Yes I think Sports Illustrated is stupid. In this case not because of their potentially sexist swimsuit edition, or poor content but because of their business practices, specifically their marketing practices.
I was a happy SI customer until one day not long ago I received an envelope that looked like it was from SI telling me that because I was such a good, long term customer I was eligible for a special gift. I now know that when SI says “good long term customer” they mean “sucker”. You see SI had sold my name and credit card info to a shady marketing organization.
It turns out my “free gift” wasn’t free and was a cheap piece of junk to boot. I was charged an exorbitant shipping fee of $90 for a couple of worthless trinkets. Boy was I mad when I saw this charge on my credit card!
I cancelled my SI subscription and complained via their web site and received not one word in response to my polite complaint.
If you assume that the scam marketer made a profit off of the $90 it stole from me and that they would have had to contact dozens if not hundreds of “marks” before finding a sucker like me we can assume SI received pennies per name for this list. This leads me to the conclusion that SI values a subscriber at less than $1.
The fact that SI finds me and my subscription worth less than $1 is the first reason I believe them to be stupid. Another reason to back up this opinion I stated earlier; they never responded to my complaint at the time I cancelled my subscription.
At the time this happened I predicted SI would take a third action that supports my belief that they are stupid and, unless they change their ways, headed for bankruptcy. And I was right! They are now spending far more than the $1 they sold my name for to win me back!
Their first of what I predict will be numerous efforts to get me to subscribe again included a huge discount off of my subscription and a free jacket with the logo of the NFL team of my choice. The offer claims a value of more than $100 (like I would now believe them).
It doesn’t take an Ivy League MBA to figure out selling something for pennies then offering to buy it back for $100 is bad business and stupid. Yes, Sports Illustrated is stupid.
Ouch. But I’m surprised you still read actual physical paper. I thought you had a kindle or nook ?
Oh, but the shiny new honolulu blue and silver jacket… clearly that’s worth it, no?
I mean, where else could you find the same thing for less, besides of course EVERYwhere? Good call, Tom. Evacuate the premises and change over to the Sporting News or TSN (online) for your fix. Preferably the latter because it tends to have slightly less bias and better articles.