Publishers Clearing House - Cancel Your Membership

Publishers Clearing House is also known as

Publishers Clearing House

About Publishers Clearing House

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions with sweepstakes and prize-based games. It was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace door-to-door magazine subscription sales with a single vendor offering multiple subscriptions by mail. It introduced its sweepstakes in 1967. In the early 1990s, the company was the subject of concerns and legal actions regarding whether consumers were misled about their odds of winning the sweepstakes and whether purchases increased their chances. By 2010, the company had reached settlements with all 50 states. The company acquired search company Blingo in 2006, online gaming company Funtank in 2010, mobile marketing company Liquid Wireless in 2012, and internet news aggregator Topix in 2019. Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 in Port Washington, New York, by Harold Mertz, a former manager of a door-to-door sales team for magazine subscriptions. The company started in Mertz’s basement with help from his first wife LuEsther and daughter Joyce. Its first mailings were of 10,000 envelopes from Mertz’s home in Long Island, New York, and offered 20 magazine subscriptions. 100 orders were received. Within a few years, the company moved out of Mertz’s basement into an office building and started hiring staff. When PCH moved its headquarters in 1969, its prior location was donated to the city and renamed the Harold E. Mertz Community Center. The company revenue had grown to US$50 million by 1981, and $100 million by 1988. In 1967 PCH started its first sweepstakes as a way to increase subscription sales, based on the sweepstakes held by Reader’s Digest. The first prizes ranged from $1 to $10 and entrants had a 1 in 10 chance of winning. After the sweepstakes increased response rates to mailings, prizes of $5,000 and eventually $250,000 were offered. PCH began advertising the sweepstakes on TV in 1974. It was the only major multi-magazine subscription business until 1977. Former client Time Inc. and several other publishers formed American Family Publishers (AFP) to compete with PCH after the company refused repeated requests by Time for a larger share of sales revenue from magazine subscriptions. AFP and PCH competed for exclusive rights to magazines and for better promotion and prize ideas. When AFP increased its jackpot to $1 million, and then to $10 million in 1985, PCH raised its prizes to match. $7 million in prizes were distributed by 1979, $40 million by 1991, and $137 million by 2000. In 1989 two members of its advertising team, Dave Sayer and Todd Sloane, started the Prize Patrol, a publicized event where winners are surprised with a check at their homes. The idea was inspired by the 1950s television series The Millionaire. The two companies were often mistaken for each other, with Star Search host Ed McMahon and The $25,000 Pyramid host Dick Clark, the spokespeople for AFP, mistaken for representatives of the better-known PCH. In 1992 thousands of discarded sweepstakes entries from contestants who had not bought magazine subscriptions were found in the company’s trash, reinforcing beliefs that the company favored those who made purchases in selecting a sweepstakes winner. PCH said this was done by a disgruntled employee at their mail-processing vendor. A class action ensued, which PCH settled by giving discarded entrants a second chance to win. PCH began selling merchandise in 1985 with two products. After a Hershey’s Chocolate Cookbook and a diet cookbook sold more than other products, the company began expanding into jewelry, media, collectibles, household products, and others. The company also shifted its focus online. It began selling magazine subscriptions and merchandise on PCH.com in 1996. In 2006, it acquired Blingo Inc., an ad-supported metasearch engine that was later re-branded as PCH Search and Win. PCH ran contests on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. iPhone apps for slot games and trivia were developed. The company created online play-and-win sites like PCH Games (formerly Candystand) and PCHQuiz4Cash, with air hockey and video poker games. In December 2010, PCH acquired Funtank and its online gaming site Candystand.com. In 2011, PCH promoted a “$5,000 every week for life” sweepstakes in TV ads and on the front page of AOL.com. The following year the company acquired a mobile marketing company, Liquid Wireless. The company utilized, then stopped then started again utilizing coregistration (through other websites) to expand its customer base. In 2008, a PCH spokesperson said the digital properties were intended to attract younger consumers. By 2013, the internet had become PCH’s primary channel of interaction with consumers. The New York Times described the digital transition as “part of an overall effort to collect information on Web users, show them advertisements and use the registration information for PCH’s mailing lists.” PCH is a direct marketing company that sells merchandise and magazine subscriptions and operates several prize-based websites. While best known for the sweepstakes and Prize Patrol it uses to promote its magazine subscriptions, the majority of the company’s revenue now comes from the merchandise. The company has been selling books, media, jewelry, and other consumer items since the 1980s. PCH operates eight websites, including PCH Search and Win, PCH Lotto, PCH Games, PCH Save and Win, and Candystand. The company also sells magazine subscriptions at a discount and advertises subscriptions along with its sweepstakes. It’s estimated that companies like PCH keep 75 to 90 percent of the fees from the original subscription, while publishers use the increased distribution to improve circulation numbers and revenue from renewals. PCH popularized the idea of using sweepstakes to sell magazine subscriptions in the direct-marketing market and became known by detractors as a producer of junk mail for advertising through mass mail. Documents filed with the New York State Department in 1993 said that year the company mailed 220 million envelopes. Frequent buyers can receive 30 to 40 mailings a year.

Publishers Clearing House CANCEL GUIDES

Get together the following account information:

First Name
Last Name
Address 1
Address 2
City
State/Province/Region
ZIP/Postal Code
Email address on the account
Name of Magazine(s)
Phone Number

Web Form

Follow these steps:

In a browser, goto http://pch.custhelp.com/app/ask
Now enter your information
Advise the rep that you need to cancel
Be sure to get a confirmation number or email for the cancellation
Pick the option labeled the orange “Continue” button at the bottom of the page
Be sure to keep the email and/or confirmation info about the cancellation

Phone (Live Agent)