Newsstand buyers no longer accepted?

Viper Has The Lead wrote:

If i subscribe, FSM actually receive less money.  Mick C.

i am not saying your wrong because i don't know their actual profit margin, but as part of the newstand price you have 3 people or groups making money, fsm,the magazine distributor,and the newstand owner. so i venture to say that fsm is probably making the same money either way  

i wish more of the lhs would sell it so i don't have to go to the newstand (and while i am there i might buy a model or paint etc  giving the lhs more money

say bgrigg check out the difference in the type of responses  givin by  M.U. in this forum vs

the one in this link

/forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=801283

Guys Guys Guys!

Chopperfan is right about bad news traveling like wildfire -- or, as Dad used to say, the only thing that cuts better than a good fiddle is a bad fiddle.

The question of subscriber codes and access to more of the Web site is fairly complicated, and what we do out there in cyberspace is has its own limitations of time and expense. Plus, believe it or not, our first order of business is putting the magazine in print. I think the Internet's great, but if I preferred it to being a magazine editor I'd have spent the last 20-odd years very differently.  

We value your opinions and we often agree. If for any reason we have to take an issue "upstairs" it will be to go to bat for you, the reader.

One person has noted Matt's invitation to contact him directly, and I would encourage any of you to do so.  

So, please, enough about being locked out or banned from this forum for speaking your mind. The only way that will happen is if you directly violate our simple set of rules -- and even then you get several wimpy warnings. In general, you have to vigorously demonstrate real "brass" and a resolute determination to be unreasonable before we throw up our hands and let the  guards escort you out.

Thanks for reading -- and keep yakkin'!

Mark 

Not quite sure I understand:

"The question of subscriber codes and access to more of the Web site is fairly complicated. . ."

So drop the codes and the subscribers only access and it will be very simple, No?

Wouldn't this eliminate some of the limitations of "time and expense"?

A reader who prefers to get their issue of FSM at the LHS or book store is less valuable to Kalmbach than one who receives their issue tattered in the mail box several days later than the LHS or book store?

The customer isn't always right, but the customer is always the customer.

D

I guess I'm missing something. I look at having full access to the forum as a feature and benefit of being a subscriber. Just as it is when one is a member of a shoppers club (ie SAMS CLUB). Everyone is free to come in for a looksee, but only "members" have the privilage of making purchases. There are other forums that require you register, in this case they want you to subscribe. Whether it is the correct decision or not that is up to the host to decide, it is theirs and theirs alone.

As far as them having my email (someone mentioned) so they can send me what ever when ever, I haven't had any issue witht that. I see a newsletter every couple of weeks or so. If you are concerned about getting spammed, then I suggest you establish a separate email account such as a gmail, yahoo or msn. Let those fill up not your primary personal or business inbox.

My subscription came due just this month. I had to decide whether I wanted to continue or just pick up a copy at the local bookshop (many LHS are dropping magazines as a cost savings measure...unsold copies are no longer returnable as they once were). It was because of the access to this forum that I did renew my subscription...seems I would miss you guys an awful lot. I view it as a must have benefit...unlike the free AM/FM radio another magazine is offering...one that only picks up three stations! Or a calculator that loses its buttons on the first use.

What's the tagline..."Membership has its privileges". AMERICAN EXPRESS

I am but one voice. 

Gerald,

If you get your copy of FSM at the LHS you can still access the forums, but you become a less than a valuable customer being denied access to anything else on the site.

 I never used the "special benefit areas of secret limited access" even when I was a subscriber, so not having them is not a real loss to me, but I believe it would be more work, not less to have two seperate lists of customers. Those that subscribe and those that do not, so as to decide who gets the special benefit areas of secret limited access.

(Love your products BTW, can I say that?)

D

Hi Gerald,

Actually you don't need to have ever bought a single issue of FSM to be able to access the forums. The forums are (for now at least - shhh, don't give them any ideas ) entirely outside the scope of the "subscriber only access" issue.

Cheers,

Phil

Gentlemen,

A couple points.

One, it's no secret the forums are available to anyone with Internet access. 

Two, non-subscribers are not "denied access to anything else on the site." Sure, they don't have access to the kit review archive, bonus review photos, the Modeling Products Directory, and various online extras.

But ... they do have access to other features, such as our monthly reader photo gallery, some online extras (like the recently published review of Moebius Models' Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde), and a smattering of how-to stories (like how to build Tamiya's T-34 in a weekend).

Also, we value our newsstand customers greatly and have not forgotten about them. This whole Internet thing, to some degree, is a work in progress, one we're constantly trying to improve. Rest assured, the top of our priority list reads: How can we give more to the newsstand buyer?

Kelly, FSM