Do you get subscription offers like this?
I just got two letters from Lucky magazine – which is a magazine about shopping, natch. Take a look at the photos. One envelope says “Thank you. We’re pleased to have you with us!” Very nice, right? Inside is a form to renew my subscription for $9.97. But wait, didn’t I just already renew? Oh but at $9.97 I’ll save 72% off the $35.88 cover price.
The other letter from Lucky comes in an envelope that says “Expiration Notice.” Inside there’s a form saying that if I reply by 12/13/09 I can save 79% off the cover price of $71.76 for $15 including a gift subscription. Wait, isn’t that a better deal? But what if I don’t want to send a gift subscription? Looks like I still pay $15. Not such a deal then.
On both forms it states my current subscription expires in Nov ’10. A year away and they want to get more money now. Being a journalist, I know how bad the magazine industry is right now, with ad dollars way down. Subscriptions are the other main revenue stream. But what am I to think with these mixed messages of “Thank you” and “Expiration notice”? One thing’s for sure, I’m waiting until next year to renew. Who knows what the offers will look like then.