The New Yorker Responds

It has often been my experience that if you email people, no matter who they are, they will respond. This is not universally true, of course: if you email Microsoft or Air Canada, they will never respond. The same thing goes for many Internet-based businesses. But most everyone else, as long as you write carefully and address your concerns to the proper person, will write back in kind.

As additional proof of this, I attach my response from David Carey, Publisher of The New Yorker:

Dear Peter:

Thank you for this note, and your connection to The New Yorker.

I will pass this on our newsstand operation, who perhaps can answer your question.

Have you ever thought about subscribing, which may prove to be more reliable?

Thanks again…

David Carey

This response came less than 24 hours after I sent my query to Mr. Carey about problems with purchasing his magazine on the newsstand on weeks where Monday is a holiday here.

I await new from his newsstand people. Stay tuned.

By the way, this is my second positive experience with The New Yorker in this sort of thing; several years ago we attended the New Yorker Festival and I had a difficult time getting ticket and location information over the web. In my frustration, I left a long a rambling message on their general voicemail box at the magazine in the middle of the night. The next day a very kind and helpful woman phoned me back and told me everything I needed to know.

What is the moral of this story? Do business, when possible, with people who will phone you back, and avoid, when possible, those who will not. Usually you can tell the difference on first sight.