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Comment by shasheene | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to subscribe to The Economist, but a 12-month digital-only subscription costs US$285 from Australia, nearly double the US figure, which I can't yet justify as a relatively casual reader.

The leaky paywall (and convenient scraped ePub versions for eReaders) makes it even easier to not contribute to funding quality journalism. If I could choose a dollar amount, I'd happily donate US$75/year recurring for what I'm currently paying $0/year for.

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And if you do subscribe you have to call them to cancel. You can subscribe on their website, but they only unsubscribe through a phone line.

I managed to get unsubscribed by hurling abuse at their support staff, but I still think it should be considered fraud.

>> I managed to get unsubscribed by hurling abuse at their support staff, but I still think it should be considered fraud.

This paints you in a much worse light than them. I've cancelled with them twice. I called and said 'I would like to cancel' and they refunded me what was necessary. Took about 30 seconds - no abuse required.

I am not about to pay for an long-distance international call just over what should be done with an internet form.

I grant you the abuse might not have been necessary, but I wanted results and I wanted them yesterday.

NYTimes also requires you to make a phone call to cancel - though they were decidedly polite about it.

I didn't need to call. I canceled last year via chat. It took me 15 minutes, answering about 10 quite annoying questions.

15 minutes? That is insane. No wonder journalism is dying.

That's even longer than a phone call...

Your local library may have an electronic magazine subscription that you can use. I get mine for free via a Zinio client my local library district pays for.

You can get a digital subscription for 160 USD per year: http://www.student-subscription-service.co.uk/magazine-the-e...

Go halvsies with someone. I split with my Dad (He gets the paper copy and I get digital). Although I'm still on a student subscription and we go 2 years at a time

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