So I go to the mailbox today and find three magazines. At first I thought I had received a neighbor’s mail by mistake, but then saw that they were in fact addressed to me.
I have not subscribed to Golf Digest Magazine.
I don’t subscribe to any magazines.
I don’t play golf.
Can anyone explain this?
Somebody got you a gift subscription and didn’t tell you…?
Highly doubtful. I suppose it could be a prank, but my friends would think of something more clever.
Weird kind of marketing?
Can you call up their Subscription Services (or whatever) number and ask 'em?
Let you see what you’re missing. In the magazine biz, pretty much par for the course.
Several years ago, I suddenly started getting issues of Rolling Stone in the mail. At first, I assumed that it was a gift subscription, given to me by someone I knew, but no one owned up to it. According to the mailing labels, I had a one-year subscription. Eventually, a renewal notice came, and I did renew it (I enjoy reading it quite a bit). I do wonder if it wasn’t a prospecting thing on their part.
You got 3 different issues on the same day of the same magazine that you don’t subscribe to? That’s odd. What wouldn’t be as odd if you had gotten them in regular intervals, followed by one reminding you that your subscription is almost up. My mother received Us weekly (perhaps the least accurately named magazine ever) for a month or two, and no one shes knows claims to have ordered her a subscription. I believe she got a card later that told us about the free trial subscription we received and how much it would be if we wanted to continue, but I can’t remember for sure.
Marketing executives are likely giving short subscriptions to people to get them hooked (“first one’s free”); it sorta makes sense, but it feels really creepy to get a magazine for a sport that you don’t play at all. Something more general interest would make more sense.
If it is, indeed, a “trial subscription” sent by the publisher, my guess would be that they bought a list of consumers who somehow fit the general profile of a Golf Digest reader (age, income level, zip code, etc.), and Mach Tuck was on that list.
If that’s the case, while it would make more sense for them to limit that “list” to actual golfers, that sort of information might be much harder to obtain for individual households / consumers.
I’ve been getting “Esquire” for at least 6 months now, like this. Only one copy at a time though.
We used to do this as kids. If an adult made us mad we’d go to the library and get all those free cards out of the magazines and write the name of the adult and the address and mail them. Then that person who made us innocent children suffer now had magazines coming to his house 
I started getting Golf Digest out of the blue too about a year ago. I don’t play golf and I don’t know why they send them too me but you aren’t the only one. I get lots of free publications but that is the only paid type subscription that just started coming for no apparent reason.
They’re called ‘Forced Free Trials’ and are a standard practice in both consumer and trade magazines. The reader is given an opportunity to evaluate the magazine through an unrequested trial in the hopes they will eventually subscribe.
Note, though, that some magazines do FFT to build rate base close to audit time to justify their advertising rates.
Note, also, that should you subscribe as a result of the trial your trial issues may be counted against your payment. So if it’s monthly and you’ve received three issues on your trial your paid subscription may only get you another nine issues until renewal. Not all do that but I know that some do.
In any event, if you didn’t request it you don’t have to pay for it. If it IS an FFT you’ll eventually get a subscription notice that looks like a renewal to get you to buy it.
I got a year’s worth of Field and Stream out of the blue like this. Turned out they bought my address from ReserveAmerica, the company that handles campground reservations at California State Parks.
I mysteriously started receiving Newsweek during the latter half of 2008 (which I remember because Sarah Palin was on the cover of every other issue). I called up their circulation department and was informed that my free subscription was a “bonus” for having ordered a t-shirt from allposters.com.
Well the joke’s on them - I hate golf.
I doubt if “Golf Digest” would do it but a couple years ago I inadvertently ended up with a “Sports Illustrated” subscription because I didn’t read the fine print/uncheck the box when ordering the baseball mlb internet package. I had to call them and cancel: no sense getting 52 issues of a magazine when only one a year is worth buying.
Since you said you don’t have any other magazine subscriptions, it couldn’t be one of yours going out of business and “GD” picking up the rest in hopes of you subscribing.
As others have said, probably them giving you free issues based on your zip code.