To subscribe, call 1-800-OUTDATED

March 26 2008

The guy next to me on this flight is reading his Wall Street Journal.  In the upper left of the front page was a courtesy sticker, indicating that he probably received the paper for free at a hotel.  It reads "To subscribe, call 1-800-JOURNAL".

Does anybody still do that anymore?

I can't imagine any business traveler who had a remote interest in subscribing to the Journal picking up the phone and calling in to subscribe.  Excuse me a moment -- while I'm sitting here waiting for this flight, I'll go over to that pay telephone, call into their call center, give my credit card number aloud, repeat the spelling of my street three times, and politely decline the upsell to a two-year subscription.

Wouldn't the Wall Street Journal's marketing department do themselves a favor by changing that sticker to say "To subscribe, visit wsj.com"?

Tune in next week when we ponder why in-flight magazine advertisements sometimes include the zip code (postal code) of the establishment they are advertising.

Ed Brill | AA 1031, DTW-ORD Category:  In the news  Add/View Comments [24]

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  1. 1  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 3/26/2008 8:02:09 PM

    Well, they must, otherwise why keep the 800 line?

    But you're right, it's pretty silly.

  1. 2  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 3/26/2008 8:07:29 PM

    Getting punchy on the friendly skies are we?

    I wonder why my cell phone doesn't have a builtin scanner for articles I find in magazines.

    It has a camera which is useless, a scanner would be very nice.

    Especially one with a business card reader.

    Oddly enough banks must use the phone as their emails sent to clients automatically get dropped as phishing.

    This is one area which is now a problem. Yes the bank can send me email to my online bank account, but if I never log in tthere, how would i know I have email waiting?

  1. 3  Turtle http://www.weightlessdog.com/shell.nsf | 3/26/2008 9:07:57 PM

    I haven't called a toll-free number in a few years now. Basically, if a company doesn't have a website through which I can do real business, I don't bother with them.

  1. 4  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 3/26/2008 9:30:58 PM

    I can think of one good reason to include the ZIP code: most mapping engines (including both Google Maps and Windows Live Search) do a much better job of finding addresses in metro areas when given a ZIP code. It's easy enough to type "cajun 70360" into the search field, for instance.

  1. 5  Dave Madison  | 3/27/2008 12:26:42 AM

    Well, one reason is he could pull out his cell phone and call then right then and there. Two, believe it or not while almost 75% of the U.S. have "access to the internet", not everyone trusts doing business over the internet.

  1. 6  Andre H http://www.ytria.com | 3/27/2008 1:27:39 AM

    @2 Hi Keith,

    your mobile phone DOES have a scanner if it has a camera :)and a internet connection. See here for details: { Link } However this only works well if the camera of your mobile is decent.

  1. 7  Ian White http://www.ianwhite.net | 3/27/2008 3:53:28 AM

    I wonder how busy these guys are:

    General inquiries

    1-800-IBM-4YOU

    Shopping assistance

    1-888-SHOP-IBM

    Small business

    for customers with fewer than 100 employees

    1-877-IBM-SMBIZ (1-877-426-7624)

    Medium business

    for customers with 100-1000 employees

    1-877-IBM-ACCESS (1-877-426-2223)

    I love the numbers in brackets makes the whole thing even more pointless

  1. 8  Paul Brombley  | 3/27/2008 4:36:26 AM

    Ed,

    You like many of us in the IT industry (and I have done it!) forget that there are many people out there who are not as tech savvy as us.

    Execs who have admins to print off emails

    People without internet access

    People who just don't like computers!

    Having just installed ADSL at my in-laws and seen this in real life, I can relate to people who still prefer to use a phone.

    I agree though that the sticker should be changed. Not to replace 1-800-JOURNAL with www.wsj.com but to ADD it as an alternative. Then the tech savvy of us can do it our way, and those that like the old classic way of doing things are also satified.

  1. 9  Jesper H  | 3/27/2008 4:49:28 AM

    @2: Take a look at SonyEricsson P1i, it includes business card scanner software for the camera.

  1. 10  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 3/27/2008 6:54:04 AM

    I'm inclined to think it's MORE important to advertise the phone number...internet savvy people can find the website with minimal effort.

    @8 - Our execs don't print off emails, our green email signature tells them not to ;O)

  1. 11  Chris Mobley http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/uhclem/ | 3/27/2008 7:13:02 AM

    And how do you dial the letters on cell phones anyway? I'm talking about most smartphones where the dialing pad is overlaid onto the keyboard. If there is a feature to show the standard phone dialpad letter mapping, I haven't found it yet.

  1. 12  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/27/2008 7:55:13 AM

    Wow, I'm surprised at all the comments that point to how there are plenty of not-tech-savvy people who might still be more inclined to use the telephone. I thought the whole consumerization of IT trend was based on people having as good or better kit at home than they do in the office. Maybe the trend is the other way and we should be put POTS lines with rotary phones in the office? :-P

  1. 13  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 3/27/2008 7:55:58 AM

    @7 - 1-800-IBM-SERV (options 2, 1, 1) is very, very busy. :-)

  1. 14  pyrrhon  | 3/27/2008 8:23:40 AM

    Probably got it 'at an hotel' where you can find a quiet phone. But anyway its probably more safe to use airport phone with all the covering noise and security camera.

  1. 15  Tim Rand  | 3/27/2008 9:38:38 AM

    OK... WHY should I pay the $6.99 for the 2 hour Wi-Fi package at the airport just to subscribe to the Journal? Why not call the 800 number on my cell phone with plenty of "free" minutes in the package?

  1. 16  Gary  | 3/27/2008 9:40:46 AM

    It would make more sense to include the URL with the 800 number but giving potential customers multiple options to acquire your product, thus casting the net as widely as possible, simply makes sense. Presumably the cost of the 800 line is more than covered by the new subscriptions generated through it (they'd most certainly dump it if not - this is the WSJ).

    If I was reading the WSJ and decided I needed a subscription, I may call in if I wasn't near an internet connection. If I waited, I may decide I didn't need it after all. Having that number better enables the "impulse buyer" and let's the people selling subscriptions strike while the iron is hot so to speak.

    IMHO, it's wise to have that option - but I'd put the URL in too.

  1. 17  Popein  | 3/27/2008 10:05:45 AM

    Maybe the people who use the 0800 are the same ones who read it on paper, why would they print the paper if it can be read electronically? (ironic)

    This reminds me, by the way, an IBM's Open Microphone event a couple of weeks ago. When I called (couple of minutes before the event), I had to provide to an operator my name, company, e-mail address, conference number, etc.

    I had to call and provide all again, because they got the CET time in the invitaion wrong by one hour.

    I talked to another guy calling from Finland, and he also spent several minutes spelling his name and rest of info to the operator (third-party partner of IBM) - and they still probably got a couple of letters wrong. A tech event, from a tech company, year 2008. Unbelievable.

  1. 18  Jamie Jenkns  | 3/27/2008 11:35:19 AM

    It's just like anything, the more avenues you open up for revenue streams the better.

    In Wisconsin, we have people standing on street corners dressed up like the Statue of Liberty for tax preparation services. It's still pretty darn cold in Wisconsin!

    But, if you can net in new customers then it's worth it.

    For the letters versus number comment @11, our help line uses a catch phrase. Much easier to remember 800-JOURNAL versus 800-552-1284. Might be a pain to key it in when you want to, but much easier to remember down the line when you are indeed ready to call (on the BlackBerry, you hold the ALT key type in the letters).

  1. 19  Erik Brooks  | 3/27/2008 12:17:08 PM

    @7 posted the IBM numbers. As an SMB, I've only ever known about the 800-IBM-4YOU line.

    We use IBM laptops (Lenovo now), IBM software, and IBM handles the maintenance for our Cisco products.

    When I've got a question my very limited time (SMB, remember?) has three options:

    1. Ask our "sales rep" (effectively me -- SMB, remember? Though I did have a Lotus sales rep call me about a month ago.)

    2. Surf the IBM website

    3. Call 800-IBM-4YOU.

    #3 is usually my option, and it ROCKS. It's honestly one of the reasons I love IBM -- you can call, talk to a PERSON, and get answers.

  1. 20  Bill Brown  | 3/27/2008 2:27:16 PM

    Why should I do the data entry when placing an order when I can just dictate it over the phone to someone who will do the work for me.

    I also refuse to use the self-checkout lanes at Homey's Depot and the grocery store. Don't even think about it if you are buying something that doesn't fit in a bag.

  1. 21  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 3/27/2008 3:22:56 PM

    I've thought about this some more.

    Are you forgetting how newspaper editors still use Notes 5?

    Tell me again you're surprised they use a phone number instead of a web address ;O)

  1. 22  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/27/2008 3:27:42 PM

    @21 LOL

  1. 23  Keith Brooks http://lotustech.blogspot.com | 3/27/2008 7:09:21 PM

    @6 thanks, but my HTC camera phone sucks for text.

    Looking for a new phoen anyway :-)

  1. 24  Keith Brooks http://lotustech.blogspot.com | 3/27/2008 7:14:13 PM

    @9 will never buy a sony anything ever again. Damn proprietary hunks of non upgradeable junk.

    On the other hand I like ericsson.