Here's an email I just sent to Practical Sailor.

[jenkins1924]

I'm a live aboard and have been for several years, on a 39' Vagabond. Here's an email I sent to Practical Sailor after having a subscription twice. Is there anybody else who feels this way?


Dear Sir/Madam,

I've had a subscription to your magazine a couple of times, and I like the magazine very much. Here's why I'll never subscribe again.

First, you have no phone number, which although must be very convenient for whoever works there, is really irritating, and a slap in the face for your subscribers.

But secondly, and most importantly, you seem to be stuck in the 1950's on your junk mail and spam policies. I get more junk mail and spam from your publication than from any other ten I subscribe to. People are sick of your "Publisher versus Subscriber" attitude and offers. I'm sick of your "OK, YOU'VE FORCED US TO LOWER OUR PRICES!!!!" screaming headlines every time I open my mailbox.

I'm a creative director and create corporate branding for a living. I've never seen a brand that is more at odds with itself than yours. Your magazine is excellent and makes me want a lifetime subscription, but your constant advertising via junk mail and spam makes me sick.

Your subscription department is proof that bad advertising can kill a brand. YOU CAN'T BULLY PEOPLE INTO BUYING YOUR PRODUCT. If you'd treat your subscribers like adults in the year 2012 I expect you'd see a marked increase in subscriptions.

Meanwhile, take my name off of ALL of your mailing lists. Each time I delete it, it just pops up on a different one. It's really cute how you create a different mailing list for each piece of spam, so it's really impossible to get away. SEE PARAGRAPH ABOVE.

Let me say it one more time. You have a fine magazine. NOW TAKE ME OFF OF ALL, REPEAT ALL OF YOUR MAILING LISTS. THAT INCLUDES SNAIL MAIL.

I'll re-subscribe to your magazine one day when you have the sense to fire the idiots why spam your customers.

Brian Jenkins
s/v Traveler
New Orleans

[Mike OReilly]

I just cancelled my subscription due, in no small part, to the incessant spam from PS. I may have done so anyway since we're in the process of downsizing, but their volume of crap email sealed the deal for me.

What I found particularly infuriating was that all their systems for managing subscriber's accounts seemed to be completely useless. I unsubscribed numerous times, I removed myself from the contact lists, but still the crap kept coming. I finally got belligerent, and only then got a response.

Really disappointing, b/c I'd been a subscriber for going on a decade.

[Tripod]

+1 It's the main reason I unsubscribed. A year later and I'm still receiving snail mail spam dispite many requests for it to stop.

[SkiprJohn]

Well put! I unsuscribed years ago when they started comparing brands of sunglasses.

kind regards,

[Amapola]

I've subscribed to PS from it's inception. I don't get junk mail or spam from them and never have. My wife takes great care to ensure that we rarely get junk mail, spam, or unwanted phone calls from anyone.

[ohdrinkboy]

+1 I stopped my subscription.

[sailorboy1]

I stopped mine mainly because I could only read so many bottom paint reviews

and the other reviews didn't really seem to have much science to them

but I don't get email spam from them, just sail mail once in a while

[s/v Beth]

I get email and snail mail from them. I agree it is irritating. They are just trying to survive. Haven't made up my mind to renew or not.

[Auspicious]

Too much garbage from them. Not worth it. Flip through a copy on a newstand once in a while but don't buy and won't subscribe.

[Snore]

+1 every day I get fresh spam from them and was wondering if it was me. I may try to add them to the spam list and just block all their mail. That just seems wrong, paying to read a good publication and then having to protect yourself from their abuse.

Bill

[Stu Jackson]

Their concept was great in the "good old days" and I've even kept some old copies that I read again once in a while. But in the late 90's I finally realized that there's only so much that they could say about batteries, paint, used boats and the like. Perhaps I got enough information from them that they become redundant. A few years later I stopped subscribing to Sail, Cruising World came next, Good Old Boat was the last to go. The internet boards, like this one, seem to provide more information. And boat-specific websites have amassed tremendous amount of great information that well exceeds the generalities of magazines that I just don't bother. Add spam to that, why bother?

[Mike OReilly]

I had been a PS subscriber for many years. I only noticed the incredible ramp-up of spam coming from them in the last year. I don't mind so much that they send out this crap, but any company that wants my business needs to provide me with the option to remove myself from these sales pitches.

The problem was that PS's systems did not work. They provided an unsub option. They provided a subscriber's management tool. I tried to remove my address over and over again. Nothing stopped the flow. Finally, I found a way to send them a direct message (they made it way too difficult to contact them directly). I sent a couple of reasonable messages -- still nothing, the flow continued. Then I got belligerent. Only then did I get a response.

I don't know if PS has gone through a ownership change, or a change in its business approach, but it sure felt like they didn't give a damn about me.

It's unfortunate, b/c I really appreciate subscriber-supported publications (as opposed to advertising-supported). I fully appreciated their attempt at independent testing. I used their results as a strong guide for many of our purchases. But their change in business approach to incessantly hound their subscribers, and their poor customer relations, drove me away.

[zeehag]

i canned my subscription in 1992. too much paper on board my boat. now i am glad i did that.

[dandrews]

Last week I got my first piece of snail mail from the, asking me to subscribe. I'm wondering which company I have bought something from sold them my address. So far have not gotten spam but I am sure they will find my email address.

Thank goodness for spam filters. Now if there was such a thing for US Mail.

Don

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i canned my subscription in 1992. too much paper on board my boat. now i am glad i did that.

As long as you don't throw out your paper charts....

I still like them, but paper is going extinct. Soon it will be like Star Trek where books are a rare antique.