Friday, April 20, 2007

Renewing Magazine Subscriptions online can save you a lot of money and trees!

I just recently received a notification in the mail that one of my magazine subscriptions was due. In fact the letter comes with big red letters stating that this is my 'Last Chance' to take advantage of these huge savings where I save $140 if I subscribe for 3 years (36 Issues) for $74 which is like 23 issues free (from the cover stand price). 2 Years (24 issues) for $51 or like having 15 free issues, or for 1 year (12 issues) for $ 28, a savings of like getting 7 issues FREE!

So I thought I should check online at the website to see if I let this lapse and simply renew online and was rather shocked to see just how much of a difference there was! As I am in Canada, I do not have an option to purchase 3 years (36 issues) but have both 2 years (24 issues) or 1 year (12 issues) at price of (already converted to Canadian dollars I am not sure, but probably not, as my credit card would be charged American dollars as I think the rate has already been adjusted or so I would think since I am give a 'Canadian option'). The rate is in US dollars from the mailer as well so... anyway the rate is $30 for 2 years (24 issues) or $22 for 1 year (12 issues). So if I do the math correctly, I am better off to miss the boat on the mailer and simply sign up online as I will save an additional (or difference of) $6 on one year or $19 over two years. So in theory, buying online for 2 years is pretty much like getting 2 additional years of service for free. Using this analogy, is it safe to say that this sort of 'push' to market more on the web is going to save, if nothing else, a few trees since they sent me this paper mailer which will now just be tossed in the garbage?

This is a classic example of how the Internet can save you money and a few trees at the same time!