Unwanted Village Sun newspapers
 

I watch several homes in the neighborhood that I know are away for the summer, and that do not get the Village Sun delivered. Yet every so often the unwanted newspaper gets delivered, often multiple days in a row. How often do you ride around and see houses with or more papers on the driveway? Why not put a sign out saying " we are away".
Village Sun, if we want your paper delivered we will order it. Otherwise please keep it off our driveway. Thanks in advance.

Bob Schwarz

I'm surprised you don't realize what is happening. Most (all?) of those papers are advertisements purchased by another company. The company will pay the Sun to deliver papers to every home in the Villages for a week or so as. There is often an insert from the company telling you that they bought the paper for you and giving a number to call. The Sun simply accepts the advertising money and delivers the paper to every home just as the advertiser requested.

Yes, every month they have a super Saturday (or Sunday) in which we all get one if we have not opted out because some big advertiser is paying for the outer bag. Yes, there have been several times I have had to call for my snowbird neighbor that is not here and ask the Sunny paper to stop delivery to a vacant house. The Sunny paper and the POA do not seem to care about the community, IMO. At least the POA is going to digital but far too late (yesterday’s paper delivery is flying around the street). I have sent emails to the Sunny paper several times with zero response so I guess you and I have to resort to this. I would subscribe to a NEWS paper in a heart beat if I could get one with real news on how a golf cart accident happened in the community? Instead, it’s social media gossip with no real news facts.

They are not supposed to deliver those free papers unless the homeowner calls and authorizes it. You are only supposed to get one paper, unless you call. I have been offered free papers but I always decide not to call and I don't receive them. But mistakes have happened.

Community Watch used to pickup unclaimed newspapers and such then place them on the front door area out of sight. Burglars and thieves will see the papers piling up then come back to gain entry into the home. If they don't for whatever reason, be a good neighbor and move them. The homeowner and neighbors will thank you for keeping crime out of the neighborhood...

Correct statement and we pay community watch to do this as well as they have to contact the homeowner for a well being check (was told this during my closing)!

I have been on the same street for 9 years, and yes, this does happen. When it does, I grab a 5-gallon bucket and walk my street getting some exercise while picking them up. Be kind and lend a hand when you can.

Why not “every so often” pick them up and toss in the trash……the exercise is good for you.

I do that too. Move papers out of sight if a convenient place is available.

I have called multiple times to stop delivery. It still happens every couple of months. When these “free” papers are distributed, everyone on my street gets one

Tough call:
- Pick up the papers to keep the neighborhood clean but possibly defeat the Community Watch program that checks on residents when multiple papers accumulate in the driveway.
- Leave the papers and the mess and hope it doesn’t alert the wrong person that the home is vacant.

Nearby neighbors should look out for those close by. We have had a number of deaths since we moved here in 2005 in the neighborhood but most of the same people are around.

Well over half of my neighbors are snowbirds and gone right now - I just walked up and down my street and the next street over picking up all the POA newspapers from the driveways of my snowbird neighbors. Will be a good thing when it goes digital,- such a waste right now.

Every 6 or so months, some doctor's group or health care company or something buys everyone in the neighborhood a six-month subscription. The Daily Sun loves it, because it artificially inflates their readership rate. The Sun's been delivering to our house for almost a year, so they probably just never put an end date on that subscription someone else paid for.

If we need to be out of town for more than a couple of days we can always cancel the subscription that we're not paying for anyway.

Send an email to:

Circulation@thevillagesmedia.com

with content like this:

Dear Circulation Desk,

Please stop delivery of the Daily Sun to <your address>, The Villages, FL.

Sincerely,

I just called the Sun and said I did not want to receive the paper. I haven’t received it since. Same with the POA. It wasn’t a big deal.

Yes, I always suspected this with the Sunny and the POA who proudly displayed their number of “subscribers” on front of the paper. No way that manny cared about the paper. Your “news” paper is false news, LOL?

We have been getting a Free paper since March 2025....Thank You

I called the newspaper to say I NEVER want a paper delivered and it's been ok since. But once a month that little paper pamphlet thing has been hard to stop even though I've called them twice.

The Sun started delivering to everyone in my neighborhood with a note that it would be free for 6 months. If we didn’t want the paper, we could either call the number provided or leave the paper on the driveway, and the delivery person would pick it up the next day and cancel that house off the delivery list. Pretty simple.

I called one time when we were getting the paper and we are not subscribers. Some benefactor paid to have the paper delivered to those who don’t subscribe…say for about 6 weeks. I asked them to stop the delivery and they did.

I never requested the paper, and it got delivered anyway.
Ad revenue is connected to readership size, so don't expect the paper to stop free deliveries.
I look at the front page and put it into the recycle bin.

Might as well put up a sign that says "welcome home invaders".

I agree that it can be a problem however. Driving through various neighborhoods it is not uncommon to see a driveway with several issues of the Daily Sun lying in the driveway, along with the other various and sundry reading material, usually advertising, flung there by various people and organizations.

Our neighbor (snowbird) across the street has a good system. He has friends who not only pick up the printed stuff while he is gone but who also collect the signs put out there by his yard service, check the house and grounds periodically to assure all is well, etc. One neighbor also parks his SUV in the neighbor's driveway and leaves it there for a couple of days each week. The color of the vehicle changes from time to time so I assume this involves several friends.

A week or so? They delivered to us for 4 months until I went online and told them to cancel.

Whatever you do, don't put out a sign that says " we are away".

Not my newspaper. Once in awhile I'll grab the first and second section off hubby's side of the dinner table to check on the little tidbits of news from the different states, or cut out a column someone wrote about the group I volunteer for.

Other than that, I'd rather see less paper being wasted. When more than half of EVERY DAY's newspaper is real estate ads for Villages properties, and most of the people who get this paper already live here, it's just insanely wasteful.

Hubby likes reading it and as I said, we aren't paying for it. But when it stops coming, we won't start subscribing to it. It's a garbage paper.

If you don't read it, just call them and tell them to stop delivering it. Takes less than 2 minutes out of your life, which is less time than it takes for you to get it from your driveway, bring it into the house, and throw it away every day for a week.

That's the POA monthly newsletter. Breathe easy, they won't be printing it anymore after September. If you want to know what CDD government meetings are going on, and where/when they're scheduled, and their agendas, and results of recent meetings, you'll have to go online at that point.

Thank you!
 

Exactly! They invite theft. This is littering. If I want it, I’ll ask for it. Otherwise, stick to your subscribers. The advertisers are ridiculous if they think this is a fully full time community.

I see it all over..my concern is for others throughout my neighborhood and even in other areas of the Villages. Folks that are away often have neighbors either unable or unwilling to watch their homes for them.