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back to abnormal Back to US - a pile of junk mail, among them half a dozen renewal notices for Consumer Reports. My subscription expires in January 2009, i.e. the February issue requires renewal. That issue will be probably distributed in the last week of January. Let’s assume that it has to be mailed on January 15, so January 14 is the last day distributors have to be noticed of any change in my subscription. Let’s further assume that the status of my subscription is checked by distributors only once monthly, so it could be any day between December 15, 2008 and January 14, 2009. Let’s also assume there is some sloppiness in the renewal procedure, let’s add two more weeks. By the listed assumptions my renewal payment should be received by December 1, 2008. Above time table is realizable by paper records and snail mail, not to mention computers and email. Of course, it may not be realizable if Consumer Reports and its distributors chisel data into high quality stone. When should I expect a renewal notice? Not before early November. And how many? Just one, if I don’t answer it there will be the emergency renewal notice on the cover of the last issue in my current subscription. So, why those annoying and insulting renewal notices starting in July 2008? Annoying not only as a junk mail but also as an indicator how Consumer Reports is spending subscription money. Insulting because each of them carries a message: "You idiot, you average American idiot, isn’t it obvious that we want your money ASAP?" |
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WEBSITE EDITOR:
Krešimir J. Adamić
