In Reply to: Primedia Weasels Part Deux posted by Steve Eddy on January 23, 2007 at 11:07:32:
I don't want to sound condescending, Steve, but do you subscribe to any other magazines? Almost every magazine can be had for a wide range of subscription prices. Of course the publisher would like to get as much as possible for a subscription, but since advertising rates are based on number of readers it's more important to get and retain eyeballs. Primedia isn't doing anything out of the ordinary.You'll usually do better by waiting until just before your subscription lapses. Desperate to retain a reader, the publisher will sometimes drop the price dramatically. Not long ago I kept waiting to renew Entertainment Weekly; Time - Warner finally emailed an offer for a 1 year subscription for $1.98. I'm getting the magazine for 4 cents an issue, less than it costs TW to mail it to me. I just checked ew.com and saw that the online subscription price is $20 for 40 issues. If I buy EW from Amazon I can get 57 issues for the same $20. I ignored at least a dozen renewal offers for Wired so that magazine just extended my subscription for another year for free. They didn't even tell me they were doing it, the next issue showed up with a December '07 expiration date on the address label.
There's nothing unethical about this, it just means that a consumer who is willing to shop around can frequently get a better deal. The situation is similar to new cars. There's an official list price, and then there are the prices that people really pay. Depending on your gullibility, negotiating skills, level of information, etc. you could pay under the "dealer invoice" or way over list price for a car with thousands of dollars of worthless undercoating, paint sealant, and other nonsense added on. It's all part of capitalism. Personally I hate haggling and wish everything has the real lowest price on it, but that's not the way the world works.
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Follow Ups
- So you're offended that you can get 24 issues for $20 or 12 issues for $13? - Rob Doorack 12:36:53 01/23/07 (16)
- No... - Steve Eddy 17:01:54 01/23/07 (14)
- "There is no "regular" price of $19.94" - yes there is - Rob Doorack 18:18:43 01/23/07 (13)
- Re: "There is no "regular" price of $19.94" - yes there is - Steve Eddy 21:35:02 01/23/07 (11)
- Now that you've conceded that you're wrong, why are you still going on with this silliness? - Rob Doorack 06:54:16 01/24/07 (10)
- Re: Now that you've conceded that you're wrong, why are you still going on with this silliness? - Steve Eddy 09:45:27 01/24/07 (9)
- Whatever. - Rob Doorack 11:12:38 01/24/07 (1)
- Re: Whatever. - Steve Eddy 13:01:41 01/24/07 (0)
- Well... - sjb 10:19:39 01/24/07 (6)
- Re: Well... - Steve Eddy 10:51:01 01/24/07 (5)
- But it shows that $19.94 is a going rate for a subscription. nt - sjb 18:51:39 01/24/07 (4)
- Not from Primedia it's not. nt - Steve Eddy 20:34:47 01/24/07 (3)
- Do you think they pulled that same exact price out of the air? - sjb 23:40:46 01/24/07 (2)
- Who cares where they got it? - Steve Eddy 13:04:36 01/25/07 (1)
- And selling subscriptions for years at $12.97 doesn't change the fact that $19.94 is their listed regular rate. - sjb 13:31:27 01/25/07 (0)
- Re: "There is no "regular" price of $19.94" - yes there is - TomLarson 18:36:39 01/23/07 (0)
- Re: So you're offended that you can get 24 issues for $20 or 12 issues for $13? - bjh 12:54:14 01/23/07 (0)