I can state without reservation that this is definitely
not "standard policy in publishing."

Jeannette Skwor is absolutely correct--this represents
"unordered merchandise" and I believe this is illegal under both
commerce law and the laws governing legal use of the post
office service.

With kind regards,

Bill Cohen, Publisher
The Haworth Press, Inc.
In a message dated 9/22/04 3:13:53 PM, MorsCa@WWC.EDU writes:

> My personal opinion is that this is pretty tacky on their part.
> Carol Morse
>
> ********************************************
>
>
> Address:
> Walla Walla College Library
> Periodicals Dept.
> 104 S. College Ave.
> College Place, WA  99324-1159
>
> Carol Morse
> Serials Librarian morsca@wwc.edu
> 509) 527-2684; fax 509) 527-2001
> *********************************************
>
> >>> skworj@UWGB.EDU 9/22/2004 11:56:03 AM >>>
> ***An update -  I called Deborah Blok, the Customer Care Supervisor at
> Commonwealth Business Media, on this; she is the person I quoted below
> stating that the 2003 graced issues were subtracted from our 2004
> subscription.  She was quite adamant, but later consulted with the
> Director of Circulation.  The upshot is they will not correct the
> subscription dates; this is "Standard Policy in the publishing
> industry"
> and they are standing firm.  "All they can do" is see to it that
> issues
> are not graced at the end of our current subscription period, which
> also
> means we will not receive any renewal notice.  (I'm not sure how that
> follows, but it's what I was told.)
>
> ***I find it interesting that they, as well as I, use the term "graced
> issues".  Apparently Commonwealth Business Media uses a different
> dictionary than we have here at the library, to define "grace".
>
> ***Has anyone dealt with this before?  I have to admit in eleven years
> on the job, it's a first for me.   Don't "graced issues" fall under
> the
> law regarding unordered merchandise?
>
> Jeanette L. Skwor
> Cofrin Library
> University of WI-Green Bay
> (920) 465-2670
>
> "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money
> will
> get you through times of no libraries."
>                               Anne Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog
>
>
>
>
> > _____________________________________________
> > From:         Skwor, Jeanette
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 8:10 AM
> > To:   Serialst
> > Subject:      How not to win friends and influence people - Traffic
> > World
> >
> > Or, at least, not influence them to any respect towards you -
> >
> > Traffic World was one of our subscriptions affected by the divine,
> > Inc. bankruptcy.  They did not sign the PPA and made no promise to
> > grace the issues.  However, though our paid subscription expired
> with
> > the Sept. 3, 2003 issue, they did send 9 more issues before they
> > stopped.
> >
> > We could not afford to pay twice for the majority of our
> > subscriptions, and so a certain number of them that were not graced
> > just had to be allowed to lapse.  Traffic World was one of those
> > titles.
> >
> > Now we're well into 2004, a new vendor, and new subscriptions.  We
> > requested renewal of  Traffic World to begin with Sept 2004 and run
> > through August 2005, and we did get, for our first issue, the Aug.
> 30,
> > 2004 issue.  However, the expiration date shown on the label is June
> > 13, 2005.
> >
> > I contacted our vendor.
> >
> > I just received the response - Traffic World informed them that they
> > had graced us 9 issues on our previous subscription and have
> > *subtracted* those graced issues from the current subscription, to
> wit
> > - "The subscriber is due 51 issues, this number includes the nine
> > issues that were graced in 2003."
> >
> > My take on it:  "Let's see - we'll grace these people just in case
> > they are planning to renew but their renewal is delayed, and if they
> > are dropping us forever we'll take the loss.  However, if they do
> > renew eventually, we'll stick them for those freebies.  That'll
> teach
> > 'em."
> >
> > Yup, I'm taught.   And of course I will contact them and protest.
> But
> > I also thought this is one of those new and unique marketing ideas
> > that needs to be shared with other serialsters.
> >
> > Jeanette L. Skwor
> > Cofrin Library
> > University of WI-Green Bay
> > (920) 465-2670
> >
> > "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money
> > will get you through times of no libraries."
> >                               Anne Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog
> >
> >
> >
>

Bill Cohen, Publisher
The Haworth Press, Inc.
10 Alice Street
Binghamton, New York 13904
Haworth WebSite...Click Here!