Why did I start getting Maxim?

[private joker]

All of a sudden, Maxim started appearing in my mailbox. I got the September and October issues on the same day, and then a couple days later I got August. I never subscribed to it, and I definitely haven't paid for it.

Not that I'm complaining, but it's very curious. It has my correct name and address on the label, and says the subscription runs out July '06. What subscription?! Has anyone else ever gotten random inexplicable magazines mailed to them?

[trying2learn]

someone posted a thread in OOT a few months back about a site you could go sign up for a free subscription...maybe you did it and forgot...or someone did it for you?

i thought it was some dumb scam to get people on mailing lists so i didn't...or i'd be able to tell you if that indeed, is what it is.

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

Yeah the same thing happened to me about a year ago...I don't have a clue why, but I didn't end up getting any more junk mail as a result.

-Craig

[shant]

Same thing happens to me but it's FHM. I wish they'd stop coming it's such a shitty mag.

[KingCon]

I get STUFF, Maxim and FHM for free, the weird thing is , I looked on my FHM address label, and it expires in 2014. I have gotten these for free for about 2 years now, and have never gotten a bill for them. I alos get sporting News for free, but I remember signing up for that

[wacki]

I get 4 copies of Maxim a month. I don't pay for any of it.

The e-mail address/free maxim is legit. My guess it they are sending mags out for free and using that to charge more for the ads.

[Luv2DriveTT]

Its because the magazine needs to meet its ratebase (minimum circulation), and you fit the profile of their target demographic. This is the dirty little secret of the magazine publishing industry, its called sponsored copies.

Essentially Maxim missed it's ratebase, so they turn to a third party company to get new subscribers. They pay whats known as a "negative remit"... sometimes more than the price of a subscription. The company then becomes the official subscriber according to the rules of ABC (the official circulation monitoring board for magazines), and it's their responsibility to find an outlet for the sub. They then return a percentage of the fee back to the magazine so it counts as a paid subscriber... essentially defrauding the advertisers.

Shady eh? Welcome to my business!

TT /images/graemlins/club.gif