The cutthroat world of magazine subscriptions

[zabuni]

I don’t put a lot of stock in them because, to be brutally frank with you, abuse is like beauty. It’s in the eyes of the beholder, (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=be91678aaac7038d&ex=1329714000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)

The dangers of selling magazines from door to door. Includes drugs, fight club, prostitutes, and other fun stuff.

[Stroker Ace]

Good evening Sir, my name is Steve. I come from a rough area. I used to be addicted to crack but now I am off it and trying to stay clean. That is why I am selling magazine subscriptions.

[Glenn]

That looks like an excellent job for cult members.

Not that I'm planning anything.

[fire]

[National Consumers League’s Child Labor Coalition] ranks traveling magazine sales among the five worst jobs for teenagers.

What are the other four?

[Kunikos]

Good evening Sir, my name is Steve. I come from a rough area. I used to be addicted to crack but now I am off it and trying to stay clean. That is why I am selling magazine subscriptions.

Orlando, you are such a liar.

[Rywill]

Some kid came to my house a month or so ago, and when I told him, politely, that I wasn't interested he totally got in my face and wouldn't leave. It degenerated into a yelling match ("WHY WON'T YOU BUY SOMETHING? YOUR NEIGHBOR GAVE ME MONEY!" "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!") and I thought it was going to turn into a fistfight for a couple of minutes, but then he walked away. Crazy.

[Raife]

Yeah, sorry. I really needed that sale.

[Stroker Ace]

If you had a Harley parked out front people would stay off your lawn.

[Hanzii]

I don’t put a lot of stock in them because, to be brutally frank with you, abuse is like beauty. It’s in the eyes of the beholder, (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=be91678aaac7038d&ex=1329714000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)

The dangers of selling magazines from door to door. Includes drugs, fight club, prostitutes, and other fun stuff.

Fascinating stuff.
The company I (still) work for lives almost solely on subscribtion sales and recently spent in the neighbourhood of 3-400 million US$ to enter the US market by buying a bunch of magazines from Time Inc.
But you can't live on subscribtions in the US and magazines making a buck an issue in profits are apparently a rare breed - so even though the possible readership is so much larger than anywhere else, actually making money is the toughest.
This weird way of selling subscribtions just underlines how tough the market is (and how different). Interesting.

[DeepT]

These companies need to be out-right banned. Even if root out all the bad guys and clean up the industry, in a few years it will be back to the way it is now.

[dannimal]

“I knew I was either going to be dead, disappeared or I don’t know what,”

I really meant to go to college, but then I froze and that was that.

[Lunch of Kong]

Two boys on a magazine crew came to my house two summers ago. I gave'em cold drinks, shot the shit about girls, games, and firearms for a bit while they cooled off under my A/C, and got a couple subs after I made them promise not to screw me out of my magazines. Those mags showed up promptly.

A flirty girl on a magazine crew came to my house at the end of last summer. After convincing her to stop casing my joint ("what do you do? what car do you drive?") I gave her half a bag of Ghiradelli espresso chocolate squares and got a couple of subs. Those mags showed up promptly also.

Teens on magazine crews need to take more showers.

[Ryan A]

If you had a Harley parked out front people would stay off your lawn.

Nah, they'd just know he was an overcompensating yuppie puke.

Now a vintage Triumph, on the other hand ;)

[Old Man Gravy]

Yeah, I've shot the breeze on my porch with the travelling sub crew for an afternoon on a lazy summer day each of the last couple years. I always buy a couple subs for OLG and YLG, and I've NEVER gotten a single mag. It sucks.

Last year, I jawjacked with the kid for about an hour and we had a drink. I ordered about $300 worth of magazines and shook his hand, then went inside, surfed to wellsfargo.com and canceled payment on the check. It felt AWESOME. I'm a passive aggressive anemone, but fuck'em.

[Matt Perkins]

That is pretty passive aggressive. But funny too.

[fire]

He probably got beaten because of you.

[Stroker Ace]

He probably got beaten because of you.But since he would've gotten beaten anyway, can we really say that OMG had any effect on the beatings?