Value Proposition for Harpers Bazaar Magazine

I subscribe to a number of fashion magazines. Mostly I like to see the advertisements from big fashion companies. Currently my Harper's Bazaar subscription is expiring. This was originally not a magazine I knew much about. Their parent company published other famous fashion rags. So I decided to give it a try.

The current issue is almost 250 pages. The cover is of Megan Thee Stallion. There is a big article on Martha Stewart. Apparently Lenny Kravitz is the music director. Not sure why a print magazine needs a music directory. Still, they don't just seem to do stories on young/skinny stars.

The cover price of the magazine is around $71. It is definitely not worth that much. However I am sure I paid much less. I've got an offer to renew at $12 a year. That equates to $1 an issue. Not bad but not good. I have a more competitive offer of $8 a year if I agree to a "continuous subscription". That is one where they auto-renew me. I definitely don't like that.

I suspect they are charging a nominal subscription price to make sure they are only sending the magazine out to those who really want to read it. I want to read it. They money it takes to run the magazine surely comes from all the big advertisers in it. They do need to curate the subscriber base to convince those advertisers to spend the big bucks on them.

Not sure how I will proceed. I like a good value. I love a bargain. $8 a year for 12 months of 250 page print magazines delivered to me feels like a steal. Worst case is that I will grow tired of the magazine and need to cancel it after one year.