Time Magazine Is So Cheap It’s Almost A Free Gift
IS Time magazine something anyone actually reads?
YEARS ago I took out a subscription to Time mag just to get some free gifts – Christmas cracker stuff, as it turned out, writes Madame Arcati.
Long before I cancelled, unread issues lay about in neat piles. Its journalism looked and tasted like mystery meat: highly processed, glazed: not good for the blood pressure. Where was the individual voice? Harshly, I formed the view that anything it claimed or reported – or saw – was probably manufactured to suit its house style gospel. Such is the peril of writing and editing as if attired in a pulpit robe.
Time has never got(ten) over my rejection. Like so many of my ex-lovers, it does not take No for an answer. I hear a plaintive ululation at the door (OK, the letter plate needs oiling) and there on the mat lies yet another billet-doux from Time (Discount Services).
The latest offers me a 54-issue sub for just £15. This includes 6 additional issues if I buy now, the 100 Special Issue, the Time Person of the Year issue, any other Special Issues, unlimited access to http://www.time.com/ and – best of all – the Time Privilege Card. If I pay by credit card, I can have my sub automatically renewed at the “guaranteed low rate”.
The annual value of this largesse is £162. At just £15, I save £147. This is so generous that an MP would, I guess, have to declare it as a gift. The wonder is what’s in it for Time. This is a loss-making offer though perhaps a healthy circulation figure helps maintain high ad page rates.
On the cusp of temptation I visit Time.com. Oh dear, the latest issue is dedicated to football.
Bin. – MA
Posted: 7th, June 2010 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
