It seems to have become routine for a year's subscription to mean 10 issues. Sometimes 8 (Tennis magazine, for example). Usually this is explicitly stated some

It seems to have become routine for a year's subscription to mean 10 issues. Sometimes 8 (Tennis magazine, for example). Usually this is explicitly stated someplace in the subscription offer, but never as large as A FULL YEAR FOR ONLY. Worse are magazines that start as 12 issues a year then quietly shift to the 10 (or 8) a year scheme. Tennis magazine, come to think of it, did that. The local Phoenix newspaper, the Arizona Republic, has been pulling crap like this. A year or two ago they announced that "readers" no longer wanted such a large, full, Monday issue. Apparently the strain of reading the Sunday edition left them too tuckered, so Monday was now this skimpy collection of AP stories. Which, of course, is what the Saturday edition had become some time ago. Come Thanksgiving they bulk up the holiday paper with extra ads and coupons (i.e., ads). Then they charge more, apparently for the privilege of seeing more ads. Competing in the age of the Internet is tough, but being a weasel to your customers seems like a really ill-conceived strategy. If I didn't know any better I'd say they were fucked.