I gave up buying Australian Patchwork and Quilting - and their other patchwork magazines years ago. They package them in plastic AND add another one or 2 back copies they can't get rid of, THEN make you pay for the extras as well as the current issue.
The only magazine I buy that is in plastic, is Australian Quilter's Companion - in fact it is the *only* Australian quilting magazine I do buy. The reason that is in plastic, is because they include a DVD in a hard case on a quilting technique. You can imagine how many of those that would go missing if they weren't wrapped.