Gary Boone wrote:
>
> I sent in $40 in September and still have not received any issues.
> >
> > > << Got to give a big round of applause to Marc Sayer for THE BEST coverage
> > > of classic Datsuns in his magazine, Z car & Classic Datsun. >>
> >
> > I will reserve judgement. I sent in $40 for a subscription in December and
> > have yet to see my first issue.
You know I get really tired of this stuff. I do not know why or how
people come to the conclusion that within days of mailing in their
subscription they should see a copy in their mailbox. Industry standard
for shipping orders is 4-6 weeks and some operations quote 6-8 weeks.
We are bi-monthly, not monthly or weekly, or whatever. That means that
our timeline can often be the top end or longer of the industry
standard. And when, as just happened, we have production problems and
miss an issue (the fate of a the really small publishing company) then
it can take a loooong time for us to get you your first issue. There is
no duplicity involved, no rip offs, no lack of concern. Its just life
folks. I am really disgusted when I work as hard as I do on this and
then I hear this kind of thing. Instead of assuming that you got burned
or ripped off, why don't you guys assume that the company had some
problems, or the post office screwed up, or your neighbor stole your
magazine (not all that uncommon from what I hear) or you didn't
understand how soon you were going to receive something. When did we as
a society get to the point where our first assumption is that the
company must have burned us or ripped us off? And when did we assume it
was OK to accuse the company of that publicly just cause we wonder if it
might be the case?
For those of you who care, here is the relevant info. The mailing list
for a given issue has to be made up and sent to the company that handles
the mailing 6 to 8 weeks in advance of the printing of the issue.
Printing takes place 3 to 4 weeks before people actually get their copy
in the mail. That means that in the best of cases, your copy will only
be in the regular mailout if we got your subscription and entered it
into the database *at least* 9 weeks prior to delivery, and a worst case
scenario would mean we would need to have entered you into the database
12 weeks prior to delivery. As most everyone knows by now this current
issue was seriously delayed. The mailing list was generated in early
Nov. (at which time the issue was to have been printed in December).
Despite the delays etc., this timeframe is only slightly outside of the
worst case scenario I have outlined above for an on-time issue. I would
have needed to have had your subscription entered in my database before
early Nov. for you to be in the regular mailing. When you wrote the
check or when you mailed it in is not relevant, it is when I got it and
when I could get it in the database.
What happens if you are not on the mailing list is that I must hand mail
you out your copy via first class mail (most magazines that mail out
bulk rate won't do this because it is so much more expensive and they
will simply put you in the database and make you wait an additional
issue). To do that I must get the "left over" copies from the printer.
That takes several weeks. After the regular subscription mailings and
the distributor shipments have been sent out, the "left over" copies are
packed and truck freighted to me. Once I get them I have to generate
lists and labels for all those who missed the mailing list and mail
those people out their copies. As of right now I still do not have the
shipment of "left overs" so I can't even begin to start shipping out
magazines. As for those who did get their subscriptions in before the
cut off date, their copies were mailed on Jan 26th. The post office can
take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks to deliver and I have no control
over that. They are not supposed to take any longer than 2 weeks but
they sometimes do (5 weeks is the current record). There is no logic to
it, some folks living across the country get their copy in 2 days and
others living down the block (literally) take weeks to get theirs. Add
to that the fact that the post office considers 10% loss as acceptable
on bulk rate mailings, which means that each issue some 600-700 people
may never do get their copy and I'll have to hand mail (first class
again) a replacement copy to them.
Mr. Boone, who, as we already discussed on this list, sent his
subscription in the *end* of September (the 29th I think) so that we did
not receive it until *October* when, as most everyone on this list knew,
I was out of town for a month, and who started accusing the company of
ripping him off both privately and on the list less than 30 days latter,
has canceled his subscription and gotten a refund for the balance of his
subscription BTW.
I apologize if I am ranting here but I am just sick and tired of being
accused of burning or ripping off people (privately and especially
publicly) when I work so hard to keep this publication going and offer
folks a good product. No customer has ever been knowingly burned or
ripped off by this company, not under my ownership or the Hazen's. And
if any situation has arisen where someone was inadvertently shorted or
otherwise "burned" on an order or subscription we have always made good.
On the other hand numerous customers have knowingly ripped off this
company. So who is that is most likely to get burned or ripped off and
that should therefore be wary of being ripped off, my customers or me?
--
Marc Sayer
Editor/Publisher
Z Car & Classic Datsun Magazine
http://zcarmag.com
Voice 541-726-6001
Fax 541-746-0863/726-6001
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