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- Written by Arthur Vidro Arthur Vidro
Too many magazine subscription offers contain the misleading word “free.”
I remember receiving a “3-for-1 Special Renewal Offer” from Time magazine. The offer said the annual cover price was $178, but by acting now I could “save” $138 and pay $40 for another year — and on top of that, I could select two people to receive a year’s worth, too.
These were billed as “free gift subscriptions.”
The word “free” doesn’t belong in that offer. The honest description would be: “For $40 you can renew your subscription and send two gift subscriptions.”
The publisher tried to make the offer sound attractive by comparing its usual subscription price to its annual cover price. But nobody subscribes for the cover price; the cover price is irrelevant.
And, of course, none of the issues is free. The “free gift subscriptions” means Time is happy to sell anyone three one-year subscriptions — or, as my research shows, one three-year subscription — for $40.
I continue to subscribe and usually enjoy the contents, but its subscriptions are not “free.”
My friend Maddy once showed me two renewal forms for Artists Magazine. She had received both on the same day.
One offer was to renew for one more year for $39.95 and to send a free, one-year gift subscription to any person she names. The other offer was merely to renew for one year for herself for $29.95.
Clearly, the one-year “free gift subscription” wasn’t free. It cost $10.
Good Housekeeping once offered a $5 Starbucks gift card to folks who renew online. But it wasn’t free. You had to buy a one-year renewal for $16.97. Yet their normal renewal fee was $10 a year. You were paying extra to get that “free” gift card.
Even worse are offers for “free previews.” We’re so busy focusing on “free” that we ignore the word “preview.” This setup simply means you get an advance copy of a book, without any extra charge for receiving it early.
Maybe that product is free, temporarily. But the fine print shows you have committed to receive and purchase additional previews, sometimes forever. In the long run, you pay far more than you wanted, and often for material you won’t read.
Granted, there supposedly is a mechanism allowing one to cancel the agreement at any time. But when publishers stopped including a phone number to reach them, it became much harder to cancel such deals. Most of us are better off not making the commitment in the first place.
While I was writing this piece, the telephone rang. I lifted the receiver and heard, not a greeting, but, “Would you like a free subscription to Reader’s Digest?”
I was taken aback. “Mom, is that you?”
“Yes. So how about the free subscription?”
I chose my words carefully. “There is no such thing as a free subscription.”
“Yes, there is!” she insisted. “If I pay for a full year for me, then I get a free year for you. So how about it?”
“No, thank you. If I wish to subscribe to Reader’s Digest, I will do so. But let’s not play games with supposedly ‘free’ deals. You go ahead and subscribe for yourself if that’s a subscription you want. Just keep me out of it.”
“But I don’t want it. I’d only be getting it for me so I could get the free one for you.”
I made it clear to Mom not to sign me up for any subscriptions with anyone.
Still, she was convinced it was “free” and would have gladly paid for an unwanted subscription for herself solely to get a “free” subscription for me.
If all readers were like my mother, no publisher would ever go out of business.
With the occasional exception of a free sample, sent solely to allow you to see if you like the product, no books or magazines you receive through the mail are free.
The word “free” is bandied about to manipulate consumers into making a purchase. Marketers, please stop using this ploy.
Arthur Vidro worked for a decade in the stock industry. Before and after, he wrote newspaper articles and edited a few books. He has served as treasurer of theater and library organizations. He’s been cautious with money ever since a dollar was worth a dollar.