Could be wrong on this...but I think some 3rd party vendor collects all unsold issues at the end of the month and destroys or circulates them in foreign markets. Niche magazines like AT may simply be trashed though. Active trader is great for new ideas or perspectives...any time I can learn about how someone else trades or even approaches the market I re-evaluate and evolve my own methods a bit. Consciously or subconsciously. It's all about acquiring knowledge and filtering out the crap.
Considering they're one of the few magazines where a 1-year subscription is no cheaper than buying the individual issues, it seems like they have no problem getting people to subscribe. I wouldn't hold out hope that there are discount subscriptions anywhere. If you go to the trader expos, you can pick up free copies of the most recent month or two there.
Lots of interesting ideas in this thread on saving five ~ ten dollars <b>per year</b>, on a product that may offer ideas that help make $1,000s extrapolated over the course of a career. I neither read or subscribe to this mag, but do find it curious how successful(?) traders work so hard = spend so much time trying to save pennies while searching for answers to make dollars. Basic human nature never ceases to amaze me, and likewise forever preserves the integrity of chart patterns we rely on.
that is the only time i got out of my room. priceless. all of my value investing ideas are from from being CHEAP. low P/E, low P/B, low executive salary. you really have to build your mental status CHEAP to always seek the DEAL. another way to think this is that: consider the bookstore is a chain of library. after you read the magazine, you recycle it to the next reader. everything is funded by the bookstore chain, which is public traded, so they are funded by investors, which who we are. so it is a gaint cycle, and you are still paying for your fair share for reading in the bookstore.
Thanks for all the comments and great ideas. Especially the one about getting in good with the people that work at the cafe. I also find it funny that paying for a year subscription is no less expensive than buying the individual magazines. Active Trader's marketing style is very odd. - Monkman
I just purchased a copy of TA of Stocks and Commodities magazine at B&N. Don Bright has a Q&A section in there thats pretty cool...I think he might have one every month..?
A truly strange view. So if everyone read magazines & recycled to next reader and nobody buys, how do the bookstores pay their rent & salaries??? And how are you "paying for your fair share?" You mean if you stopped reading mags for free, they would go out of business?
<i>"you really have to build your mental status CHEAP to always seek the DEAL"</i> And with that mentality, you aspire to be a profitable daytrader?
many people will buy drinks while reading there. buy a $4 coffe for browsing 4 $5 magazines. do you know something called Free-After-Mail-In-Rebate? how do business make money off those freebies? books' gross margin is like 50%. magazine is making most of ads. it is a win win win situation for all of us to read without buying. 1 more people will read the mag 2 bookstore can sell more drinks 3 save trees. 4 force us to read hard and remember hard what we see. a chinese saying: a book is readable only if it is rented. it means if you buy the book, you may not read it. if you are forced to return the book, you will have to read it. 5 we save money, and get out. anyway, they are all personal viewpoints.