The Good Cook

I got a catalog for The Good Cook book club the other day. Very tempting: four cookbooks for only $1! I easily found four that I wanted, like The Best of Gourmet and some Ina Garten cookbooks that I've always wanted but never buy.

But I knew there had to be a catch. I scanned the membership rules: Just buy 4 books at the regular club price within the next 2 years. You may cancel anytime after that. Hmmm. That's not bad at all. But aha! Further down, the "catch:" Free club catalogs are sent about every 3 weeks. The catalog reviews the Editor's Main Selections plus 200 titles. To get the Main Selection, do nothing; it will be sent to you automatically unless you decline it by the deadline date.

Annoying! So basically every three weeks I have to make sure and send back a card declining the "Main Selection" or get stuck with some shitty cookbook I most likely do not want. And believe me, there are a lot of books in there I don't want!

And then, as if that wasn't annoying enough, this: Save up to 30% off publishers' edition prices every day with our club editions. Club editions are full-length books, sometimes changed in size to save you more. Changed in size? What does that mean? Are they omitting content to change the size? If I'm going to buy a cookbook I want the original, "publishers' edition" and I don't care if I have to pay more to get it!

So to sum up: you need to be on your toes about sending that stupid card back so you don't get stuck with books you don't want (and with my unreliable mail service, I know it would happen to me) and then for the books you do buy you may not even be getting the original version.

No Thanks!!
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