You can almost hear the reaction now. &8220;I&8217;ve been paying that way for 35 years and I&8217;m not about to change now.&8221;

People hate change. We are, almost to the person, most comfortable when things are familiar.

Somewhere in our genetic make-up a gene must exist that creates our natural aversion to change.

I wonder how much of McDonald&8217;s (and other fast food) business is based on just being a familiar sign in an otherwise foreign city?

McDonald&8217;s may not have the absolutely best hamburgers in the world (their fries, maybe) but one thing is certain. You know what you get when you go there. The burgers at the McDonald&8217;s in Paducah, Ky., will taste almost identical to the McD&8217;s burger in Albuquerque, N.M.

And that&8217;s just how we like things &8212; the same. But sometimes a little change is a good thing. If you&8217;ve only had McDonald&8217;s imagine your delight when you sink your teeth into a Samburger at Natchez&8217;s Magnolia Grill or a burger at Big John&8217;s in Ferriday.

We&8217;re hoping to offer an alternative taste of our own in the coming days as we begin modifying our billing system for getting your newspaper delivered each day.

For years customers simply paid the contracted carrier the monthly bill. And that worked out OK, especially years and years ago when many newspapers came out in the afternoons. The process was simple. Your carrier, who at that point was likely a school-age child, would come around and collect his or her money in the afternoons.

Flash forward a few decades and your newspaper comes in the morning and your newspaper carrier is likely an adult.

Yet, we still largely use an antiquated payment system. Some newspaper carriers leave envelopes inside newspapers while others use different means to collect the subscription price.

Our circulation department has begun working to update that system a bit by slowly converting subscribers over to pay their newspaper bill directly to our office. And, although the initial change may seem a bit unsettling in the end, the changes should prove better for everyone involved.

You, the customer, no longer have to worry with making sure you see the envelope inside the newspaper or that you&8217;ll pay the newspaper carrier and the carrier decides to quit the next day without reporting your payment. The conversion should be fairly seamless. We offer a number of payment options from paying in advance by mail or by stopping by our office or the most convenient way is through our EZ-Pay plan, in which you never have to leave your house.

Customers who pay at least three months in advance get a price break, too. A three-month subscription is only $43, a savings off the normal $15 per month rate.

EZ-Pay allows us to simply deduct the subscription price once a month so that you don&8217;t have to worry about anything &8212; no checks, no bills, no envelopes &8212; just sit back and enjoy the newspaper. And EZ-Pay customers get our best rate &8212; $13.50 per month.

Newspaper carriers benefit because they no longer have to be accountants. The newspaper helps manage the payments. No fuss, no worries. And, despite what some people think, the newspaper carriers earn the same profit in the transaction regardless of whether the payment is made directly to them or to the newspaper.

If you have any questions about this or would like to convert to a simpler, more modern payment system, please call our circulation manager Sam King at 601-445-3627 or me at the contacts below.

We look forward to updating the system as easily and as smoothly as possible without causing readers grief.

In the end, the changes will be more than beneficial to all concerned and we suspect after the initial change, you&8217;ll be enjoying the changes as if they were a new, juicy hamburger from a restaurant you&8217;ve never been.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

.