Director’s Desk | Follow the link to a survey on whether Street Roots should raise the cost of the newspaper

The price of Street Roots in 1999? $1

The price of Street Roots in 2024? $1

On the surface, raising the price seems like the obvious thing to do 25 years into Street Roots’ history. We are, in fact, exploring whether the price should increase to $2 when we launch our redesigned color newspaper in September.

There is nuance to explore, so we are following the lead of Street Roots vendors and you, their customers.

Vendors, who buy Street Roots newspapers for 25 cents apiece and sell them for a profit, are participating in listening sessions and surveys.

What we need from you is a response to a 5-minute survey. Please let us know how a price increase might impact your buying habits. Your information will help us learn how to get the most money to Street Roots vendors.

“The point is to get more money into vendors' pockets,” Carly Ng, vendor program manager, said. “From listening to vendor input and concerns, we know that the math isn’t black and white. Doubling the price doesn’t necessarily mean doubling the profit for our vendors.

Fill out the reader survey HERE!

“Along with a possible price increase, we work to deepen what we already do and create new programs and systems to support vendor entrepreneurship.”

Some of these strategies include Street Roots branded vendor merchandise to increase visibility while selling, as well as coaching in sales, bookkeeping and accounting. We will continue to develop our strategic use of sales posts through maps and business partnerships.

A big challenge is that many vendors do not have access to smartphones or bank accounts. While community partners can help vendors attain both, it’s also important to note barriers are severe for some people experiencing homelessness. Street Roots needs to stay focused on how to create a bridge for people who are shut out of banking and rely on cash in an increasingly cashless society.

One strategy is Venmo, which Street Roots began offering as a way for customers to pay vendors through Street Roots in 2020. We translate your cashless payment into cash for the vendor.

Vendors who attended a listening session about the price increase were split down the middle in terms of whether the price should stay at $1 or be doubled to $2. One reason for the divide is how price increases might impact tips.

Are you someone who tips by having someone keep the change, for example, so a price change might mean that someone receives the same amount? That’s helpful to know.

There are other dynamics at play. There are plenty of barriers for people who could never afford housing without support in this expensive housing market but face losing that support when they achieve income levels that are still much too low to cover housing or other benefits.

This is a perverse system that needs deep change. It stirs up a flurry of fear in people, and earning income comes with a sense of precariousness.

Other vendors worry about burdening customers with a cost increase. One anonymous vendor said, “We should let people know we resisted a price increase, but need to do this due to the cost of living.”

Street Roots won’t raise the wholesale price for Street Roots vendors — 25 cents per paper. Currently, vendors buying the paper wholesale covers about three-quarters of the printing costs, and Street Roots fundraising covers the rest.

Once we print in color, printing costs will increase by approximately $10,000 per year. We are still evaluating whether we need to improve the paper stock. We aim to cover this by fundraising, so Street Roots vendors don’t need to absorb those costs in their wholesale price.

The Street Roots vendor model addresses barriers to employment by creating conditions where people can work as entrepreneurs. Our organizational role is to create a quality product — excellent journalism, a respected brand — as well as support for vendors. That support will include showers and laundry this fall, the number one request by Street Roots vendors. Many who are now housed want to make sure new vendors who are homeless have access for their dignity and mental health. It takes a lot of courage to stand on a public sidewalk and talk to strangers.

Those strangers often become regular customers — you. The Street Roots vendor works as an entrepreneur, buying our paper wholesale and selling it to you, keeping all proceeds. It’s their initiative and resourcefulness that make it happen, and your support as a customer and reader.

Please take a few minutes to answer this survey. After all, as Ng said, the point is to get more money into vendors’ pockets. The collective question is: how best do we do that?

Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.