For some, Time keeps on ticking

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March, 2002 by Joe Hagan

What if Time went on forever? Well, for a select few subscribers of the weekly newsmagazine (144, to be exact), it does. Check out card #444 of Trivial Pursuit's Millennium Edition: "How much did Time charge in 1929 for a 'Perpetual Subscription' you could pass on to your heirs forever- $60, $600 or $6,000?"

The answer: sixty bucks. While it may seem like the bargain of the 20th century (and the 21st and the 22nd-ad infinitum until Time goes out of business or one runs out of progeny), it was pretty expensive by 1929 standards. In today's dollars, that $60 is worth about $700. But if you take today's subscription rate of $24.95 for a yearly sub and multiply it by the 73 years that have passed since the offer, you'd have paid $1,821.35.

Alas-the perpetual sub deal is no longer, according to a spokesperson for the magazine. While Time still offers a lifetime sub for $1,000, this one isn't transferable or inheritable.