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Free Magazines may cost you in the end

June 11th, 2006 at 12:19 am

I spent a bit of time last year canceling all the outrageous priced auto-renewals that the magazine publishers had been sneaking by on our credit cards. Saved a fortune, renewed the few DH loves for basically nothing. And, signed up for a few FREE with business news. And Club Mom. And BizRate. And...well, I figured free might include some coupons or offers, and I had no idea that once I signed up for one, they would send them ALL to me, free of course...

...but I realized, skimming through one in the salon yesterday...ALL of the free magazines - Cosmos, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Better Homes and Gardens, Redbook - to name only a few that have been piling up - ALL are full of ads and articles informing me of how to SPEND my money.

Not ONE is a finance magazine, or about SAVING money.

Granted, I don't really read these things, skim through them, and I will have to get around to cancelling them because I certainly did NOT ask for most of them. But...hmmm...these free magazines are really just one more way to send me free marketing materials into my home. BUY ME MUST HAVE ME BUY ME MUST HAVE ME...

Yikes!

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this?

Posted in | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Free Magazines may cost you in the end”

  1. contrary1 Says:
    June 11th, 2006 at 05:34 am 1150000495
    1150000495

    Yes, I've noticed the influx of magazines too........mostly ads! My difficulty is what to do with them when I've skimmed them. Seems wasteful to toss them, so they are just stacking up!

    I was thinking of bundling them and offering them on Freecycle, I did notice someone else posting magazines this week and they had been taken, so this might be my solution.

    I'm thankful I'm not swayed by advertising. Ever.

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    June 12th, 2006 at 02:09 am 1150074590
    1150074590

    I don't know if you are close to a library or not, but all of our county libraries and the main city one have a box or bin you can put your old magazines in and you can take what you like out of them, too.

  3. flash Says:
    June 12th, 2006 at 10:49 pm 1150148951
    1150148951

    Our library doesn't take them, but our hospitals do, and they are happy for the donations.

  4. baselle Says:
    June 13th, 2006 at 05:33 am 1150173183
    1150173183

    Yep. And I've learned that the articles themselves aren't really informative enough to justify $5. Except Saveur, to me. I get $5 of fun out of that one.

  5. flash Says:
    June 13th, 2006 at 10:00 pm 1150232430
    1150232430

    New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly to read, a few gardening ones for ideas, but mostly donated. Oh, and Astronomy. Still, I was shocked to find those "discounted deals" were SO expensive...$150 a year for People...I think I had a free year from a JC Penney order a few years back...they canceled and refunded the difference immediately. I "repurchased" the ones we like at super deals, and will cancel and restart next year if we still want them.

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