It pains me to see people spend money on things that they otherwise could have gotten for free with very little work. I love getting paper magazines in the mail. In addition, I love getting magazine subscriptions in the mail for free! At any given time, I have probably 20 different back issues of magazines I need to catch up on, all because I get so many of them before I even get a chance to read them and look for inspiration in my life. It also very rare that I ever actually pay for those said magazine subscriptions.

Today, magazine companies and companies that represent them are constantly giving out free subscriptions to people, but how can they afford to do that?

While it may not cost you a dime to get your favorite magazine in the mail, everyone is benefiting on the back end. Lots of times a company will pay for advertising with a select website. In return, that website, which represents the magazine companies, will hand out X amount of free subscriptions to their members.

So for example, lets assume I am Betty Crocker, and I elect to go to ABC Magazine company. I pay them an advertising fee, they promote my new Betty Crocker line, and in return, ABC Magazine decided to hand out X amount of free magazine subscriptions to Better Homes & Gardens. The reason ABC Magazine can afford to do that with the magazine company is because they just brought in X amount of new subscribers. In the marketing and advertising world, magazine companies thrive the more subscribers they have because they can then demand premiums for ads in their issues.

So just because you did not pay anything for your subscription, everyone is coming out a winner in the end.

Other alternatives to getting free magazine subscriptions is performing a quick survey on a select subject, and as a result, the survey company will purchase you a subscription on their behalf. Other times, magazine companies offer to hand out free subscriptions just because the select magazine may need to boost their subscriber levels.

The secret is, magazines make money off the advertising, not necessarily what you pay for the magazine. You are more valuable to the magazine’s advertisers, regardless of whether you paid for the magazine or not, than the couple of dollars they may gain from actually paying for the subscription.

That is why our family gets tons of free magazines! Though I should note I only sign up for magazines I am interested in reading, and do actually look at every page in every issue.

The Deal

I love Groupon, and have scored my share of great deals that have helped my family experience many things they might not have otherwise! Recently I discovered that Groupon is offering a one year subscription to the travel magazine AFAR (affiliate link) for $10, which is a $10 discount off the $20 retail price. Sounds like a respectable deal.

Except, I have long gotten this magazine for FREE and so can you.

One of the companies I have used for years is Mercury Magazines. They periodically offer all kinds of great free magazine subscriptions. I follow message boards that post whenever a new subscription is released. Within a couple minutes, I sign in and complete the process, and have a new subscription or renewal on the way.

Within the last year or so, Mercury has launched a new site called Reward Survey, and this is where the real deal is for AFAR at this time. After creating a profile with Reward Survey, once a week you complete a brief, multiple choice questionnaire of anywhere from 20-40 questions. Tops, it may take 5 minutes to complete the survey.

As a result, you earn $20 in Reward Survey credit each week. At the end of each survey, there is also an option to let your friends know, and earn an additional $3 for up to 5 people, resulting in a free weekly $35 in credit. This is where it starts to get good.

Reward Survey carries several magazines that range from $10-50 in credit, and look what appears on the menu…

That is right. After completing one quick survey, you instantly have enough credit to earn a free subscription to AFAR magazine for only $20 in credit (remember this is $20 in credit you earned for free versus the $10 in hard cash you would have to pay via Groupon). You do not pay a dime, and will never see a bill! There is no credit card required, and no need to cancel at the end of the subscription. For five minutes of your time per week, you walk away with a free subscription.

Here is where it even gets better. At any given time, I have hundreds of dollars worth of credit in my account. Even though I have a subscription to a lot of the magazines offered, I continue to keep adding onto my subscriptions by redeeming again and again. So for example, maybe once a month I may redeem for AFAR magazine, and it just adds onto my existing subscription.

That is why lots of the magazines I have are typically lifetime free subscriptions because they just continue to add onto the end of the subscription term. I literally have some subscriptions with expirations 5 years out, meaning there is never a need to pay for that magazine again.

Tip: Lots of times magazine companies do go out of business. This has happened to me several times in the past. However, the good thing is if said magazine goes out of business, they typically substitute you with a similar subscription. That is why lots of times I will go to the mailbox and have subscriptions to magazines I may never have subscribed to before.

In Conclusion

This is is one instance where I do not recommend jumping feet first into buying the Groupon for AFAR magazine. With some careful planning and know-how, one can often get a magazine subscription for free.

Do know that not all magazines are available for free, nor are they available all the time. What you can get for free one day may not be the same tomorrow, and may not come back around again for another year. This is just one instance where AFAR magazine can be obtained for free when the 1,000+ people on Groupon elected to purchase the magazine.

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: InACents