Fnord Incorporated

(BRM) Spam / Some Math

|| Project details||
| What is Business Reply Mail (BRM)? |
| Spam / Some Math…
| Ethics and Safety

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Spam and Math…

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Question:
Do we like it when we get unsolicited junk mail with our names on it through the postal service, internet, cell phones, and magazines? How about other sources which seem to be creeping up on us daily?Answer:
Of course we don’t like it, but the companies who send this information could give a rats ass what we like/dislike. Their concern is to keep subscription rates up, and or replace lost subscribers with new subscribers. Their concern is the churn rate and nothing else. When Adele (see artists section) originally turned me on to this idea, we wondered why it was ok for them to spam us but not the reverse.You may be thinking “C’mon, it cant be that bad.. can it?”.Let’s use People Magazine as a reference point:

People Magazine had well over 2 million subscribers in 2002.

The average People subscription cost $109 annually.

People magazine is published weekly and sold to subscribers for right around $2 an issue.

Half of the magazine is advertisements.

The magazine charges a readership rate fee to advertisers. Based on the number of readers, ad space prices climb.

Many of the “articles” are really paid for by (literally or via perks) companies marketing their product.

A tendency to have 2-4 reply cards securely stapled into their mags is common.

They are kind enough to also include 2-6 loose cards that fall out at random points.

Time for a little Math:
At this point, they have made their money but still want more subscribers (makes sense, they want to sweeten their already sweet deal). Remember that these are low estimates based on 2002 data (found via google). These calculation does not include weekly in-store sales, instead focusing only on mailed subscriptions.

2,000,000 subscriptions * avg 4 cards per issue * 52 weeks a year = 416 MILLION little scraps of paper.

2,000,000 Subscriptions * $109 = $218,000,000 a year from subscriptions alone.Most of these cards are on 1st run, new (non-recycled) paper which is likely to be thrown in the trash
The above (loose) figures do not take into account advertiser revenue per issue.The news magazine “The Nation” is even worse than people when it comes to reply mail, incorporating 8-10 per issue as well as weekly mailings when you choose to unsubscribe. Regardless of my political affiliation, this is absurd and unwarranted. They deserve to have some of this Spam returned, but altered to make it better, unique, and beautiful in some manner.