Why do magazine subscriptions take so long to start?

I can understand when ordering from a subscription service; they have to send the order to a clearinghouse, and if they're anything like rebate centers then they'll take a while.

But even when you order from the magazine's website, it takes 6-8 weeks. You'd think they could take the info you typed in, charge your CC, and put you on the address list for the next week's or next month's shipment.

Does anyone know why subscriptions take so long to arrive? Newspaper subscriptions start immediately.

 

[mugs]

I think it might be because they print their address labels two months in advance. Why they do that is beyond me.

 

Recently though, I've noticed that addresses are actually printed right on the covers of the magazines - and for a weekly, it'd be impossible to print that more than 5 days before delivery.

 

[DrPizza]

The only rational reason I could think of was that maybe it has something to do with their accounting.... The price of ads is based on the number of copies circulated?? (So, the ads would be sold a month or so in advance based on a certain promised circulation... The majority of profit is from the ads, not the price of the magazine, or so I've been told)

 

[dabuddha]

I've always wondered that myself.

 

[MazerRackham]

Yeah, I have wondered this myself also. But to me it's just another reason to not subsribe to anything...

 

[LeStEr]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
I've always wondered that myself.