Notices went up in some stores around Greater Portland today announcing that the Portland Press Herald is raising its cover price from seventy-five cents to a dollar, effective October 3. The sheet says the price of the Maine Sunday Telegram, currently $1.75 in southern Maine and $2.00 elsewhere, will not change.

It’s not clear whether prices will also increase at MaineToday Media’s two other dailies in Maine, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville and the Kennebec Journal in Augusta.

Price hikes tend to have a negative effect on newspaper circulation figures, but it may be some time before that impact show up in any reports. By October 3, the Press Herald will already have filed its annual circulation report with the U.S. Postal Service. Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers won’t be released until January, but will only cover the six months ending Sept. 30. So, the first indications of how much the higher price might have hurt sales won’t be made public until next summer.

The Portland Daily Sun tipped me off to this news and supplied the photo of the price-change announcement. Sun city editor Casey Conley is working on a more complete story, and I’ll post a link to it as soon as it becomes available.

Al Diamon can be emailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.

Photo courtesy Portland Daily Sun.

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