why am I getting unsolicited magazines in the mail?

[Syrinx]

Not that I don't appreciate it, but it seems kind of random.

First, a couple months ago, it was ESPN Magazine. They just started arriving in the mail. No explanation. No bill so far. No notice that it was a gift.

I like the physical layout of ESPN magazine. It's extra-large like Rolling Stone used to be. Otherwise it doesn't interest me. My interest in spectator sports is mostly limited to college sports. Sure, I watch the Super Bowl, but I'm just not interested in pro sports in general. ESPN Magazine seems to be an inferior imitation of Sports Illustrated. It's just not, in my opinion, a very good publication.

Then, just the other day I got three issues of the newly normal-sized Rolling Stone magazine in the mail. One had Barack Obama on the cover. The other two featured Britney Spears and AC/DC, respectively.

I'm not complaining. I like getting free stuff in the mail.

But does anyone know why I'm suddenly getting these magazines in my mailbox?

:shrug:

[onehandle]

1. Marketing tactic.

Somewhere you got on a list that pins you as a potential subscriber.

They send you a few issues and hope you'll subscribe. They may even send you a bill hoping that you forget you never asked for it.

We just started getting "Us" magazine out of nowhere. Whatever list pinned us for that has no idea who we are or what we are interested in.

Straight into the recycling bin.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Yeah. We have that problem. Hubby has a computer repair biz called

PC-Fitness. He gets all kinds of magazines and catalogues dealing with physical fitness. He likes the ones with the tanning beds and the aerobics equipment, though. :P

[Syrinx]

4. thanks for the explanation

I think Us is the same company as Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner should be ashamed.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. We used to get it too. Not sure if it was a package deal with subscribing to the ESPN networks

what.

[peekaloo]

5. My mom gets nine of 'em at the old home address.

US/OK/O/Shape/Fitness/Marie Claire/Women's Health/Ladies Home Journal/Better Homes & Dungeons whatever.

Marketing tactic for sure.

Sad thing is she passed away in '07.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. i use Lingo's IP telephone service

and they started sending me a complimentary subscription to Esquire mag...odd...that is something i would probably not subscribe to...now, ESPN or Men's Fitness or something...yeah...but Esquire? i wish they had asked :-)

sP

[Roland99]

7. Funny you should ask. I just picked up my mail from my Dad's this past weekend and what did I find?

A few issues of Maxim magazine.


wth??


Didn't order it. Didn't even *think* about ordering it.


*shrug*

[tularetom]

8. Last year I got Newsweek for about a month

It sucked. I usually just threw it away without reading it. But I never knew why it kept coming. Then one evening I got a phone call. The nice lady on the other end asked me if I'd been enjoying Newsweek. I responded that I never read the thing just shit canned it. She then asked me if I'd like to subscribe in order to keep getting it. That's when I started laughing uncontrollably. I'm still not sure she got the message but she hung up then. On second thought I guess she did get it because the thing stopped coming.

[dysfunctional press]

9. are they addressed to you...?

we started getting newsweek a few years back- it had our address, but someone else's name.

[blondeatlast]

10. If a magazine you subscribed to before ceases publication this can happen.

My husb subscribed to several with leftover British Airways piints (too few to matter and would not carry over).

Some of them have ceased pub--and we've gotten some strange ones to replace them. :shrug:

[gollygee]

11. Magazines make more money off advertising than off subscription fees

And how much they make off advertising is based on how many readers they have. My guess is they're trying to up their readership numbers.

[CreekDog]

12. but i bet their ad rates are based in part on how many paid subscribers they have

rather than just total circulation. that's my guess.

[gollygee]

14. I used to write for a newspaper

And for that, paid subscriptions counted for more, but total readership counted too. We could count ones we gave away, but they didn't count for as much. I don't remember the specifics. But we did give a lot away for that reason.

[Horse with no Name]

13. We have started getting Entertainment Weekly

I was wondering why since nobody asked for it.:shrug:

[DoctorMyEyes]

15. Who did you piss off?

I know someone who was once pissed off at an employer and filled out a few dozen subscription cards in the managers name. The volume of junk mail it generated in addition to the magazines was like a paper tsunami of annoyance.