Blast From the Past: Door to Door Magazine Sales

Just over a year ago I wrote about our experience with DSS Inc. a subsidiary of All Star Promotions and the shady magazine sales they run.

Boy am I a sucker sometimes. Anyway I looked into the company DSS Inc, which is owned/operated by All-star Promotions based out of Texas. Well All-Star has had 49 BBB complaints in the last 36 months so I have issued a stop order to my check and I am sending the cancellation in tomorrow via Fax. Apparently if you do not cancel your order within 3 days before midnight in writing All Star et al will pursue you with a debt collection agency.

The article has been getting numerous comments lately and it is good to remind people that these door to door sales for magazines are often under shady circumstances. These prices are often way over even retail price. If you want to save money look for the digital version or a blog covering a similar topic. If you enjoy magazines as much as I do then try to subscribe through a more beneficial source.

Good sources for magazine deals:

• Slickdeals free magazine forum
  
• Blogs with similar topics - look for giveaways used as a source of promotion for the blog
• The Magazine’s website - often they have online specials
• School fundraisers - Real ones, from people you know. (Ask your Boss or Co-Worker, one is bound to have a kid selling subscriptions)

If you are new to the world of free magazine subscriptions you are likely asking how or why they give away the magazine which others pay so much for. The reasoning is quite simple, money. Magazines make their big bucks through advertisers and the advertisers pay more for ads which are seen by more individuals. Hence giving away subscriptions translates into more money for the publisher.

Remember, don’t by subscription from door to door sales unless you have money to throw away.

Don’t Fall For Fake Check Scams

I understand that we are all tempted by the possibility to get rich quick or to get something for nothing but please, DO NOT cash a check and wire some of the money to someone else.  Recently a collection of banks, creditors, associations and the USPS have banded together for an awesome PSA campaign about check scams.  The campaign revolves around fakechecks.org where there are a collection of videos, quizes and information regarding check scams.

I found fakechecks.org through a commercial during primetimeTV a few weeks ago, it is embedded below.

I think this campaign is very worthwhile endeavor.  I wish the various banks and creditors behind this would get together and work to educate consumers about credit in general.  I think everyone could use more information about the risks of credit and clearer rules and fee structures wouldn’t hurt either.