In a way, the original post was funny, in a way, it's not. I think that should be considered fraud when a publisher does this, especially when the subscription is paid YEARS AND YEARS ahead!!
A quick tutorial for you...
Your label should have about 6-7 lines on it.
The first line is kind of like a "batch#" or "lot#"
The second line should be your account number, and usually this line, at the very end will have something like: M/J18
The "M/J18" means "May/June 2018" issue is the last one. Many magazines, especially the quilting magazines, are bi-monthly (every other month). So, you will see J/F (January/February), M/A, M/J, J/A, S/O, N/D.
The third line usually identifies this current magazine.
The next 3-4 lines are your name and address.
And on the very bottom are some funky-looking bars, sort of like this: ||ii||ll||ii||
Those are a bar code that is specifically for bulk mailing/shipping.
And of course, you can always go to the publisher's website to see if you are close to the cancellation date.
I have found that if you let it run out, they will send you a "Please come back" letter with a terrific deal...and you usually end up not missing a single issue.