Issue #165 arrived..

[Ramfins59]

I received MCM issue # 165 in the mail yesterday... We'll call it The Chuck Most Issue, since he's got 2 articles in it. Congrats Chuck...

Great article on the Hudson by the way. Makes me want to work on mine... I am in NO WAY picking any nits here... Just trying to be funny... but... The driver of the Hudson should take the Lake Pipe caps off since they are the only exhaust... and if so, it'd be a bit noisy too with no mufflers...

Again, congrat Chuck on great articles.

[Harry P.]

The reason Chuck has two features is that the Hudson story was originally supposed to be in the previous issue, but got bumped at the last minute by the iHobby coverage... which led to the soon-to-be-collector's-item #164 "wrong cover" issue.

[Chuck Most]

The driver of the Hudson should take the Lake Pipe caps off since they are the only exhaust... and if so, it'd be a bit noisy too with no mufflers...

Spacers, my good sir! Some very thick washers between the caps and the flange on the pipe... then you have a straight pipe with the look of a capped pipe, and in some jurisdictions they couldn't cite you for having no muffler, because technically it is a baffle. (They'd just ticket you for something else, though...)

[Foxer]

rusty washers?

[Guest]

Got mine friday I think, great issue, but back cover is in shreds. I'd ask for another, but I have heard you have to send in the old copy, and it makes no sense to pay for postage to do that, I might as well go buy another copy.

[Harry P.]

Got mine friday I think, great issue, but back cover is in shreds.

Same here. Back cover looks like it went through the war...

[Guest]

With as many of us that have trouble with damaged issues, I still find it hard to believe it's our individual post offices. Is there someplace other than GBP on the Denver end that can be the cause?

[Chuck Most]

I'll award ten bonus points to the person who finds the redundant reduntant sentence in the Hudson article.

[Harry P.]

I'll award ten bonus points to the person who finds the redundant reduntant sentence in the Hudson article.

Is that an announcement from the Department of Redundancy Department?

[mikemodeler]

I'll award ten bonus points to the person who finds the redundant reduntant sentence in the Hudson article.

That is not fair Chuck, I have yet to receive my copy! My mailman has to read it first and pass it around the post office before it ends up in my mailbox!

[edward smith]

I always ask myself, how do you pick people for the magazine? Do they contact you or do you contact the people? This is for Harry of course.

[Harry P.]

I always ask myself, how do you pick people for the magazine? Do they contact you or do you contact the people? This is for Harry of course.

Both. We have some people who supply us with material regularly, but also if I see something really good posted here on the forum, I'll contact the person and tell them I want to do a magazine feature on their model, or a "spotlight" type of thing on their work in general. A lot of what you see in the magazine is in there because I saw it here first!

[Dr. Cranky]

Hopefully mine will arrived today, that would be a plus to go along with all the liqueur filled chocolates I'm eating!

[BOSWELL891]

I still haven't received my copy yet, i wonder whats taking so long

[jbwelda]

another new issue...another torn cover. this is getting old real quick. you guys need to do something about this now, and stop playing around and start treating your subscribers with some respect. or you will have no subscribers and then will whine about how "the economy" did it. no it didnt...it was the refusal to spend a few cents to put the mag into a plastic bag for shipping.

and i am not f'ing around with sending the mag back for a replacement, not when the replacement is probably going to arrive in the same condition and cost money and time to mail back.

please get it together or you will have lost another subscriber to newstand sales (that you cant report as circulation and therefore cant get advertisers based on circulation numbers).

there is obvious need for context checker not just spell checker too but at this point that has come to be expected. at least you havent misspelled Ferrari on the cover...on two consecutive covers. that was funny. well, not "funny" exactly...kinda developmentally disabled to use the PC term.

thanks in advance

[Big Daddy]

Here it is march 1st and still waiting on Jan issue

[Gregg]

YOU DON"T HAVE TO SEND IN THE WHOLE MAGAZINE.

Only the cover that was messed up.

Sorry for the confusion.

We did a count, I think there was a total of 28 or so torn covers.

yes, with all the complains we see here, that seems like a lot, but 28 out of what, 6,000?

[comp1839]

i guess some good news wouldn't hurt. my issue arrived the other day in fine shape. more importantly the insides were the same old cool stuff. great articles, although my favorite was (you may have guessed ) the freight train. it being a drag car and all. keep up the fantastic work guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jbwelda]

ok gregg thanks.

but think about that count you did of torn covers. must have been REPORTS of torn covers right? but people like me dont like to go through the hassle of reporting such things. most just grin and bear it.

i mean even harry reports having his cover torn in the mail!

heres another set of numbers for you to mull over: 3 out of 4 issues since my sub began had torn covers (actually thats not strictly true: one just had its cover and a couple pages folded (over and over like an accordian) but not torn...this is one case i would have attributed to the printer or shipping department possibly but it could also have come from a post office sorting machine or something). not that i know where they got torn but i know it was not my local delivery lady. and i have to assume thats somewhat typical, because if anything my local PO people handle things a lot gentler than they do in a real city.

i am trying to help. really. think about bagging the mag (poet and i know it) even if you charge extra for it. people (me) will appreciate it.

i may send in a cover but i may also just live with it, its what inside that counts really. plus its just kind of inconvenient, to be honest. but its just sort of frustrating because i am used to buying the mag off the lhs magazine rack and keeping them in clean condition. we all like clean condition, right? well all except the good doctor cranky that is!

thanks again

jb

[Dave Ambrose]

As someone who's done mass mailings, let me tell you that the post office really tears stuff up. There's not a lot you can do short of putting it in Kevlar envelopes. There were times I swore they kept a teething puppy out back just for our newsletters.

We eventually found a few ways to reduce the problem, but it didn't go away until we switched to email.

[jbwelda]

as i may have mentioned, i have subscribed to at least one other magazine for at least a decade, it comes in a thin plastic bag. i have had no torn covers or other damage in all that time. could be a coincidence i guess.

just sayin.

[Gregg]

Bill, from what we have seen, it's fall-out from the old "why does Billy get his magazine before me?" syndrome, which is based on my theory of "Power of Six."

We need six subscribers in that zip code drop zone to be able to bundle them up together, and be sent to that zip code drop station/post office.

If they are in the six bundle, they get to the reader quickly, usually a week or so.

If not, the issue to Billy gets bundled with Frank's, John's, and all the others outside of that zip code drop zone, and thrown in, not bundled, with all the other "orphans."

Then, they get thrown together with other periodicals, other bulk rate mail, and sent to that big drop zone, then to smaller drop zone, then to the local post office.

Along the way, the damage gets done.

Make sense?

Kelly and I spent a lot of time on this "theory."

We did a lot of research on it, and talked to a lot of people in a lot of different places.

It's not a science, but we think it was, and still is, the best way to explain how the process works.

Hope this makes sense.

Also, I subscribe to over 25 mags a month, and most of them are in great condition, every once in a while I'll get a torn page or two.

But then, these are all mags with 100K circulations and more.

It's a numbers game.

And yes, I'm working my tail off on the numbers game.

[martinfan5]

That made my head hurt reading that, If I read that right its, one big group , then it gets broken down to a smaller group ,and so on correct?.

Gregg, do get the time to read all 25 + mags you get a month?

[jbwelda]

not much chance a mag to me is gonna get "bunched" then, all the more reason for individual plastic bags.

but thats hitting that one too often, i fear.

anyway gregg dont get the idea that i am criticizing you. i know you put a lot of blood sweat and tears into the mag and we all appreciate your efforts. believe me, if i didnt care i wouldnt be here and i can see its the same with you. i think we all respect that and i know i do.

[Joker]

Got my issue on Saturday..wooohooo!

Yeah it's late..but I read it at Barnes and Nobles ...ha ha ha