# My old mags...who needs 'em? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 1999, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693 "1999-10-03T19:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/1 "1999-10-03T19:12:00Z")
I am a hardcore magazine reader. I subscribe to or buy off the newstand a truly astounding number of magazines each month: playboy esquire vogue macaddict smart money fortune entertainment weekly people maxim stuff details gq smithsonian harpers atlantic monthly vanity fair talk premiere movieline architectural digest newsweek us news and world report utne reader discover nature new yorker macworld brills content new york los angeles the onion a few different gardening and cooking mags writers digest Where do i get the time? I haven’t a clue, but yes I do read them, all of them. Although of course I do not read every single article. But I give each a close inspection and reading of what does interest me, and that is probably about 60% of the content overall. Okay, great, so I read alot. It also means that I have probably 200 pounds of magazines stacked around my house at any given moment. I like to keep a few, but mostly I really don’t feel comfortable putting htme in the recycle bin. I don’t trus that they are being properly recycled, and I got to thinking that SOMEONE who can’t afford to buy them all would probably like to read them. But who? I asks myself. Libraries already subscribe, right? So…my long winded too much information question is: anyone have any ideas about who might actually appreciate the gift of all these magazines? Now and as each month goes by? Please enlighten me. stoid * * * * * * This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Melatonin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@Melatonin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melatonin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/2 "1999-10-03T19:31:00Z")
## Hospitals. Nursing Homes. Friends. You’ll probably want to pick and choose which periodical goes to which category. Life is short. Make fun of it. ---
**Author:** ![BenDover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c77e96/32.png) [@BenDover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BenDover)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/3 "1999-10-03T22:16:00Z")
The public library here accepts magazine donations and keeps a rack of them for sale for something like a nickel or dime apiece. * * * I have as much authority as the Pope; I just don’t have as many people who believe it! - George Carlin ---
**Author:** ![BigRoryG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@BigRoryG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigRoryG)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/4 "1999-10-04T01:58:00Z")
I’ll take all your old Pla… uh, Time magazines, that is. * * * If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. If you need a graphic solution, [http:\ alk.to\Piglet](http://talk.to%5CPiglet) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/5 "1999-10-04T02:29:00Z")
Actually, I give my Playboys to my dad. And omse of the magazines I acquire through magazine swapping with friends. It still leaves me with a ludicrous number of magazines lying around the house. One thing’s for sure: no one who comes over has to worry about being bored. Plenty to read… So does anyone have a tip about finding the nursing home or hospital? Just call around? Isnt’ there some kind f central clearing house for charitible donations or something? stoid lazy ---
**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/6 "1999-10-04T03:40:00Z")
I suscribe to a lot of magazines, too. I donate them to the shop I work at. In fact, our regs miss it if I miss bringing even one issue there. I got flak when I got back from vacation! 🙂 If a salon doesn’t want them, the other suggestions were good, too. * * * MaryAnn Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck! ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/7 "1999-10-04T05:12:00Z")
After reading the words “hardcore magazine reader”, I expected the list to contain much stronger stuff than Playboy… ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/8 "1999-10-04T14:17:00Z")
Dentists? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/9 "1999-10-04T15:32:00Z")
I work for three of the magazines that you mentioned. Since I work for the company, I get all of the magazines it publishes for free (about 12 a month). I send some to family or friends, especially if there is an article that pertains to their lives. As for the rest of them, I leave them somewhere (not as trash). If I’m riding the subway, I leave it on the subway - people always pick up and read papers or magazines others left behind. If I’m at a restaurant, I’ll ask if the server wants to read it (usually yes) during their slow times. Or if I have a doctor’s appointment, I’ll just leave it with the magazines that expired four years ago. Of course, this requires me to carry one or more magazines around all the time but makes me feel better knowing that more than one person has read the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/10 "1999-10-04T16:13:00Z")
Magazines are a superb raw material for collages. In high school, my art teacher had stacks of old magazines expressly for this purpose (mostly National Geographic, which is oddly [given its popularity] absent from your list [?]). Assuming you don’t care that they get cut up, send them to local elementary, middle, and high schools. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/11 "1999-10-04T16:15:00Z")
(Naturally, if you do this, you might want to exclude Playboy and maybe Maxim [insert smiley-winky face here].) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/12 "1999-10-05T00:06:00Z")
Needy people. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-mags-who-needs-em/3693/13 "1999-10-05T00:33:00Z")
Since most of the replies suggest doing something of a charitable nature, I had not earlier replied. But handy’s post got me thinking. Most cities have resellers of used reading material (biggest one in Houston is Half-Price Books) who will buy them from you. With a reading list your size you could probably get enough cash to make it worth driving down there with them. Half-Price will buy anything, but if they’re somewhat current issues (~1-4 mos.) H-P treats’em as current and pays more. Staying on the charitable course you could make whatever amount you recoup every month your donation to whatever you think worthy. Regards