It’s called ‘Backstarting’ and it’s common practice.
A little history:
It goes back to the times when National Geographic and similar pubs would only sell themselves on a ‘full volume’ basis. You could subscribe in January for the full year but if you subscribed in say, July, you’d have to wait until January to begin receiving issues. To deal with that ‘backstarting’ became a medium for getting issues in people’s hands earlier. Subscribe in July and get a package of Jan-Jun in the mail.
No better or worse than many many other things. I don’t do it for my pubs currently but I’d set things up that way for others.
I thought this was going to be a pit about getting several subscription notices at once.
I’ve paid, unwittingly I might add, for the next 2 years of Muscle and Fitness. They keep sending me “renewel” slips, saying my subscription is about to run out. I haven’t paid a renewel in almost a year and a half, and you know what? I’m still getting the freak’n magazine.
Same thing goes with Maxim. I gave my friend a gift subscription two years ago, and I renew it every year. I came to find out this year that he had been renewing it every year, except for the first one. So now he has two years tacked onto his already 2 year subscription.
I have given many Nat Geog gifts over the years and they alays sent a pack with issues dating back to the last january and then continued sending monthtly issues to december. never had to wait until next january.
Just a couple of months ago I presented a friend with a two year subscription to nat Geog. and I told her she would get issues going back to january. When that din;t happen, I called NG only to be told they do not do that and the subscription started in Oct 2002 and will end in Sept 2004. The guy must be new there as he was not aware of the old policy.
Darn, I was hoping to rant about the 2.2 million “TWO FREE YEARS! OUR BEST OFFER EVER!” junkmail subscription things to crap magazines I did all week. Wrong thread.
When they start scaring you with those “Pay now or you’ll never get another issue ever!” notices, remain calm and look at the mailing “label” (they’re printing them right on the cover nowadays, but you know what I mean). Above your name will be a string of digits, at the end of which is the month and year your subscription expires.
Good advice, Rilch. But warning, recent editions of ‘Circulation Management’ magazine (we take care of our own) have started to advise that we use codes instead of dates-in-clear to prevent just what you advise. Confusion to our customers.
Another thing I could warn you all about…
I recently received a notice of renewal from ‘Publishers Service Group’ telling me that my subscription to The Sporting News had run out and I should send payment right away.
Note: I cancelled my sub to TSN approximately 4 years ago. That’s some backstart.
PSG takes old expires from magazines and attempts to get them to renew for a percentage of first years revenue. They’ve made a run at my business in the past but I’ve never used them.
So be warned. Look at those renewals closely and don’t be a sucker.
Plus…the longer you wait to renew, the better deal they’re going to give you. I subscribed to Playboy last year for $1 an issue (the only internet ad I’ve ever responded to), and when they started bothering me with renewal notices, I just held out until they offered me it for $14 (with the special College Girls issue!). And then even after I sent in the renewal, they still sent me notices and even frickin called me. Bastards.
You’re seeing the downstream effect of the fact that your subscription price isn’t really important to the overall profitability of a magazine. I’ve never seen a subscription price for a magazine (newsletters are a different cat entirely) that covered the cost of print and postage, much less salary and such.
It’s all ads. You’re value is truly in your eyeballs…not your checkbook.
We’ve been getting these for a subscription to Soap Opera Digest which we had let lapse five years ago when my wife’s eyesight had gotten so bad that she had to keep asking me to read it to her, and the case of brainrot I was getting from reading the plot summaries was affecting my ability to form coherent sentences.
Not that I have anything against soap operas (excuse me, daytime dramas), but I was starting to actually follow the plot twists and try to make sense of them…
According to the label on my TV Guide, my subscription was supposed to expire six weeks ago (110202). They haven’t sent me any bills nor have I responded to any renewal notices. Should I let them know they keep sending issues each week so they don’t try to bill me for 'em?
I’ve had a similar experience here at work Jeff Olsen. The last software manager subscribed to a magazine, but I don’t have the time to read it, and neither does anyone else. I must have got about 7 or 8 issues that included a notice that this was my “last issue unless I renew now!”. So stop sending them already!
Advertising-driven pubs will do anything to keep you one their list if the need the numbers to make rate base. They won’t drop you until they can do so but not
Jeff…even if they bill you for the issues you’ve received you’re not on the hook for them if you cancel.
Warning: if you renew your sub those issues will count against your renewal. So you’ll receive 1 year less the issues you’ve received.