Information wants to be free, at least for the next month or so...

June 15, 2010 8:18 AM

Someone just called me asking if they could deliver free copies of The National Post for a month's trial period. Apparently I am under no obligation to renew or pay for a subscription, and they gave me a phone number and ID of the telemarketer who called me if I want to cancel. Issues of politics and/or newspaper quality aside, would I be getting myself into any trouble if I said yes to this supposedly strings-free offer?
posted by spoobnooble to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

In the US, big paper giveaways (the NY Post comes to mind first) are all about boosting "circulation" stats for advertisers and bragging rights. So this may be legit and direct from the publisher.
posted by availablelight at 8:33 AM on June 15, 2010

This happens all of the time in the US. I don't have any insider information, but I would imagine they are banking on the fact that you will come to rely on their product, and/or forget to unsubscribe. Assuming the national post is a legitimate news agency (I don't know anything about Canadian media), I wouldn't be too concerned.
posted by Think_Long at 8:38 AM on June 15, 2010

Anything that forces you to actually call and ask for the service to be cancelled after a "free" trial is horrible. Dollars to donuts they will make that process harder and more of a hassle than it ought to be. Just imagine calling the number you've been given, getting an answering machine, leaving a message, not getting called back, calling again and getting no answer, meanwhile the deadline to cancel is looming and you don't know what to do if you can't reach anyone, and then you get billed, and you need to get that charge reversed, but now newspapers have been delivered so you can't get a full refund, and then, and then...

If you don't want the newspaper, don't go for a "free" trial where you have to cancel before a certain date so you don't get billed.
posted by splice at 8:41 AM on June 15, 2010

I've done this before. They will deliver free copies for the first month, then continue delivering them unless you call to unsubscribe. Most people forget/are too lazy to call back to cancel it, providing them with a new customer at the cost of a few free newspapers.

It's not a bad deal, or a scam - just be aware that if you don't want it at the end of the month, that you need to cancel. Otherwise you'll start getting a bill/credit card charge in the future.
posted by valoius at 8:44 AM on June 15, 2010

On preview - when I cancelled with the National Post, it wasn't a hassle at all. YMMV.
posted by valoius at 8:45 AM on June 15, 2010

Best answer: I accepted the National Post free for several months under the same circumstances. I did not give them my credit card information and they already had my address. When they called at the end of the period to ask if I wanted to subscribe, I honestly told them that I rarely read it and most went into recycling immediately. They gave me no hassle at all. They never sent me a billing statement, either.

I may not agree with the editorial positions in the Post, but the marketing side of things seems pretty straightforward.

If you think you might like reading the paper, and they are not asking for credit card info, take the offer. But if you don't read it, call them and cancel as soon as you figure this out instead of killing trees for no good reason.
posted by maudlin at 9:12 AM on June 15, 2010

Best answer: Yeah, I've done this deal before, also with the NP. Like Maudlin, I didn't have to provide payment information so when the month was up they simply stopped delivering. There was no trickery involved.

Keep in mind that the Post is in trouble right now and are probably desperate to increase circulation.

Keep in mind also that it's a crappy paper and just because something is free doesn't mean you should take it!
posted by Pomo at 10:55 AM on June 15, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks to everyone for their answers. And yes, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." QFT.
posted by spoobnooble at 1:33 PM on June 15, 2010

I should mention that I signed up for 3 free months of the NP on the internets in October. I provided no credit card information. After 3 months they called us to see if we wanted to sign up. We declined (read 4 in total). But to this day the paper still comes (and goes directly into the blue bin). We've called a couple times to ask them to stop sending the free paper but it just won't take. Who knows?


Tl;dr NP does not seem to be interested in collecting subscription fees, just subscribers.
posted by saradarlin at 10:42 PM on June 15, 2010

Nobody seems to be pointing out the signal problem with this deal, e.g. that somebody is going to show up at your house every day and deposit a copy of the National Post.
posted by cmyr at 7:49 PM on June 16, 2010