buying quilting magazines at a retail store vs subscription
 

Do you subscribe to quilting magazines or buy them when one catches your eye at the store? Here is my situation. Due to the economy i subscribe to only one. the other day i was at a local drugstore and checked out the selection of quilting magazines. You know how sometimes they put a bonus pattern in the shrink wrap? well there was one of a reversable table topper/runner - one side was christmas trees and the other was candy corn. i had it in my hand to buy and realized it was the one i subscribe to American Patchwork & Quilting. i contacted them and in all fairness to them didn't realize my email box was full :( . So here i sit wondering where I could get this pattern. It seems to me as a subscriber I should get the bonus patterns they offer at the store, right?

i would say 'not necessarily'. the magazine may offer the bonus pattern as an incentive for people to buy the magazine at the newsstand. at the newsstand, the magazine would cost full price. if, with the bonus pattern, the magazine gets a new subscriber, then the bonus pattern did its job.

I understand your dilemma, but can't really agree with your reasoning. Subscription copies cost so much less than those on the shelf, that I can understand it. But QuiltnNan really hit the nail on the head I think ... they're roping in new subscribers for sure! (But, like you, I would want it, too!!! Sometimes we just can't win!!! :) )

I would think a subcription is just that , a year or what ever the term of the payment is , for the issues in full for the entire year . You did not subsribe to the "lite"version/subscription.

I must admit that I thumb through the magazines before I buy them. If they don't have anything that interests me on the content page, I don't buy it. The cost of a magazine subscription is a lot more than I can pay for them at the Walmart with their discount. If a magazine is in the plastic, it stays on the shelf. Too many times I've been suckered into the purchase only to be disappointed in the content. I think they do it on purpose as a marketing ploy. They know it's a mediocre issue so they throw in an "extra". I find that most of the quilt magazine are getting very repetive and I only buy a few now.

ok thanks for making me see the other side of the story! i probably will go get it and just give the magazine to my sister who quilts. win-win situation! i guess i had to vent a little.

I always go through the ones at the news stand as well with the prices they charge I don't want to get it home and find out there's nothing I like. My husband and sister were very nice this year they both got me a subscription to different magazines. American Quilter and the McCall's quilting magazine and of course Ms. Paula Deen! So the only one's I really purchase this year are my Fons and Porter ones, I might ask for that one next yr!

This complaint is quite common amoung us. I agree the subscriptions should contain what they sell on the stand. Nothing wrong with getting new customers but they should keep the ones they allready have.

The same thing is happening with a retail store. I buy all my clothes, etc., from them, but they always send "others" discount coupons, offers, etc. Since I shop there alot, I guess they feel they have me hooked.

How refreshing :) ask a tough question, respect the answer, find positives. Love it :)

I purchase mine from the store so I can pick which ones I really want and not just recieve the all.