Monday, August 13, 2007

Accumulation blues: what to do
with back issues of magazines

What, pray tell, do you do with all those magazines that build up around your house (presuming that you are, like me, omnivorous and promiscuous in acquiring them)? At a certain point, the tottering pile beside the bed, beside the chair in the living room, the jammed shelf or rack, needs to be dealt with.

And it's not as if you're no longer interested, but that even with the best will in the world, you will never again crack one of those titles; there are so many new ones following you home and building up in your office. So, what to do?

At one stage in my life, I'm ashamed to say, I had a bed propped up on pillars of back issues of Harper's. At another stage, I paid parcel postage to send accumulated magazines across the Atlantic (I know, I know).

Now, the best we can do is give the surplus to the local library to sell as its own in its annual book sale, or to a school to chop up for art class, or inter them in the blue box (to wind up who knows where?) Are there any other, better ideas for what to do with magazines that are surplus to requirements? And don't suggest not buying or subscribing to them -- we're looking for realistic strategies, here.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

One thought for old magazines: a journalism school. Ryerson, for example, has a magazine stream. Perhaps there's a place for back issues of great magazines, for inspiration, reference, etc. Worth asking, anyway.

8:45 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've seen a lot of postings on Craig's List giving away back issues of magazines. Nice way to get them read again, rather than just pitching them.

5:07 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I take mine to leave at the gym. I've also found that oncology and raditation therapy waiting rooms, and other doctors' offices are grateful for them.

10:05 pm  
Blogger Claire said...

I'm a little late in adding my comment, but for what it's worth, I leave piles of old magazines at the different public laundomats in my neighbourhood. When I left Montreal, I abandoned a huge stack of european fashion magazines to Net Net.

I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I get pangs of loss and longing for my old, discarded collections of magazines. Oh New Yorkers, why did I forsake you? Also, Sassy! I had a complete collection, but...oh, I can't go there.

2:40 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a Ryerson student going into her final year in the magazine journalism stream, I think I speak for my entire class when I say - YES! We would love your old issues. Our archives are pitifully small, and cover only the staples. We'd love more diversity.

10:29 pm  

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