[pct-l] Rant - cards in magazines

[cvano at tmail.com]

We all get them and we are probably all irritated by them.  Those damn 
subscription cards in magazines.  They fall on the floor, they litter 
the streets, trails, and water, they fill the landfills, they flop the 
pages making you lose your place, they don't burn well for starting 
fires, they're too stiff to wipe with, and they're all postage paid.  
They come in every mag, even Backpacker and Mother Earth News, two 
supposed environmentally friendly publications.  I unsubbed from both 
over 20 years ago beacuse of these damn little cards.  My loss maybe as 
they are both still in full production but I felt better and reduced my 
carbon footprint just that tiny bit.

I just picked up the latest issue of Backpacker at the store because I 
wanted to see some of the ads and read some of the articles.  Three 
cards immediatly fell out and five more were inside attached, FOR MY 
CONVENIENCE, should I not wish to go online, call the toll free number, 
or write a note on a scrap of used grocery bag to subscribe.  They will 
cash the check from any of these methods, believe me.

So, I wrote notes on all of the cards.  Notes such as 'You killed a tree 
for this!?!?' or 'Litter' or 'Carbon Waste' etc. and sent them back, 
business reply mail.  Oh they can afford it.  Have you checked to see 
what a 3" ad in one of these mags costs?  Now count the ads and add in 
the purchace price.  Somebody is making a killing!

Did any of this do any good?  I seriously doubt it but if your still 
with me, why not do the same?  This one email will, in just a few 
minutes, land in hundreds of inboxes with this idea.  If a publisher 
gets a couple of hundred of these cards back in a month with messages of 
WASTE written on them, maybe they'll think about alternative means of 
advertisement and I won't have to put up with these damn little cards 
anymore.

Just an idea...
Beyond this point
There be dragons...

Chris ~ S/V Drifter
Anacortes, WA. ~~~_/) ~~~