Look whose arms are being twisted to subscribe to the Los Angeles Times: employees. Head of circulations Jack Klunder, who returned to the LAT after a stint at the MediaNews papers, is trying guilt to make a few sales. Quote that might get him fired, or at least snickered at in the hallways: "Go ahead and be offended by this note if you choose to be. Send me your e-mails of complaint if you want. I welcome them. But, I will say this . . . I didn't come back to the Times to be mediocre."

From: Klunder, Jack
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 8:34 AM
To: zzAll LATimes Employees
Subject: A message from Jack!

This is Jack Klunder checking in with all of my good friends and colleagues at the Los Angeles Times.

Certainly you must be sick and tired of seeing my ugly mug plastered all over this place. I am. And, you also may be asking yourself, why all of the fuss over subscribing to our great paper?

It's because too many of us don't subscribe.

To those of you who do, a heartfelt thanks, but the fact remains there are too many of us with too many reasons for not subscribing. Is it because you don't care? Is it because you get it at the office? Price? Latimes.com? Regardless of your lame excuse, all of us should be subscribing to our great paper. Why we don't escapes me.

I have spent 30 years in this business trying to convince Southern Californians to subscribe to the Times. And, I've heard every reason imaginable why people don't. But that should not include any of us.

He wonders if anyone at the Times really cares after the jump.

Every employee needs to understand the delivery experience, our print quality, having to call our customer service center in Manila, paying the invoice and using the IVR, just as all of our customers must do. We all need to fully understand what it's like to have a missed delivery or a call that is not handled properly. Otherwise, we'll never get better as an organization. In short, we all need to care!

So, three weeks into this in-house promotion, hundreds of our employees still don't subscribe. Do you care? Do you have a passion for the future success of this great newspaper? We all should, but sometimes I wonder.

Go ahead and be offended by this note if you choose to be. Send me your e-mails of complaint if you want. I welcome them. But, I will say this . . . I didn't come back to the Times to be mediocre. We have enough people and organizations taking pot shots at us out there. Let's do something about it.

Let's start right here . . . right now. I challenge all of you to pony-up and put your money where it counts. Sign up at our website www.latimes.com/friendsandfamily or call 1-800-LATIMES and ask for the employee discount rate. You get half off the regular price and so do your friends and family. Heck most of us spend more money on a cup of coffee each morning than it costs to subscribe to the paper.

How do we expect our friends and neighbors to subscribe if they don't see the paper land on our own driveways?

The Los Angeles Times has been on my driveway since I was a little kid. Make sure it's on yours too.

Jack