspaper publisher must be thinking right now.
UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: We're hearing there are lines forming at several downtown drug stores to get the paper. If you're heading out to find one, bring something to read. From the Post: "The special edition will sell for $1.50 and should be available between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. today at the following retail locations: 7-Eleven, CVS, Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway and Shoppers Food and Pharmacy. The commemorative edition will consist of the A section and the election section."
UPDATE 4:03 p.m.: Reader Suzannah Evans sends in the above image of the line that's formed outside the Dupont Circle CVS. She says this location hasn't even started selling the paper yet. If you'd like to get your hand on a copy tonight, we'd suggest getting out of downtown and trying a Safeway or a CVS closer to residential areas.
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Are there any newspapers left that still offer reprints on archival-quality rag paper?
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Does this mean that all the stand-alone kiosks (don't know what else to call them) will be refilled sometime after 3 pm, and that grocery stores and Borders will get more? I ran around earlier trying to find ANY copies of the WP, but got the last copy of the NYT at Safeway. Every place had a sign saying that they were sold out of all newspapers and would NOT get anymore in today...
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Man, I'm senile enough to remember afternoon editions of newspapers. I might still have a few copies of the Evening Star lying around, complete with ads for Mortons and Garfinkels.
Any chance there'll be a bulldog edition out after dark? Because I'd pay to read the Washington Post: After Dark. Probably a little risque, too. Say, with George Will in pasties and a thong. Or Bill Kristol giving William Raspberry a blumpkin.
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i usually get my sunday paper in Virginia . . . where can we go to get one here in DC?
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Yeah - not sure if they will be in newspaper boxes if they are a different price. I'm not sure where to pick on up.
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From the Post
The special edition will sell for $1.50 and should be available between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. today at the following retail locations: 7-Eleven, CVS, Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway and Shoppers Food and Pharmacy. The commemorative edition will consist of the A section and the election section.
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Thanks, kev29. I've got all of those stores near me, so at least one of them should have a copy!
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I'd suggest getting in line, virtuethecat. I just popped over to the CVS across the street from my office on M Street for a Gatorade and the line is about half the length of the store.
I stopped by my local corner market on the way to work to see if they had any copies left this morning (of course, they didn't). It'd be nice to send a copy to my mom in Ohio, but at the end of the day this election was about much, much more than "commemorative editions" of newspapers.
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Is this afternoon edition going to be gold plated or something? My home delivery edition reported that Obama won too.
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This morning I couldn't even find a copy of Express on the Metro - everyone kept theirs! It was the neatest and tidiest I have ever seen the trains.
Good times, good times.
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The cover of Express is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the Post today anyway..though I have both *breathes on fingernails*.
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DE-
The publishers of the Post are just trying to be good capitalists. You know, high demand + low supply = higher price. They figure this is their last chance to do so before the incoming administration turns the Washington Post Company into the People's State Sanctioned Print Media Collective.
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I'm confused. Isn't the daily paper only 50 cents? that's how much I always pay!
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So if I'm reading the Post's statement right from Kev29, there is nothing new about this commemorative edition--it is just the A and election section from this morning?
I was just at CVS getting a snack and the angry mob there seemed to think they were waiting for something new and different...and maybe laminated.
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I had no problems getting the regular paper today around lunchtime, but I can't find an express to save my life!
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The CVS near my office doesn't have them in stock yet, but they've got a loooooong line of people waiting.
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Peregrine Espresso was chock full of em this morning...but that's cuz hipsters only read "blogs"
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Guessing it's essentially a late, late edition. With some extra articles that were released today. Maybe updated maps and results as well. Don't know though.
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What's with this 3-5 pm crap? Only people who can leave work two hours early can buy the paper?
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Anyone get on or off at the Silver Spring metro stop? The guy who distributes the Express there in the morning was exceptionally cheery this morning giving out his papers. It didn't even occur to me how valuable print press became again after last night.
Needless to say, he actually gave away all of his papers, when they're lucky to unload 3/4 of their daily supply on a normal day.
And if McCain won, who knows if DC would be using WaPo and WaPo Express to start small fires this morning. I would say an Obama win ensured the fire safety of the city for some time to come.
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Wow, this is crazy! I should have bought 10 this morning instead of two...and there were Expresses as far as the eye could see on the blue line this morning...
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Hey, Hey, Hey! I'm still waiting in line for the Nov. 3 Chicago Tribune paper: DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN
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Uggh DCist! Always trying to contradict me! http://dcist.com/2008/11/05/mass_ave_closed_due_to_fire.php
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I bought one from the vending machine in front of my building this morning at 7:30, and there were plenty left.
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Will the comics be in color?
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I live in the Montgomery County suburbs, and called around various Giants and Safeways around 3:30. They said they were getting the reprints, but they weren't in yet. Called again at 4:15, still not there. I live in Germantown, so hopefully I can snap up a copy sometime this evening. I figured that the trucks delivering the WP to the suburbs wouldn't get here till later, anyway.
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Does that dude in the middle of the line really tuck his tshirt into his Dockers? Cause I didn't vote for that.
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And people doubted Obama would turn the economy around quickly... President Elect for less than a day and so-called "angry mobs" are already willing to pay more for less paper.
Ahhhh, America.
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I waited for an hour at the CVS outside of the Courthouse Metro in Arlington. There was a line of about 50 people winding its way to the back of the store.
Eventually, a store employee was like, "Sorry, but you guys can't stay here. We don't know when the paper is coming." The took names and phone numbers and said they'd call everyone when the paper arrived.
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Word is that the papers aren't actually hitting the stores til 5pm, which is right about now.
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Hmmmm... when "Big Oil" and gas stations mark up their prices to reflect high demand, doesn't the Post consider that to be "greedy price gouging?"
But when the Post marks up its price 300% to reflect high demand, that's just the free market in action, right?
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If you have a good color printer, just print today's PDF version of the Express. It's over here
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There better be a fat TV guide in there.
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Damn, I was just going to throw out my Wall Street Journal from this morning, but now since it's worth about twice my 401k, I think I might hold on to it. Disclaimer, my 401k has leveled off at about $12.67.
I'm sure there's a particular shortage of papers in the southwestern New England today, as I'm certain my mother went to and from each Dunkins and Mobil Mart hoarding them all, as is her wont on occassions like this.
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as of 5pm there are no papers yet at the 7-11 on Quaker Lane in Alexandria.
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This is why people are in line:
eBay!
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5:40 and still quite the line at CVS on M Street.
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Worth noting: they handed em out at the Post building just a few blocks away about an hour ago. Not sure what the situation is now, or if the papers were charged for at the Post building.
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I'm at the Harris Teeter and there is a sign that the WP printer is broken and they will not be delivered till 9pm
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I just got home from getting my copy at the 7-11 on Glebe Rd. in Arlington. The guy had just arrived and brought 80 copies. There were only 5 people there when he dropped them off.
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The CVS at 14th and Irving got 900 copies at about 6:15 and the line is going really quick. If you're nearby (or even not) and want one, they're bound to be in stock for a couple hours.
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Being sold out of the back of a mini van at the Giant in Silver Spring. 40-50 people line.
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The 14th and Irving CVS, as well as the one on Columbia Rd, near 17th, are sold out. Harris Teeter still hasn't received theirs and the guy tells me is is not guaranteed that they will.
It should not be this hard to find a second edition copy of a newspaper!
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OMG! Yuppies can't get their 'historic' papers fast enough!
Let's see, the same Compost which bent over backwards to help elect the totally inexperienced, illegitimate son of a Kenyan alcoholic and a hippie grad student is now SELLING OUT its pathetic liberal rag - the same one it could barely give away last week.
I'm not sure what's more hysterical - the utter lack of reporting on The One's beyond-suspect history (where's the birth cert? Why's Columbia not releasing his transcript? And more...) or the fact that a bunch of white liberals now feel so good about assuaging their consciences.
When your taxes go way up, the government decides who your doctor will be, and terrorists continue to threaten the USA, remember who you voted for.
Oh, and one more thing...those slavery reparations will come out of YOUR paycheck, yuppies!
P.S. Before you attack me as a 'conservative,' you might want to know I'm a FORMER Dem who worked for BOTH Clintons.
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Bitter much, Crawfish?
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For the first time ever I was worried about someone swiping my copy (still in its plastic bag) while I was on the Metro.
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crawfish: thank you for your contribution. you may now crawl back into your bitter, angry hole for four more years...
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Act now to purchase your very own commemorative Barack Obama 20.08 cent quarter* offered exclusively by the Franklin Mint. Celebrate this historic election by purchasing this elegant faux-onyx collector's item that features a handsome likeness of America's 44th president-elect on one side, and broken chains of oppression on the reverse. The Obama 20.08 cent quarter is the first 20.08 cent quarter is the first quarter of its kind in the United States and is three times the size of a regular quarter. This numismatic symbol of our nation's last hope normally retails for $49.95, but if you act now, the Franklin Mint will offer you TWO quarters for five payments of $19.99. This is a limited time offer! Buy now before supplies run out!
* Legal tender in Cote d'Ivoire only.
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Wow. I work across from the Washington Post Building and in hindsight I feel like I should have posted on DCist letting everyone know what was going on at the Post. There was a huge line but once you got up there it turned outt hat if you had exact change ($2) you could just stroll on in, buy up to 5, and stroll on out. I got out of work at 5:30, and was on my way home by 5:38.
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@Crawfish:
The mailroom doesn't count as working for both Clintons. Did you pick up Nancy Pelosi's dry cleaning? Rubbed Ted Stevens' feet?
I think people are perfectly aware that their taxes will now go up with the incoming administration. But, they also understand that the spending will be more responsible. And so long as Obama doesn't lie about anything or enact Executive Privilege like it's the goddamn bright red Staples' Easy Button, then this presidency will already be better than any presidency the presently failed Republican framework can belch out.
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oh yeah.. 50th post! =D
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specialed: Close.. but apples and oranges. In this case, the Post did a special printing run. That very likely resulted in having to pay overtime to the workers, and possibly additional costs for supplies, etc.
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If your former Dem claim is true, which I doubt, then good riddance, you ignorant fuckwit. Have fun in the Party of Palin.
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If your former Dem claim is true, which I doubt, then good riddance, you ignorant fuckwit. Have fun in the Party of Palin.
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This is why people are in line:
eBay!
Damn! I think I'd rather pay $20 for it on eBay than stand in line for hours to buy one from the source.