A MAGAZINE MYSTERY TO SOLVE
I'm on the trail of a little magazine mystery.
Last weekend I was browsing the second hand magazines (right) at Chatuchak Market in Bangkok and found a copy of Canadian current affairs magazine Macleans from late October 2008. What made this copy stand out was the fact it had its subscriber details printed on the cover.
This copy somehow made its way to Thailand from Thunder Bay, Ontario, in Canada. The 'somehow' is what I am already trying to establish, thanks to the power of Google and a reasonably unusual subscriber name.
I'm going to predict the subscriber came to Thailand on holiday and left the magazine behind. It then made its way to Chatuchak where I purchased it for the grand sum of 20 baht.
Let's see what I manage to discover, but does anyone else want to predict how this magazine found its way here?
12 comments:
The subscriber moved to bangkok and put a redirection on his mail.
A Thailand post office worker had an interest in Canadian current affairs and the rest is history!
Ooh interesting - I am not in the habit of taking magazines on holiday so this will be interesting. As it is a fairly recent edition I have to say I think your guess is good (Maybe your unusually named subscriber is a Pilot or Air Hostess?). Anyway I will have a guess for fun - just maybe it was sent to recycling (in Canada) and an unscrupulous / enterprising person sold it on (in a job lot) to a dealer in Thailand. I am not sure how much 20 baht is (I know I need to pay more attention) but I am guessing that its not much so this would be a lot of effort for litte reward. I will be checking to see wether you can track this little mystery down.
It would be interesting, and not a little chilling, to hear that this subscriber never received their copy in the mail.
I've often wondered if container loads of old magazines, books and clothes are finding their way to Thailand, having been sold in huge lots by overburdened thrift shops, junk dealers and estate auctioneers.
Thanks for your comments.
The thing that makes this example unique is the subscriber data. Sure, you can buy 'Subscription only, not for resale' copies of Time magazine but there's no way of tracking where they may have come from.
With this example I've emailed what I hope is the subscriber, and if all else fails I will send a letter to try and get an answer.
thank you for the interesting post. I'll wait to how the truth unfolds...
WiseKwai in many countries, including mine Australia large numbers of magazines unsold are returned back to the magazine distributor by the retailers for credit. These are either pulped or sold off cheaply. It is quite possible that a container load was sent to Bangkok. I am not sure what this does not happen more often.
If so though it would not explain how come the subscribers name was on it.
Bernard and Saraburian, thanks for your comments.
While many older editions - some as far back as 2006 - are on sale in Chatuchak, there's also a worrying number of current (February in some cases) issues. There's no logical and legal explanation how these might have got there.
An update on this particular 'Macleans mystery' will be posted on Friday.
Sorry? This happens all the time. Huge lots of magazines and books are bought in the US and then sold overseas for pennies on the dollar. No great mystery. Hope you're not losing sleep over it :-)
Anonymous. I know it happens with unsolds and overruns, BUT it doesn't happen with subscriber copies with names, addresses and subscription data on the cover.
If it was your copy I could, armed with just that information and a little Googling, stop delivery, alter the delivery address, order additional copies, etc.
I'm certaiinly not losing sleep over it but it's something that shouldn't be happening.
Incidentally, those 'pennies on the dollar' copies would never make it to Thailand in big numbers thanks to customs. They once tried to charge me for 10 samples I had sent from Europe, claiming I had to pay the duty on the full resale price.
The subscriber could have brought it with him on a trip to Thailand and left it on the plane. I know that many of the mags at Jatujak originate from the airport, where they no doubt provide cleaning crews with some extra cash. Other possibility is that the subscriber discarded it in Canada and it made its way here as recycled paper, only to be gleaned before pulping somewhere along the line.
Anonymous, that's my guess although I now have two additional magazines (from the U.S. this time) with subscriber details printed on the cover.
Keep tuned for the outcome.
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