Magazine Rental Service: Rent magazines instead of buying them
News News blog
A magazine rental service is a type of subscription where you borrow or rent a selection of magazines for a certain period instead of buying them. The origins of magazine rental services date back to the 17th century. Nowadays, it's mainly doctor's offices, hair salons, cafes, and hotels, but also private households that take advantage of the affordable offers from magazine rental services.
How does a magazine rental service work?
The principle is simple: The customer chooses their favorites from up to 300 magazines. These are delivered weekly as a reading folder by the magazine rental service. After a week, the rental service collects the read magazines and brings the new folder.
The magazines are rented out multiple times, on average three times. The rental price is staggered according to the age of publication. The older the magazines, the cheaper they are. This way, customers can flexibly decide whether they prefer to read brand-new issues or older, but cheaper magazines.
From village stick to modern reading folder
The precursor to the magazine rental service is considered to be the "village stick" - a handwritten script that was passed from house to house in the Lüneburg Heath at the beginning of the 17th century. The first documented magazine rental service was founded around 1610 in Kitzingen, Germany. At that time, postmasters had a monopoly on newspapers and lent them out for a fee.
During the Age of Enlightenment, magazine rental services experienced a boom. Reading was no longer just a privilege of the educated, and for many, buying books and newspapers was too expensive. Magazine rental services offered an affordable alternative. In the 19th century, the first independent magazine rental service businesses emerged, delivering reading folders by messenger.
Magazine rental services still popular today
Even though the media landscape has changed dramatically, magazine rental services continue to enjoy great popularity today. Around 20% of Germans aged 15 and over are supplied with about 200,000 reading folders every week. 60% of these go to commercial customers such as doctor's offices or hair salons, 40% to private households.
The advantages are obvious: An affordable rental price, flexibility in terms of subscription period and age of publication, delivery to your doorstep, and recycling of read magazines. Thus, even in the digital age, magazine rental services offer an attractive way to read a large selection of magazines without having to buy them.
