Taking Care of Subscribers

I dropped my subscription as well, after several years of subscribing. I actually have every issue from 1982 on in the basement in a filing cabinet. I like the magazine, but getting it late and damaged almost every month, coupled with the lack of coverage for my modling interest (historical figures), led me to cancel.

RM

My only gripes are:

There are only 10 issues a year, why not go for the 12.

The delivery dates are always shifting for me, it would be nice if there was one uniform time I could expect it. Like the first week of the month, not the 1st one month, the 3rd week the next, 2nd the next, etc.

The price gets to me also, now that I started subscribing this year, I clearly don't think its worth the money, and I never see any decent subscription specials. I really haven't seen an article that has grabbed me since I started subscribing. But I don't make it to an LHS every month to pick FSM up, so I'm in quite a pickle here.

The only other magazines to which I subscribe are Fine Woodworking and one that comes from a railroad historical society. The Fine Woodworking one has a separate page on the front and back that peels off of the real magazine to help keep it from getting scuffed up. Those pages have little "hints and tips" articles that are not seen on the newsstand, so you get a little extra for your money.

The other magazine is a quarterly and arrives in a plastic bag with a paper insert for the address, hence no label on the magazine itself. Never had any problem with either of them and have lived in several different parts of the country.

My FSM subscription is working out well for me, mostly because we don't have a convenient, good LHS to go to. When I was doing model railroading I would get the magazines at the store because it gave me an excuse to go down and look at all the new stuff I couldn't really afford.

Pls note: subscribers are just a number to wave at advertisers-just the way the business is. You basically just defray mailing costs. All magazines work this way although I beleive FSM ships to newstands first and subscribers later (I could be wrong). I choose not to subscribe to FSM or any mag just because every issue may not interest me-although I do think this is s fine publication.

Dan

Well of course the tattered issue in the mailbox isn't the fault of FSM. . .except it didn't happen so much when it arrived in the plastic bag.
As for taking it up with the postmaster, which one? Mine blames FSM for the packaging or the original post office. To get to my mailbox it has to go through no less than three postal centers.
Many an issue arrived with the label; 'Received in damaged condition', from my post office.
A call to FSM will get you another copy, in a nice cozy brown envelope, but you have to wait.
I go to my LHS three to four times a month, sometimes to just talk plastic with the owner/manager. My LHS has never tried to sell me a damaged copy of FSM and when it is posted on line or on the back of the last issue "on newsstands now" or "on newsstands on the 1st of ____" it is at my LHS on those dates, no waiting.
As I stated before, I can peruse the reviews less than 15 feet away from the kits and make an informed choice right then.
FSM in the mailbox may be the best way to get every issue for some, it is not for me and I made the choice to get my pristine copy from my LHS.

Don

I enjoy FSM and find the subscription to be a value, plus it gives my fiance a good present to give me every year. It's free for me . I do wish we got the goodies too, but nobody said life was fair. What bothers me is her magazines(the girly ones) are so cheap, she had one offer for 3 years for 29.99! I know it all has to do with circulation and stuff, but that'd be awsome. Half of her magazines are advertisment though.(that's what she tells me, I don't actually look at them......usually....) I guess you get what you pay for. Tell your significant others to get a subscription for you as a birthday present. When my fiance did it last year for christmas, she put it in a victoria's secret box, I was happy and dissapointed at the same time.

I have never had any problems with my issues when they came in. Like what was stated above, I would have a talk with your post master on this one.

For the last two months, I have recived my magazine on the 1st of the month or the 31st of the previous. It used to come around the 7th or 8th, but I guess they decided to ship sooner or something.

Let's see....ten bucks cheaper, it's delivered to my door, and you may want to talk to your postmaster about the condition that your mail arrives in. Honestly, I've subscribed to a half-dozen different magazines over the years, and can't even remember one being trashed or ripped up. Even if some of them do come worn or tattered, that is an issue that should be taken up with the postal carrier, not FSM.

Let's see. . .Say 5 bucks an issue at the LHS times 10 is $50.
Subscribe and you get ten issues for 4 bucks each, or $40.
Save ten dollars a year for a crumpled, ripped up, late magazine. . .choose wisely grasshopper.

Don

Another one bites the dust!

some locations' LHSes get the issues faster than subscribers too