How something free turned sour. But they can learn from the pseudo Japanese stall.

It was another day to start with school, feeling a little down and sleepy, you got on the daily transport to get to your destination. Of course, at the end of the ride, despite wanting to curse the transport system in its current dire state, one would look forward to getting a copy of the free newspaper to read and take your mind off. Everyday was the same, a routine which slowly embedded into my mind. I like to read the papers in the morning, waiting on the bus or even at school. It provides something to think of before the first lesson. But to my horror today, they(the company which distributes these papers) decided to distribute it at a much later time, which I would have no chance to collect one copy. It was a fatality blow. The voice from the announcer of mortal combat rang in my ears, "Finish him!" At that moment, I was still in somewhat of a shell shock. Vision was blurry and some hallucination of the past appeared. I could see an imaginary paper in my hands but I couldn't read it. After coming back to my senses, I thought of the possibilities of they they want to postpone the paper distribution. I came up with these conclusions:1) the working people complaint that students were taking all the papers leaving them with nothing. 2) The people distributing the papers wanted to get to work later. 3) It was all a prank to the coming national day.
It was not good at all, but I knew that something like this would happen. When newspaper is free, one should be cautious. There is no such thing as free lunch and giving out free newspaper is no exception. It was a corporate scam of sort, playing with people's minds and in the end forcing people to buy papers to read instead after a "honey moon" period. I hate monopolies. Whatever the reason for such changes, we are always the losing end and at their mercy. Shifting the timing of distribution would not change the demand for the papers. Even SPCA's dogs know that. But instead of increasing the supply of the papers they do this instead. It's like trying to mend a hole in a boat by taking wood from the other parts of the boat and nailing them on the hole. In the end it'll still sink. To misquote Robert Mugabe," If there's not enough money, I'll print more." This should be the motto of the newspaper company. " If there's not enough free newspaper, I'll print more."
But of course, there is always ways to solve such problems. Taking the case study of my school's Japanese restaurant would be a fine example. Just a few months ago, the Japanese restuarant closed down due to a lack of customers(through observation), little variety and wrong variety of food(by trying the food). Price was a concern too.(by paying money) There was a stalemate by the restaurant. Time passed and nobody really have any idea whether there's going to be a new store or other plans. Just this week, the restaurant reopened. There was a new look. No more energy consuming fridge or disgusting sushi rolls which are not authentic Japanese. There was only set meals and bento sold. Instantly there were large crowds gathering to get their first taste of the food. One important lesson that they have learnt from their failed experiences was, don't target the favour of the locals(trying with sushi and fast and carriable food for the busy lifestyle), instead target the favour of the Japanese(bentos, ramen, miso soup). Whether the locals like, it is probably good. Whatever the Japanese like, it is probably much better. With a move of ingenuity and commitment, couped with the students hungering for some Japanese food again. The stall thrived with customers at the expense of other stalls. The move was clever yet utterly disturbing, that I could feel that I want to try the stall too. And I did. Risk taking is a virture which the government is promoting. I bought the ramen and I felt that it tasted worst that instant noodles. But with a more broader variety and more to eat, there must be something nice. Like Macdonald's, there's a burger that I like to eat even if it will cause cancer. As seen, there can always be ways to regain the volatile public trust. Like how this restaurant did it, the newspaper must relook everything to make its free newspaper a success. Opportunity starts with Intel(good computers and brains) inside. Empty minds won't solve a thing and if they need a place to print newspaper. I'm sure Zimbabwe would be glad to help.