I subscribe to their model
It’s easy to see why the magazine subscription model is so successful. Every issue, direct to you mailbox, at a reduction in cost. Simple. Easy as 1-2.3.
I’ve been a paid subscriber for a long time now. Going all the way back to Boys’ Life which came in when I was a Cub Scout, in the White Six. The magazine where I submitted my name to be a penpal and then filled the family mailbox with odd letters for years to come.
Then, Time at university, where I learned that the universe was actually red, white and blue all over. Through various sporting and hobby magazines, a fascination with wood stoves that never went anywhere, and so on.
Currently, I have only one monthly coming in: Linux Journal, and that almost came to an end. Let me explain. The company has a website where you can “up” your subscription for another year, analogous to signing on for another tour of duty. Worked for me for the last couple of times, but this summer when I renewed just before going off on vacation, I must have missed a step. The August and September issues sat unopened in their protective plastic wrappers, and the envelope that displayed “Last chance” in bright red didn’t trip any alarms. I simply though that it was due to a machine that couldn’t keep things straight.
Then the drought. No issue coming in although the third week of October was already almost over. This from a company that has been punctual from day one, back about a decade ago.
Time to fire up the web browser and check my status… Inactive. Like I’d been voted off the Island or something. I gave it a ten-second decision tree, said that I could get whatever I needed to know elsewhere, and put that title aside. After all, who needs to learn anything new?
In to the local magazine shop over lunch hour, I saw that the October issue was still displayed, and that it was interesting. In for a penny, in for $7.41 after taxation. Now it was time to do a little math.
What if I should find the next twelve issue to be interesting? A whopping $88.92 out of the piggy bank, plus the OCD frustration if I should miss an issue. On the other hand, subscribers have it delivered to their mailbox, punctually, for $36.20 which means I can retire early on all the money I’m saving.
I called the subscriber desk, on their hand toll-free line, and the nice lady was polite and commiserative. She would even mail me out a copy of the November issue which is where the assembly line has just passed, and the same day even. My credit line was accepted, and I’m back on the train with only a near miss in my collection.
You know, that kind of service is enough to make me into a respectful reader. My knowledge curve isn’t flat. I’m “in the know”. Besides, I like Linux…
