I would have put this in Free Stuff, but it's more like "free stuff discussion" rather than "free stuff deals", and so it probably would have been moved somewhere like off-topic, when really it's a deal discussion, albeit of a free deal and not a purchased deal.
In the past two years I've subscribed to (what my mail lady would testify to as) an enormous number of quality magazines, entirely for free, via tips on the Free Stuff forum here on Fat Wallet.
In preparation for moving sometime in the near future, since early summer I have been keeping track of all the magazine names (there are now dozens) and the end dates of their subscriptions in an Excel file. Usually, once you have taken that info from the magazine label, you don't need to check it again, because logically, in a 12 month subscription, those facts don't change from the first to the last issue that you are entitled to.
However, I noticed over the summer that I got some "rogue" issues of two magazines, past the time that their 12-month subscriptions had run out. One of them even had on the mailing label that the subscription was to end in *April 2009*, yet that label was on the August 2009 issue that I got out of the blue. I put those few random "gifts" down to glitches in their systems, but this month, something even weirder has happened.
Yesterday I decided to check every label on the magazines I got this past week, to see what they said, and most of the labels suddenly have extended their expiration months beyond what they initially were when I first started getting the free subscriptions. One title had extended it by one month since the last time I checked, two tiles by two extra months, and one title by three months beyond their initial 12-month subscription periods, without any communication to me about such a thing. So, for example, the mailing label for XYZ magazine might have had "Jan 10" on it during my entire free subscription that started in Feb 09, but now suddenly it's got "Mar 10" on it as the expiration month.
Obviously, it's not a problem to get more free issues than they had initially signed me up for - in fact, I'm surprised that none of the publications I've been getting this year have gone bankrupt and stopped publishing altogether. But it's got me scratching my head. I wonder if it's to pad out their subscriber base, or something to make their numbers look better than they are. Has anyone else noticed a stealth extension of their magazine subscriptions lately? I would have thought it was a fluke, if 4 out of the 5 magazines I'd checked yesterday hadn't had recent date extensions.
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In a recession and print media closings, they may just be trying to keep to a certain circulation number for their advertisers so that they can charge them the targeted advertising rate. It costs publishers little to mail out magazines at their special rate. They always have extra copies from the runs. So it is at minimal cost to them.
For magazines that aren't "must haves", they can manipulate circulation numbers by extending the expiration date.
From the internet:
.... advertising rates are set based on a magazine’s circulation numbers, but only subscriptions count in the calculation. They don’t count the copies sold on the rack because they are not guaranteed sales month to month. So subscribers are very important to the industry. He explained that publishers are always trying to find just the right pricing balance. They have to keep subscription rates high enough to cover their costs, but they need to entice enough subscribers in order to make their minimum circulation numbers for their targeted advertising rate. If they lose subscribers and drop below the minimum for that advertising rate, they can’t charge as much for the advertising and they are forced to consider raising subscription prices. They don’t want to do that, so they have to carefully monitor the number of subscribers they have.
If the magazine is doing fairly well, they don’t really care if they lose a few subscribers. If the magazine is losing subscribers, they will often go to great lengths to maintain their numbers as best they can by offering extra bonuses, dropping rates, or giving away free subscriptions. If the magazine is doing really well, they will often ALSO go to great lengths to add subscribers by offering bonuses, dropping rates, or giving away free subscriptions in order to bump their circulation numbers up into the next level so that they can charge more from their advertisers. In other words, by taking a loss on subscriptions, they can maintain or even increase their advertising revenues which more than makes up for the loss in subscription revenues.
A thought - Maxim is VERY POPULAR in jails. My issues usually go to a random jail (I don't read it, just got it as a free sub, so I try to pass it on).
ThursdaysChild said:Slightly different fluke: I've started receiving Maxxim in exchange for a magazine that I never subscribed to which stopped publishing.
All magazines get my identifying info clipped off, then donated to my local library bookstore. Not sure what they do with Maxxim!
Message edited by: NantucketSunrise on 2009-11-07 02:58:21 CST
ThursdaysChild said:Slightly different fluke: I've started receiving Maxxim in exchange for a magazine that I never subscribed to which stopped publishing.
All magazines get my identifying info clipped off, then donated to my local library bookstore. Not sure what they do with Maxxim!
Off topic, but I started getting Maxxim as well for free to replace Blender which I had been getting for years and absolutely loved and miss dearly. I've just bringing the Maxxim's to work at the restaurant where I work for the young horny male servers to oogle. They love it!!
I still get Prevention & Remedy even though both expired prob about a year ago. Grand & Mpre extended me for about 6 months. I had a freebie to Money and knew it was running out over the summer so I got a freebie to Kipplinger - I am still getting Money.
I guess the thing that bothers me is that my paid-for subscriptions don't auto-extend. If you pay for it, your set period of time seems more firm. But if you don't pay for it, they keep throwing it at you. Seems backwards, and unfair to the paying customers.
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