National Georgraphic
By: Kenneth Dodson
National Geographic Magazine as well as books and
tapes from the National Geographic Society are popular
with many prisoners, prison libraries and even prisoners' families.
For decades National Geographic and its products have been
popular gifts, colorful, entertaining and informative - stuff
you don't see anyplace else.
Now, we must urge everyone: The National Geographic Society has become a gyp! Buy something else. There are no longer fair, reputable publishers. For magazines, try Sun Subscriptions. For books and tapes, try Hamilton. Don't bother with National Geographic. They're a gyp! A prisoner was a long-time subscriber to National Geographic Magazine. He wanted to send a little present to his devoted wife. When National G. sent him an offer for books, he ordered 3 interesting titles to be sent to her. Whomever in Iowa fills the book orders for National Geographic couldn't figure out their own order form. They sent the books to the prisoner instead of his wife. What good was that!? When National Geographic was notified of their mistake, they expected the prisoner to suffer. They wanted him to search for packaging, to get permission and to forward the books on to his wife. Even if all that were possible, it would have been costly and time consuming. Postage alone (assuming the prison would post the books) would cost maybe $15. National G. had another option. The prisoner could go to the same trouble and return the books to them, this time to an address in Louisville, Kentucky. National G. was willing to pay the postage and to refund the purchase price, but that didn't really solve the problem or correct their error. The prisoner still had to try to get permission to ship out the books. He still had to try to find packaging materials (not an easy task). He still had to repackage the books and run the risk of their not arriving safely. He still had to wait weeks or months for the refund. More importantly, during all this time while he was saddled with correcting National Geographic's mistake, his wife got nothing! Where was her gift? Very few prisoners can afford to reorder. Prisoners are impoverished. National Geographic should have simply corrected their mistake. They should have sent the right order to the prisoner's wife. They should have told the prisoner to either keep the books or contribute them to the prison library. Either way, for National Geographic it's a tax deduction. For the sake of a few dollars, the greedy National Geographic put the burden on the customer. National Geographic expected the customer to suffer for their mistake. If they do it to one customer, they'll do it to you. Buy someplace else!
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