Rather than "the sake of argument," let's look at what we know.
The previous (02-03) subscription expired 9/03/03.  While Faxon
had some excellent staff, I can't believe that the subscription agent
submitted renewals more than nine months in advance.  And, of
course, the publishers had been informed about the bankruptcy
months before the expiration.  So I can see no way that the
publisher had a valid order and the declaration of bankruptcy
pre-dated the expiration of the paid subscription by eight months.
And, of course, the bankruptcy proceedings provided a basis for
the publisher to participate in the settlement as a result of its
"gracing" issues, even though it did not sign the prepaid order
agreement.

As many who participated in the Faxon fiasco discovered, most
mass-market and trade publishers care little about the library market.
Were librarians not so nice (or subject to unreasonable user demands),
we would reciprocate.  Trade publishers don't seem to recognize that
libraries, especially academic, are developing their potential future
subscribers (something well-recognized by LexisNexis).

I would explore Bill Cohen's suggestions, but it's probably futile as long
as you intend to subscribe to the title.

         kent mulliner

At 04:12 PM 09/22/2004, you wrote:
>I disagree with this falling under the "unordered
>merchandise" laws. For sake of arguement, let's say the
>Subscription Agent did submit a number of renewals for
>libraries but they didn't pay for them and declared
>bankruptcy. In that case, the Publisher has a valid order
>for the merchandise, but they weren't paid for it. The
>issues the Library receives are "extended credit".
>
>Now, the Library asks for another year's worth of issues,
>I can easily understand the Publisher saying, "OK, but you
>owe us 9 issues you didn't pay for, so the total sum you
>get will be 9 issues less."
>
>I do agree that it is tacky, but I don't think it is
>illegal.
>
>J.
>
>J. Shore
>MEDLINE Quality Assurance
>National Library of Medicine
>Bethesda, MD, USA
>
>shorej@cablespeed.com
>
>
>
>On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 15:21:18 -0400
>  "DuBose, Stefanie" <DUBOSES@MAIL.ECU.EDU> wrote:
>>Hey Jeanette,
>>
>>To me, if the title was not ordered, regardless of how
>>the publisher describes it, the charge should not be
>>paid.  So yes, I'd think that it would fall in the same
>>realm of those other headache-inducing 'standing orders.'
>>
>>Stefanie
>>
>>Stefanie DuBose
>>Head, Acquisitions
>>Academic Library Services
>>East Carolina University
>>Greenville, NC 27258-4353
>>(p)252-328-2598
>>(f)252-328-4834
>>duboses@mail.ecu.edu
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
>>[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Skwor,
>>Jeanette
>>Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 2:56 PM
>>To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
>>Subject: Re: [SERIALST] How not to win friends and
>>influence people -
>>Traffic World
>>
>>
>>***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
>>>
>>>
>>
>>K. Mulliner
>>mulliner@ohio.edu
>>
>>         "Markets are Conversations"
>>The Cluetrain Manifesto, http://www.cluetrain.com/#manifesto