Free Magazines
While I was updating my address for my Skymiles account at Delta Airlines, I noticed that the miles I had were going to expire in a couple of weeks.
Well, I had tried to use these miles a couple of years ago for a trip for my sister-in-law. Although seats were available on the plane, Delta would not allow me to use the free ticket on the flight. They did offer a flight that was two MONTHS later, however. FRUSTRATING …
Anyway, my miles were due to expire, so I decided to cash them in on a few free magazine subscriptions. It only takes 300 to 500 miles to get a year's subscription to most magazines.
So I did what anyone with expiring miles would do … I got a subscription to EVERY SINGLE ONE of the the 32 magazines available!
Allure, Daily Variety, Glamour, Details, Latina, … The list goes on! The order was placed around Christmas so now all of the magazines are arriving. In PILES. Piles and piles of magazines are showing up daily.
I finally got around to looking at a few of the magazines last night. What a load of JUNK! I was reminded again of how crazy this world is! There is a jacket that looks like it was thrown into a trash bin and washed in a septic tank – all for $3,000! For a mere $1,000, I can buy a purse that looks like it was made from a dog’s hide.
The marketing for some of this stuff is crazy! Another article mentions in passing that the cost of the meal for three people was $930. A mortgage payment for a single meal. It is written to sound cool, but I want to throw up.
I walked away from reading these magazines reminded once again of how the hooks are into the wealthy.
Let me tell you this – just because you have $1,000,000 in the bank does not mean that you are doing well! If you are making $300,000 per year, a $1,000,000 should be a mere start! You should have more like $4,000,000! Are you managing your money well? Or are you spending it like you’ve got it?
Is excess is OK? Are $930 meals acceptable?
Joe, you are a nut! Now that you are overloaded with magazines what is your plan for them? Might I suggest donating them to doctor’s offices…. especially to the doctor/nurse team that attends NS and runs the family office out of the health club for cash customers!!!
Donating them to the library is also a cool idea!
Okay, to answer the posed question…I agree.
$900 meals = completely unreasonable!
But, to add onto Jane’s comment, I have to say the first thought I had about this post was of the 32 magazines that you have coming to your house each month!! I literally laughed OUT LOUD at the thought! =)
My “mommy” suggestion for use would be to use them for afternoon/rainy day craft projects. Magazine photos and words are great to use to allow children to create homemade cards, letters, and art projects. Throw in some pasta noodles or dried beans and you are in business for some great fun and economical smiles for both creator and recipient!
Deanna… with 32 magazines, every month, they could make cards for EVERYONE at NS! LOL too!
AND… if you want to share your bounty, I would love to look at any BH&G/home repair/decorating mag, on loan of course. About two years ago I got tired of them piling up around our house, so now the only one that comes to our home is Readers Digest that my mother gets for Jack every Christmas.
Joe – I laughed out loud too. The more I get to know you the funnier stuff like this is to me. I have done the same thing with similar disappointing programs that give you free junk. Do you have any good health magazines I can borrow?
In case you’re wondering – we got the message too, not just the humor. Having wealth doesn’t make it ok to spend like an idiot.
Have a great day!
Hey everyone! Thanks for the comments! I will be publishing the list of magazines I received a subscription to tommorrow!
Joe,
I thought, and could be very wrong about this, that if your miles are getting ready to expire you only have to make one purchase with so many miles and that resets the date?
This info is from Delta…
Account Deletion and Mileage Expiration
Accounts with no activity for 12 consecutive months after enrollment will be deleted. A new SkyMiles number can be obtained by contacting Delta.
Currently, miles will not expire as long as you participate in one of the following activities at least once every two years:
Earn miles for travel on a qualifying Delta, Delta Shuttle®, SkyTeam, or other SkyMiles airline partner flights.
Earn or redeem miles with one of the SkyMiles program partners including hotels, car rentals, Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, international credit card partners, SkyMiles Dining & Hotels by Rewards NetworkSM, MilePoint.com, mortgage lenders, CAP magazine subscriptions, real estate, or telecommunications partners.
Buy Miles here at delta.com or by calling the number on the back of your SkyMiles card.
Redeem miles on Delta, Delta Shuttle, a SkyTeam partner, or another SkyMiles airline partner. Redemption of previous program awards does not extend the mileage expiration date.
Tina
Now that’s funny to me Tina. Joe is saying – ooops. Oh well. The fun everyone is having with the magazines is worth all the miles Joe lost. Why hold on to them anyway and go through continual frustration over what they will or won’t give you for them???
My 5th Anniversary is next week (yeah us) and we are going to California for nine days in September (I didn’t realize when you work for a church how far in advance you need to book a vacation to actually be able to go). We used FF Miles on Delta to fly my husband to LA then we are going to drive down to San Diego then back home. My flight cost $400 (we are in Asheville, NC). Since it was for our anniversary we didn’t want to fly out of Charlotte (and the flights weren’t enough cheaper to justify leaving a car parked their for a week). So we are going to fly out of our home airport and his flight was $10 using FF miles.
I have enough FF Miles on USAirways for a free flight but US AIR won’t split legs for a free flight or we would have flown out to LA seperately so we will save them for our next flight (not magazines).