Magazines I Never Ordered

Or, My So-Called “Partnership Orders”

I got this “bill” in my mailbox the other day.

It came on the heels of the 2008 February issue of Wired Magazine, with a cover shot of Sarah Silverman looking as confused for being in my house as I was for having her there.
Now, I don’t have anything against Sarah Silverman, but where the HECK did all these magazines come from?

It started about a month ago: the onslaught of New York magazine. This is a WEEKLY magazine that, if you were a resident of New York, a bit brainy and trendy, and had lots of public transportation reading time, might be worth the investment. But as I spend most of my commuting time in a car, in Connecticut, that doesn’t really seem like the sort of thing I’d throw money away on.

WIRED is another red flag. I don’t even have an iPod! Sure, my knowledge of pop culture up until 1999 was pretty sharp, but once I barred Entertainment Weekly from my mailbox (the “Corseted Cuties” Revolt, some of you know of it), I’ve fallen out with Pop Culture’s inner circles.

The Official Answer

I wasn’t surprised to hear, when I called the New York subscription lady, that I’d “signed-up” for my subscription through something that, as she asserted, “could have happened without your knowledge.”

It’s called “Partnership offers”… and Miss Monotone could tell me who some of the partners were, but naturally NOT who I signed up with… hmm.

I am about to start checking credit card statements, to make sure I didn’t pay for any of this junk either. But my first stop will be the publishers of these two magazines who, no matter what they say, have to be responsible for every party they let sell their title.

Argh!