Dear Reader's Digest

Dear Reader's Digest,

I have been a loyal subscriber nearly 60 years, by my reckoning. Grandmother Anderson gave me a subscription to your magazine somewhere around my 5th grade year. Perhaps it was even before that. The point is I have been with you for many, many years.

I was a reader before you accepted advertising. Remember the anguished soul-searching you went through before adding paid advertisements? But not just any ads - they would have to adhere to your strict family standards. Remember?

I stuck with you through all the size changes. I was there when you began publishing foreign editions and became the most-read magazine in the world. I read your Condensed books for years. When each book came, I read every story, starting with the shortest and working my way through the longest.

I was a subscriber during your growth to 17 million domestic readers, an unsurpassed number. I was loyal when 32 state Attorney Generals took you to task for your duplicitous sweepstakes contests and forced you to stop conning the public with your claims. I was still there when your US readership dropped to 5.5 million.

I stood by you when you filed for bankruptcy.

I'm still here even though you now send me only 10 issues a year, and charge me much more.

So, you ask. What can you do for such a loyal subscriber? Simplify.

• Just send me a notice - one notice only, Vassily - when it is time to renew my subscription. Not 6 months before, written in language that makes me think my subscription is about to expire. Remember the Attorney Generals?
• No more offers to send the magazine free to someone else disguised as a renewal. I tried that and I hear you hounded the recipient when it was time for them to renew. 
• Don't give me special offers that expire in 30 days; only to send me an even better offer that expires in just 30 days, and then send me... I get it. The longer I wait the cheaper it gets.

Just send me a notice and tell me the price. That saves you a lot of money and me a lot of grief.

And if you do, I might - just might - stick with you a few more years.

Sincerely,

Your trying-to-stay-loyal subscriber