"Hey, lady, wanna buy a magazine subscription and help me go to the state tournament?"
If some kid shows up at your door asking that question -- assuring you that he or she lives in the neighborhood, goes to a local high school, plays on the soccer team, whatever -- be sure you've read the following story first.
It's a frightening examination of the door-to-door magazine subscription sales business. Those of us with long memories will remember the event that triggered our skepticism of this industry, the horrifying accident on I-90 near Janesville in 1999 that left seven youngsters dead and one paralyzed.
What Mainstream Publishers Don't Want You to Know About Door-to-Door Magazine Sales, appeared yesterday in the Houston Post. After reading it, you may never want to subscribe to a magazine again.
The last time I bought a magazine subscription from one of these kids was not long before that 1999 van crash. By the time I noticed that I wasn't receiving the magazine, there was nowhere to register a complaint. Calls to the sales company were never answered, and the magazine claimed to know nothing about the sales company.
ReplyDeleteBut the check had cleared the bank long before.