Kraft Food & Family Magazine: No Longer Free
Popular Kraft Recipe Magazine Begins Charging
"Urgent Notice"
I was suprised to see my Holiday '09 issue arrive with an "urgent notice" notifying me that unless Kraft heard from me immediately, this would be my last issue. Hmmm ... that's odd, I thought. Perhaps I needed to sign up online to confirm that I still wanted to receive Food & Family? A quick perusal of the papers with my magazine revealed that no, Kraft was now charging for the magazine. It's not free anymore.
"Preferred Subscriber Discount"
But never fear - as a "preferred subscriber," I'm eligible for the discount rate of 1 year for $6.99. Now, I think you'll agree that it's hard to see how going from free to $6.99 per year is a discount. But apparently them's the ropes, folks.
My invoice states that I can "double my savings!" by purchasing 2 years for just $12.98.
Wondering Why ...
As for why Kraft decided to begin charging for this longtime free magazine, no hint was given. I am sure it was not inexpensive to print and mail, but it was chock full of Kraft ads and I would think that the advertising and brand exposure would have been great enough to have made the magazine a sound investment in the Kraft brand. Apparently not ...
I found it a bit odd that Kraft enclosed no explanation for why they had begun to charge. A simple note of apology noting the realities of current economic problems would have been nice, for instance. But nothing of the sort accompanied my last issue.
Magazine Alternatives
Now that the magazine is charging, I will not subscribe. For one thing, all the Kraft recipes are already available at the Kraft website, although I'll admit that I much prefer paging through a magazine for recipes to surfing through them online. Also, the magazine is replete with Kraft ads which I'm reluctant to pay for.
I will miss the magazine; it had become somewhat of a tradition for me to page through each new issue, cutting out recipes I wanted to try and pasting "good ones" into a family recipe book.
If you have old issues of Kraft Food & Family, you may want to keep them. Who knows? They may fetch a pretty penny on eBay some day as the remnant of an era - an era when company recipe magazines were a free commodity.
Published by Susan Braun - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Susan Braun is a freelance writer with special interests in education, the arts and music. She freelances for several sites, and is one of Associated Content s Top 1000 Sources for each year from 2008 to 201... View profile
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26 Comments
Post a CommentI have not received my Kraft foods and family. I had forgotten all about it till I was going through my folder. I made a check out on 11/7/09, # 2066. Please send me my magazine.
This is not good PR. please reply.
Donna Richards
I would like to know why I haven't received my Food and Family magazine in a very long time! I paid for a year and have only received one issue! What's the deal???
I mailed a check in dec and still no magazine for my mother. she received a gift subscription but when will she receive the magazine?
They are nuts,there's too much free stuff still out their to pay for the mag!
I just got my first magazine food & family and with it was a statement "last issue" you cashed my check 1297 for two years 9-23-2010. I got another notice to pay in Oct. sent you a photo copy of check. Now get it straight.
I am a subscriber of the Kraft Food & Family magazine. I paid $6.99 for another year on my subscription. I am getting my copies. On March 19, 2010 I mailed a check for $13.98 (2 years) for my daughter (she lives in Columbia, SC) as of today (November 4, 2010) she has not received a copy. I would like to know who I should contact in this matter. I agree with others we should not have to pay because we are buying your products. I will not pay for anymore.
on june 30,2010 i sent you a check in the amount of $12.98 for a subscription to yoour kraft food & family magazine, to this date i have not received a copy of the magazine
thats so weird, i get the spanish version and thats still free.
I have been getting your magazine for several years and enjoy it very much. However this last time I send a payment in for the year, I also sent a payment for a magazine for my daughter, and she has yet to receive this magazine. What else should I do. I mark very thing the way I should have.
I used to love getting Kraft Foods Magazine, but......no matter how many times I have contacted someone at Kraft Foods, I cannot get anyone to send me a magazine that is in ENGLISH......I DO NOT understand SPANISH, and I DO NOT appreciate getting a magazine that I have to throw in the trash. This is America where the chief language is ENGLISH, so please, start sending me the right version of your magazine so I can enjoy it.......
Thank you...............