The Magazine Subscription Kvetch
Ok, I hate junk mail. And boy, is it tough to get rid of. My friend (the one who makes the cool beads, click on her link!) told me how I could stop my junk mail, and for a while I tried diligently, calling every time a catalog came in the mail and asked them to take me off their sell/mail list. One day, I called EIGHT catalog companies. EIGHT in just one mail drop. But, after a while, and after looking online at do-it-yourself stop junk mail sites, I just realized this was a full time job! At first I felt like it was such an invasion of my space, you know? I mean, I ORDER and PAY for a product and I get the retribution of so much junk that I have to spend hours trying to stop it? Then, after saying out loud to my husband "I wish I could just find someone to do this for me," I got the idea of searching for junk mail stopping services. Presto! They exist, thankfully. After looking around, I went with Green Dimes, which is a for-profit group that not only helps with the junk mail madness, but plants trees in various places with the money you send. That felt good. Plus, they are local to the Bay Area, so I liked that too. Visit their site, even if just to look at the cool "Water saved," "trees planted," "pounds of junk mail stopped" counters. It’s a warm fuzzy in a world of cold pricklies, I say. Also, for like $35 or so, you can send someone a gift subscription. Ok, so what does this have to do with magazine subscriptions?I kind of thought that after a few months of the junk mail service, my mail box would finally go to some kind of normal state. It has, but then in 2 months I’ve gotten two "renewal notices" from one of my favorite gardening magazines, Garden Gate. Why do I like this magazine so much? Well, one of the primary reasons is that the magazine is "100% gardening, no ads!" and I love it. And it’s great gardening stuff, plans, designs, plant profiles…all that juicy garden-lovers stuff. But, I think they should change their tag to: "100% gardening, no ads! BUT! we spam the hell out of our subscribers!" 
So, I paid for the subscription in March, was told that it "started" the previous January and expires December. In May, I get a renewal notice "due" in mid May. Of course, by that time I have forgotten when I actually subscribed, because the date I subscribe to a magazine isn’t exactly something I commit to long-term memory. So, I set it aside to check later and LO and behold, I get another notice, this time "due by" July. I check my Quicken records and learn the date my card was charged and proceed to write their customer support folks telling them to stop the junk mail! If they don’t, well then, sayonara Garden Gate. I’ll order your back issues in one lump and save myself the junkmail. (Of course I’ll probably have to call them to tell them to STOP sending the "Come back to Garden Gate" mails.) Why, oh why, do magazines have to do this to us? We subscribe and a mere two MONTHS after subscribing, we are set for renewal? I wonder if there is a way to start out with a subscription where they can’t send renewal notices. I’d prefer that. And the same thing with charities. I friend told me he calls a charity and gives them the donation and stipulates the future harassment for more donations will guarantee no more donations. So, subscribe to magazines, but mark your calendar when you subscribe and be warned!