SAMI/MAM AND SMMI November issue not in shops

[WarthogMKL]

Hi Guys

Before the rumors start can I ask that you pass this statement on..

 

November issue of Scale Aviation Modeller International / Model Aircraft and Scale Military Modeller International will not be on sale in any shops due to the new National lockdown but you will be able to buy online.

November issue of all 3 titles are in stock with us and being dispatched within 48 hours of orders being placed by Royal Mail in the UK. Subscribers' copies will be despatched this week by the distributor.

When things open up again we will be back in the shops as before.

If you need any further information please don’t hesitate to contact us. Email is best to info@modelaircraftmag.com Best regards MA Publications

 

We had a delay last month due to COVID and with many major outlets closed around the world it was either delay a month or go this route.

Edited November 8, 2020 by WarthogMKL

[Whofan]

Funnily enough I looked at the SAMI website last night to see what the position was, saw the statement  and ordered both SAMI and MA.

 

Hopefully they will arrive this week.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Whofan

[Nigel Bunker]

19 hours ago, WarthogMKL said:

November issue of Scale Aviation Modeller International / Model Aircraft and Scale Military Modeller International will not be on sale in any shops due to the new National lockdown but you will be able to buy online.

I buy mine from my newsagent and he's open during lockdown, like most newsagents. It seems unfair to deny them of revenue they get selling magazines.

[Des]

Does seem odd that normal service was maintained during the full lockdown earlier in the year.

[spruecutter96]

1 hour ago, Des said:

Does seem odd that normal service was maintained during the full lockdown earlier in the year.

That brings up something I've never thought about before....

 

When a newsagent sells you a magazine, do they buy it in at under the cover-price and make their profit that way? Or does the distributor pay them something to sell it? What happens with un-sold magazines which are returned to the distributors once they've exceeded their "shelf-life"? Money refunded to newsagent, perhaps?

 

Can anyone fill us in on how this all works?

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.  

[Jonny]

Not sure I like this approach.

Not only does it affect newsagents by not supplying them with copies to sell, but MA Publications apply a quite high 'Post-and-packing' charge.  I only realised when I started to buy the November SAMI.  Sorry, but I abandoned the whole thing.  SAMI is usually quite good but not, in my view, worth over £7 a pop.

 

 

[Tony C]

22 hours ago, WarthogMKL said:

We had a delay last month due to COVID and with many major outlets closed around the world it was either delay a month or go this route.

 

I'm pretty certain that I received an email, following my enquiry about the late arrival of the October issue of SAMI, and was told that the delay was down to an issue with the printers breaking down!

 

Must admit I'm getting a bit concerned about SAMI, given the ongoing issues about the supply since the change of ownership - none arrival of the March issue, replaced by a 'double' March/April issue which at 114 pages, is hardly a double and the late arrival of at least 3 issues since and then there appears to be different reasons given for the delays!

 

Hopefully, I'm reading something between the lines that isn't there but, I'm not convinced that I'll be renewing my subscription when it expires... 

[John B (Sc)]

That's disappointing, but, sadly, understandable,   It may be worth mentioning that much of Scotland is not in lockdown & Wales has just come out, so we could purchase as normal from newsagents,   

 

As Jonny says, the P&P has quite an impact.

 

 

[Graham Boak]

Isn't the problem linked to their distribution system/company, in which case they wouldn't be able to get them into Scottish and Welsh distribution systems anyway?  My local newsagent (in England) has been having severe problems with magazines all year.  The ones I get on subscription have been coming through fine.  Can I suggest that if you normally buy the magazine anyway, or at least most times, then it will be worth your while taking out a subscription?  At least for these parlous times.

[WarthogMKL]

There a lot of variables involved and bear in mind we also sell a large qty of magazines in the US and Europe which have major closures in place with no sign of them returning to normal anytime soon.

In an ever changing situation  the decision was  made a few weeks before lockdown was confirmed based on the information about what outlets would be likely to remain open if a lockdown happened as expected during the 4 weeks the title would have been on sale versus the cost of producing and paying the distribution charges for a full print run then having to pulp it if we could not get it into distribution.

As for the postage charges, these reflect the postage and packing of a 250GRM large letter 1st class via Royal Mail plus the cost of paying for someone to do the work. We make no profit at all on our postage costs. 

I can say that I have been told that the December issue will be distributed to all retail outlets in the UK and Europe and to subscribers world wide, we are also looking at bringing it out slightly earlier than originally planned if we can. This will put it back to near our normal dates after the delay with the October issue.

Like many companies we are having adapt on the fly and sadly sometimes you get it right sometimes you will get it wrong and to be honest I am glad I do not have to make the calls that the owners have had to make since they took over just as Covid started to really effect every area of the publishing business. 

 

 

[Mick4350]

I doubt that this will affect magazines being sold here in Australia in our local newsagents at all,  except that they may take a little longer to reach us here down under

[WarthogMKL]

On 11/10/2020 at 1:59 AM, Mick4350 said:

I doubt that this will affect magazines being sold here in Australia in our local newsagents at all,  except that they may take a little longer to reach us here down under

Sadly Mick I asked and it will. I have been told no distribution on November issue other than via web order or E Book Version.

[John B (Sc)]

The plans for December sound good - I do hope they work out. Very challenging times to try and guess what will be possible in the immediate future.  The cost implications can be crippling, very rapidly.

Fingers will be crossed and we hope to see the next issue in the shops as planned, even though we up here in Scotland are only a tiny part of the market! 

 

[Jabba]

Has anyone subscriber or not received their Nov issue yet?

[Papa Delta]

I live in the States, and I have not received my November AND October issues yet.

[SeventySecond]

Hi Jabba

 

I am a UK subscriber and as of today I have not received the November issue of SAMI. When I contacted MA publications last week they said that RM was being a little slow this month and to give it until the early part of this week, but given it is now past that I am going to contact them again, to see what they say.

 

 

[Jabba]

Thanks, I will see what arrives in the post today. Probably Dec issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling!

[SeventySecond]

Funny you should say that as I did receive the Dec issue of SAM today!

[Jabba]

Unfortunately I got nowt.

[Whofan]

On 19/11/2020 at 19:29, Jabba said:

Has anyone subscriber or not received their Nov issue yet?

Non subscriber here; Yes, at least a week ago now.

[Jabba]

Thanks. I got my Dec issue of SAM today, but no sight of SAMI.

[Red Dot]

Having just bought the October copy of SAMI yesterday, I would say you are lucky.

 

I stopped my subscription a couple of years ago because of the appaling errors, spelling mistakes and poor quality of the writing. Nothing has changed sadly

 

Andy

[Roof Rat]

It's now the 27th of the month and I still have not received my copies of Model Aircraft and Scale Aviation Modeller, this is the third month in-a-row they have not arrived without me emailing MA Publications to complain.

 

I totally understand the difficulties companies are facing because of Covid-19, however other magazines I and my wife subscribe to arrive on or very close to on-time each month, in my opinion MA Publications are rubbish and I won't be renewing my subscriptions. 

 

Rant over

 

RR

[PhoenixII]

On 11/25/2020 at 2:30 PM, SeventySecond said:

.................I contacted MA publications last week they said that RM was being a little slow this month and to give it until the early part of this week

Isn't it nice when you can put the blame where nobody is going to argue?!

For reference, RM have only been sorting 1st class mail on Friday and Saturday and only delivering 1st class post on a Monday for at least the last six months, as their main money maker is packets and parcels. 2nd class mail is still sorted Monday and delivered Tuesday through Friday, 'printed paper' falls under 2nd class mail.

RM are NOT blameless on many occasions, and many mistakes are of their own making, however, if the printed magazines have been collected by RM or sent to the RM sorting hub, it does not serve the RM business plan to delay distribution, wherever the final destination is, they WILL be delivered as soon as they arrive at the local delivery office, be it anywhere in the UK, mainland Europe, North or South America, Australasia or Outer Mongolia. My take is, this is similar to the early seventies when the then new computers where coming out, it was a standard "Oh, I'm sorry, we're having computer problems....!"

Ex postie Paul

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, PhoenixII said:

For reference, RM have only been sorting 1st class mail on Friday and Saturday and only delivering 1st class post on a Monday for at least the last six months

I'll take issue with that statement Paul and say that it is almost certainly completely untrue.

If it were even partly true this practice wouldn't have gone un-noticed for 6 months, consumer groups would be up in arms and if it were official policy senior management would have been hung out to dry by now.

Royal Mail advertises it aims to deliver all First Class Mail next working day including Saturdays, and as OFCOM's designated universal service provider they are required to have a target of next working day delivery of all priority mail. Delivery of First Class mail only on a Monday would be a flagrant breach of this requirement.

From a customer point of view it is also not  my experience, having received First Class mail on pretty much every working day of the week. Our company did a bulk mailing a couple of weeks ago, approx 100 First Class letters sent out last post on Friday, the majority were delivered Saturday morning, i.e. less than 24 hours after posting. A small random sample, granted; but none should have been delivered until Monday if your statement were true.

Whilst next day First Class mail is only a target and not guaranteed, and performance meeting this target is probably a fair bit lower than it used to be, I would suggest that a large percentage of the mail sent meets or is sufficiently close to the target to be acceptable to OFCOM.