A couple of weeks ago, I was phoned by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. They offered me six weeks of the paper for free. All I had to do at the end of 6 weeks was write “Cancel” on the invoice.

I assume this was a last-gasp attempt to boost circulation at the end of the big Back-To-School advertising season. I’ve received this sort of offer from them in years past.

This morning my wife fielded a call from the Pioneer Press disavowing the offer. I also received an invoice in the mail TODAY, instead of receiving it in six weeks. Thus, my free offer has been aborted about five weeks early.

This is no huge loss for our household. We get the Hastings Star-Gazette on Thursdays, the New York Times on weekends, and we go on-line for the rest of our news.

In past years, when the Pioneer Press offered us a free 6 weeks, we usually said “No,” especially if we were already receiving the Minneapolis Strib. We accepted maybe one of those, and canceled after weeks of excessive recycling.

I have to wonder what sort of back-room shouting and recriminations led to this reversal at the Pioneer Press. I suspect someone got fired over this.