The right thing to do, of course, is to call the journal’s office, and tell them they’re still sending me issues of their publication even though my subscription has ended. (I have not been charged for a renewed subscription, and they have sent me letters telling me my subscription has ended.)
But I’m wondering about the legal facts. Am I damaging them by continuing to recieve their journal without reminding them that I am not, in fact, a subscriber?
-Kris
Accepting anything you’re not supposed to without paying is damage, however infinitesimal to the company, and although I’ve nothing to do with any legal profession, I’m pretty sure it is illegal to accept them after your subscription has run out and falls under some variant of “theft.” If they eventually discover their mistake, they could, if they so chose, require you to pay for the issues you have received, and could sue you for it if you refused.
That’s actually completely untrue when we’re talking about the US Post Office. Any unsolicited item that someone sends you is yours to keep, and it’s illegal for them to ask you to pay for it after they sent it to you. Site is here.
That said, I wouldn’t worry about journals or other subscribed publications. Most of them have a policy to send several more issues after a subscription runs out with the hopes that you’ll change your mind.
I have no idea if this is true, so please someone who knows something tell me if I’m wrong or right…
I thought I heard one time that one of the reasons magazines continue to send issues after a subscription has ended is to maintain a level of circulation, which is what ad costs (therefor revenue) is based on.
I don’t know if that would apply (if it’s true) to journals or not.
Preface: Nearly 20 year veteran of magazine and newspaper circulation and advertising here. I speak from my wheelhouse.
They KNOW when you’ve expired. But they keep sending you copies for a few reasons.
There’s a chance you’ll come back. That chance diminishes ENORMOUSLY[sup]3[/sup] if you have an interruption in service. By sending and eating the earnings of a month’s issues (or however long) they increase the probability of your renewing your subscription.
Advertising. A magazine guarantees its advertisers a certain amount of advertisers for the money spent. From time to time a magazine can overcommit and it is in their best interest to send copies to recent expires to maintain the promised level of circulation. If that level is NOT met the advertiser may perform any number of unhappy acts including but not limited to demanding refunds, free ads to make up the readership missed, cancellation of long-standing contracts, etc.
Some magazines don’t process renewals/expires every issue. Some I’ve seen do it as few as four times per year. You may have expired but they haven’t done an expiry run on the database yet. If this is the case eventually you will simply stop receiving the Journal and move on with your life.
Remember, in most periodicals, the advertising driven ones at least, the amount the reader pays for a subscription is almost entirely inconsequential to the profit/loss of the pub. The price can help offset some costs but it’s more likely that the price is there to either allow the reader to impact some value to receiving the pub or to allow the publisher to tell potential advertisers that X number of people are paying Y dollars for the pub to show advertisers that the pub is wanted by the marketplace.
If we’re talking about a highly priced specialized journal (the most expensive I’ve ever worked on cost about $4500/year) then the advertising is likely minimal to non-existent and answer #3 leaps to mind as the most likely scenario (with a touch of #1).
In any event, you are utterly not on the hook for any issues received that you have not actively requested.
NOTE TO THE UNWARY: If you’ve received several free issues and THEN renew the pub will likely credit those issues against your latest payment so you’ll be getting one full year…but not from the time you pay…from the time you last should have received one.
Now I’m worried. I canceled my internet service with the provider I had when I lived in Ontario over 15 months ago. I know they have my current address, as I received my final bills here, and besides, I was paying by direct withdrawal and they no longer take the money. Thing is, that email address is still active, and I haven’t deleted it from my email program. I don’t really use it other than to try and diagnose problems with my new address, and I still receive updates from a radio station on it, but otherwise, it’s just there.
I can be held responsible for that? Why should I call them to tell them to do their jobs? I was very clear about canceling, and I even had to call them to have an overcharge refunded on my last bill. Am I really responsible for more?
Further posts in this thread put to rest any such fears based on the post you were responding to.
That doesn’t mean there’s no reason to worry, since magazines are different than email addresses. But the post you were responding to has not provided sufficient reason for worry.
-FrL-