On the Dangers of Junkets – a Confession

I took this photo entirely without irony while on my junket in Germany. But now, I feel you pig. I really do.

Some tool and machinery companies use junkets to influence the coverage of their products in the woodworking press and online. What does a typical press junket look like? I was assigned to go to two of them during my time at Popular Woodworking Magazine, and they were by no means the most extravagant woodworking junkets.

Normally, I declined to go on these trips and insisted that the magazine should pay its way (this is what I learned in journalism school, and I still believe it).

This was met with genuine and loud laughter from my bosses.

My first junket was to England to see DeWalt’s factory there and to try the company’s new DW735 planer. They flew us to London and put up all the editors at a mid-range hotel. We were given a couple days to wander around London on our own (and on our own dime, thank goodness). Then we met DeWalt’s U.S. public relations people at a pub on the Tha…