Contraversial, lets talk money!

[thecraw]

Having just paid £4 for my Golf Monthly and not noticing that the magazine had crept up to £4 untill I was at the checkout it got me thinking, will I be making an effort to buy this every month now? Yes £4 is not a huge amount of money however now that its finally reached the £4 mark wheres the next limit?

Money is tight in the craws household, our second child arrived at the beginning of the week, wife is soon going to be on maternity pay for 9 months and the bills etc have still to get paid out of vastly reduced income.

At a time of economical meltdown and considering the amount of adverts contained within the magazine I find the rise quite staggering and possibly a little bit ignorant.

I will be buying Golf Monthly in the near future only if the pennies add up, lifes little treats have to be overlooked during the tough times, and to be perfectly honest is it worth £4?

Well with a two year old and a 1 week old maybe I wont have time to read Golf Monthly anyway.

 

[medwayjon]

Congratulations on the birth of your child.

Really chuffed for you and yours.

Totally empathise with the cost of things creeping up.

Guinness was £2.30 in my local 6 months ago, now it is £2.80.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Get a subscription. Works out cheaper and you get the magazine earlier

 

[haplesshacker]

Firstly, congratulations on number 2, hope mother and child are both well. Mind you, why do we go through it again after having one!?

As for the mag, maybe consider a subscription. I know my wife got me a subs for TG last year for £10 and some Tesco clubcard points or something. I'm not sure of the technicalities, but a years subs for a £10! Worth looking at surely.

I'll let the journos explain the costs in producing a mag and the justification of the shelf cover price.

 

[thecraw]

I subscribe elsewhere and wont take out another subscription, Golf Monthly has always been a second Golf mag to read to me, and its an enjoyable read.

10p is not going to break the bank however now that the £4 barrier has been breached whats next? £4 for a monthly magazine during a recession? Its taking a liberty at a time when mostly everyone else is trying to pass savings onto their customers and gain loyalty!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I don't think it is overly excessive given the quality of the read and the number of pages (vs adverts). If you look at others on the market there are some which have more adverts and quite frankly pander to limited manufacturers and have articles of limited appeal.

 

[HTL]

If you wanna justify it think of buying GM a bottle of Magners at my Golf club once a month or a garbage bottle of wine from Tesco.

Could always go the sneaky route like Murpth and myself and slip it into the weekly shop.

 

[boggybop]

I totally agree with HJS, when in WHSmith's the other day I was flicking through Golf International Magazine, it was appalling the number of adverts, some of which not even relevant to golf.

Surely in these tough times the cost has increased to produce the magazine, less advertisers, higher price to transport the magazine etc.. So the £4 for a single copy, in my opinion, is wholly justified.

The subscription price is more than fair, and as earlier stated you get the magazine sooner - so it's a win win situation for all.

 

[nabbit]

Congrats on the new arrival and good luck with the sleepless nights! Bearing this in mind you may find £4 is small change when you manage to find a little "me" time. I don't think it's too much but then again i tend to bury myself in it and read it from cover to cover! Hope you manage to find the time to get out and smack a few balls around your local course once the wife has recovered.

 

[andycap]

It's a times like these that you become more aware of things creeping up in price , many of which you would normally just buy without thinking.As for the mag you get a good ammount of the mag to view on line ,
I subscribe so it's just a direct debit that goes largely un noticed.
Although that may have to change soon as i went to work today and found that my employer has gone bust.So thats me knocked for 2 weeks wages plus holiday pay accrued
Luckily i have found something else , but the money is less and the hours more
We have already tightened our belts ,not eating out, no non essentials in the shopping etc. A review of the direct debits is next, GM mag , a couple of charities, sky subs ,mobile contracts,even my personal pension contributions(probably worth bu88ER all anyway ) may have to stop.
However, I've worked out that with the local muni having no course marshall i can park by the third and just walk on So the golf shouldn't suffer too much if i am out of work

 

[Cernunnos]

Firstly congrats on the new arrival.I personnally don't think £4 is worth spending on any mag even the likes of guitar mags where tablature rights have to be paid for & CD's or DVD's included.

However, even though any magazine not worth the money we pay I will buy them, as I wouldn't be without them, for entertainment & information.

Thing is everything has come under pressure & costs have increased on many things meaning those costs must be passed on & again with little choice in the matter. GM could use thinner & or lower quality paper like certain American magazines & even some UK magazines I could think of. But I doub't many of us would be impressed by that, so £4 a copy it is.

I think now that has been pointed out to me I may well subscribe instead of picking it up every month as I currently do.

 

[Herbie]

Congratulations and get GM through subscription on here, its a lot cheaper that way.

 

[madandra]

I understand that advertisers are cutting their column inches due to dire sales and reduced marketing budgets but I just pop the mag in with the big shop and dont put in a couple of tinnies or bottles of beer.

 

[mono217]

Im considering taking out a subscription rather than just buying from my newsagents.

 

[golf_bug]

I agree that £4 is getting a bit steep, but like other posters above I will continue to buy for the entertainment value. It's less than 2 pints of beer, renting a dvd, going to the cinema etc...and it lasts longer. THaving said that my circumstances are vastly different to yours, and if I had two young uns I'm sure I would find better use for £4 every month.

I subscribe to 'the other magazine' but will be switching to GM at the end of the term. The 'other mag' doesn't come close in terms of the quality of articles, reviews and debates.

 

[USER1999]

I finally gave in, and subscribed. Not sure what I will do with a dozen AD333s, unless they arrive before I leave for Florida, in which case I will drown them over there. I never play with ProVs when there is stupid amounts of water about. I have a natural affinity for water.

Now the mag is out of the stealth shopping, I will just have to buy more dvds. Stands to reason.

 

[KeefG]

Nothing to see here....move along please!

Dunno what happened there but it posted my reply in the wrong thread

 

[HarryMonk]

Congratulations on the new arrival!

£4 is pushing it a bit I agree, but well worth it, it will keep you company when you are up doing the late night feeds.

Well worth considering a subsciption as you do save a fair bit of cash and it drops though the letter box before it reaches the shelves. (So I am told, my 1st copy is next month).

 

[need_my_wedge]

There's a big flashing banner on most of the pages here offering the magazine at £2.50 if you subscribe! I even got mine cheaper by using Tesco clubcard vouchers in the first year(£12.50 of clubcard vouchers http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=412&bci=4294966467|Magazines), and taking up their offer of early renewal at £11 for the next year!!!!

Whether it's a second read or whether you subscribe anywhere else, it doesn't matter. I can't believe any of you writing above, that buy the magazine each month at £4, wouldn't take up the chance to save £18 a year through the subscription offer. That's like saying I'm not setting up a direct debit for my gas because I already have one for my electric, or mortgage, or car loan etc. Your cutting off your nose to spite your face.

There's no point whinging about the price going up when there's a very very simple solution that saves you a considerable some on the price readily available.

 

[vig]

Use the tips section to improve your game and lose one less ball a month and it's paid for itself