What are the benefits of subscribing....

[leopardml2341]

.....When it's always on the shelves first. Even my local ASDA has the upcoming issue in stock before I have received my subs copy

[locomad]

I presume you refer to the fact your copy arrives by post much later than the shops get it.

 

Although i don't get Hornby magazine i did for many years get another well known mag but gave up for this reason, quite simply the local post office seems to apply a rationing system where you get all your weeks mail on one day.

 

I've even got up early walking the dog and watched the local postman rounds quite simply they miss out entire streets, estates areas etc. Course it could be no one in that Street had any mail but unlikely.

 

Could complain like some neighbours have just falls on deaf ears

[Hilux5972]

I feel the same way. I am a digital subscriber to both Hornby Magazine and Model Rail, and many print subscribers in the U.K. get their copies days before I am able to download my digital copy. It's very frustrating.

[Hroth]

Whenever I've subscribed to a publication, the main benefits that have influenced my decision have been (in descending order of utility):

• The magazine arrives through the letterbox, close to the printed publication date.
• I don't have to go out to look for it.
• Its paid for, and is often cheaper over the year than the cover price AND that includes delivery.
• Sometimes there's an initial freebie that is useful.

That the mag might arrive before it appears in the shops has never been a key factor when deciding to take out a subscription.

[Arthur]

 

I subscribe to several of the mags and having it before it hits the shops is completely irrelevant to me. I genuinely have never understood why people get so bothered about it. Why does it matter for the sake of a few days?

 

Not a criticism of those who do, just something which mystifies me.

 

.

[Keith George]

I have never done a postal subscription to any magazine.

You are after all taking business away from high street newsagents.

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

I have never done a postal subscription to any magazine.

You are after all taking business away from high street newsagents.

 

Keith

 

That is the big shortcoming of subscribing but equally I have never found that subscribing to a mag has meant that it has ceased to be available in our local branch of WHS (which still stocks all the main UK railway modelling magazines plus MRJ.  In fact the only railway modelling mag they have ceased to stock in the past 10 years was 'Model Railroader' )

[chris p bacon]

I subscribe to 3 magazines (BRM, MRJ & Railway Mag) purely for the convenience of not having to go out of my way to find a copy, there is a bit of a saving as well.

[EddieB]

Timeliness is not a great concern to me, but I do notice (and appreciate) that Railway Magazine releases copies to its subscribers well before general circulation and prints a separate "subscribers edition" where an advertising spread is replaced with vintage photographs.

 

Without mentioning names, and of course without any reference whatsoever to the title which is the subject of this thread, one disadvantage of having a subscription is to find yourself "locked in" to a publication you've either grown out of (at the more beginner end of the market) or has undergone "dumbing down" as a result of a change of editorship or editorial policy.  For me, it was a photo magazine (shareholder discount subscription) which became rather tiresome over its policy to provide a public service to men with short arms!

[chris p bacon]

  For me, it was a photo magazine (shareholder discount subscription) which became rather tiresome over its policy to provide a public service to men with short arms!

I agree that's terrible.......is there any way of transferring said subscription.......

[Paul.Uni]

.....When it's always on the shelves first. Even my local ASDA has the upcoming issue in stock before I have received my subs copy

A previous time when someone brought a similar situation up with a different magazine, it turned out that they had signed up to a subscription from a magazine subscription company and not the publishers. So they had to wait for the magazine to be delivered to the magazine subscription company and then posted onwards to them.

 

IIRC Hornby Magazine is Key Publishing.

[Steamport Southport]

I've never had a subscription with Key but I've bought a few individual issues from the website and they've turned up straight away. Post free as well. Personally I think the magazine is a bit too hit and miss to take out a subscription. One issue is fantastic and the next has nothing of interest. However I do think it has improved over the last year or so.

 

 

I do have a couple of subscriptions to other magazines and have never had a problem with them turning up late. The reasons I got them was I was getting them every issue anyway and it saved me travelling. Any savings on price are a bonus. I'm not really bothered about whether it turns up earlier.

 

 

 

Jason

[leopardml2341]

Why does it matter for the sake of a few days?

Not a criticism of those who do, just something which mystifies me.

.

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

 

From website page:

 

http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

 

Subscribers Get:

 

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

[chris p bacon]

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

 

From website page:

 

http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

 

Subscribers Get:

 

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

They may well be posted first, but who's to say the delivery is up to scratch?

[Pacific231G]

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

 

From website page:

 

http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

 

Subscribers Get:

 

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

Their commitment is to send it to subscribers first not that their subscribers will receive it first. The difference in when they go out is probably hours rather days and It may well be that the magazine distribution chain is simply far faster than the Royal Mail not least because it's delivering bundles of magazines to fewer destinations- newsagents rather than individual addresses.

 

I'd be interested to know how long it generally takes for a weekly or monthy magazine to get from printer to shelf. Newpapers do it in a few hours overnight but it would be rather longer for magazines.

 

All this was once of course an important traffic for the railways and it wasn't that long ago. I lived near Paddington for a while in the 1970s and it was always fun to get tomorrow's newspapers today  by going there between about 22.30- midnight, often after a late shift, when the regional editons were going out and were on early sale. Late at night the London main line termini had a very special ambience as they buzzed with feverish activity from the newpaper trains, the TPOs and several sleepers before going silent some time after midnight. .

[Steamport Southport]

When I worked for RM the magazines and journals were sorted separately and treated as First Class.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Intercity125]

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

 

From website page:

 

http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

 

Subscribers Get:

 

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

It appears I'm not alone in receiving my copy of Hornby magazine well after it has hit the shops.  Haven't received the current copy which was in my local newsagent shelf this morning.  This happens every month and it makes me wonder why the publisher sends it out late.

[leopardml2341]

They may well be posted first, but who's to say the delivery is up to scratch?

  

Their commitment is to send it to subscribers first not that their subscribers will receive it first. The difference is probably hours rather days and It may well be that the magazine distribution chain is simply far faster than the Royal Mail not least because it's delivering bundles of magazines to fewer destinations.

Oh well, fallen foul of believing what people say again!

 

FWIW the ones in Asda were on sale Tuesday midday, suggests that the ones destined for Asda must have been sent overnight Monday latest.

 

Mine arrived by (2nd Class) post this morning.

[Arthur]

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

From website page:http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

Subscribers Get:

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

 

Yes, I appreciate that.

 

So is that why you subscribe, to get priority delivery? And why is that important? Would you still subscribe it it was not a commitment?

 

These are genuine questions. As it's such a non issue for me I'm genuinely interested to find out just why people are bothered by it.

 

For me it's just the convenience of not having to visit the newsagent, a drive into town, three or four times a month.

.

[caradoc]

I subscribed to Hornby Magazine because I'm no longer in a position to buy it in the shops every month. Having paid £80 up front (for 2 years) and given them my name, address and e-mail details which they can now make use of, I would expect some consideration in return, such as receiving the magazine slightly earlier than the shops (or even at the same time; I have not received the latest edition yet either). 

[griffgriff]

Because the publisher is not meeting their commitment to subscrbers:

From website page:http://shop.keypublishing.com/subscription/view/publication/HM/Hornby-Magazine-Subscription

Subscribers Get:

Priority Delivery - subscriber copies go first

May I ask, if you believe the standard of service is not what you believe it should be and it's causing such inconvenience and frustration, why you still subscribe?

 

I always vote with my feet in similar circumstances be it banks, supermarkets, energy suppliers or petrol stations (well perhaps not with my feet on that one) and magazine subscription services are no different IMHO

 

Griff

[leopardml2341]

I subscribe because I want to.

 

I made the observation because the breaking of the committment, made in the website statement, occurs far too often for it to be a benefit of subscribing - refer OP.

[Chris116]

I must be lucky, having subscriptions to BRM, HM and MR. None of them in the last four years have ever arrived later than the day they were due in the shops and they mostly arrive two or three days earlier. The funny thing is that a friend who live very close by never receives his copy on the same day as I do. They are always a day later or a day earlier so I suspect Royal Mail or whoever are to blame! Never really bothered me as I get the subscriptions to save me running round in circles having to go shopping more often than I want.

[leopardml2341]

May I ask, if you believe the standard of service is not what you believe it should be and it's causing such inconvenience and frustration, why you still subscribe?

I always vote with my feet in similar circumstances be it banks, supermarkets, energy suppliers or petrol stations (well perhaps not with my feet on that one) and magazine subscription services are no different IMHO

Griff

Simples, it's paid for up front and I'd lose out by cancelling mid term!

 

Will probably not renew, for the reasons you cite.

[griffgriff]

I subscribe because I want to.

I made the observation because the breaking of the committment, made in the website statement, occurs far too often for it to be a benefit of subscribing - refer OP.

 

 

OK I reread the op... and my advice is not to go to ASDA.

 

 

Griff