Newsagents have offered magazine putaways for decades, a consistent and loved service for shoppers loyal to specific mastheads. The putaway service of newsagents has been vital to magazines, yet it is something magazine publishers have failed to embrace. Instead, they trope money at subscription offers designed to lure people from over the counter purchase, offers like these that are being pitched right now:
I have talked about these types of offers with magazine publishers many times over the years. They have their reasons for making the pitches as well as their reasons why similar offered in newsagencies for cutaway customers are not something they support.
I think magazine publishers need to reassess the value they place in the newsagency channel. A tip-on gift for an issue of a title exclusive to the channel is not sufficiently differentiating.