I used to get the new issue in the first few days of a month and sometimes the last few days of the previous month but my February issue arrived mid-January and I'm still waiting for the March issue. My apologies if this has been discussed but I have been on a hiatus from the hobby for some time now.
John-NYBW I used to get the new issue in the first few days of a month and sometimes the last few days of the previous month but my February issue arrived mid-January and I'm still waiting for the March issue. My apologies if this has been discussed but I have been on a hiatus from the hobby for some time now.
I've been a Model Railroader subscriber since 1970........
I've never been able to predict its arival. To my recollection it shifts thruout the year, but is always way early of the cover "month"?
Maybe it is effected by how close you live to where it is printed and distributed from? I live pretty far from Waukesha.
My March issue showed up recently. Last week? Earlier this week?
And now we have Covid mail?
Sheldon
I got mine last week, and I'm 20 miles from Waukesha. I don't even know who prints them, Quad Graphics?
I've never been able to predict, or have I've tried, as to when they show up.
I'm still waiting for the 4th quarter issue of the SOO.
Mike.
My You Tube
I used to get them around the 3rd of the month. I think I got Nov at the end of Oct. This one came this week.
I mailed a check to pay a bill on 1/28 and as of yesterday, it hadn't arrived.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
My February and March issues showed up the same day in my mailbox. All of our mail delivery here in Delaware has been a nightmare since November. I can't fault Kalmbach for the woes of the Postal Service.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL John-NYBW I used to get the new issue in the first few days of a month and sometimes the last few days of the previous month but my February issue arrived mid-January and I'm still waiting for the March issue. My apologies if this has been discussed but I have been on a hiatus from the hobby for some time now. I've been a Model Railroader subscriber since 1970........ I've never been able to predict its arival. To my recollection it shifts thruout the year, but is always way early of the cover "month"? Maybe it is effected by how close you live to where it is printed and distributed from? I live pretty far from Waukesha. My March issue showed up recently. Last week? Earlier this week? And now we have Covid mail? Sheldon
When White River took over the publication of RMC, they began issuing the magazine at the beginning of the cover month rather than the previous month. It has me wondering if MRR is gradually moving in that direction. Or maybe they are working with a reduced staff because of Covid-19.
Whatever the reason, I have been a subscriber for a long time and never did I receive the latest issue as late as it has been the last two months. I would always start looking for it at the end of a month an almost never would it arrive more than 2 or 3 days into the new month.
I don't consider the arrival date of a magazine life threatening.
maxman I don't consider the arrival date of a magazine life threatening.
It is only important if you are running low on toilet paper.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I received my March, 2021 Model Railroader on Monday 01/FEB/2021.
I almost always get them in the first three or four days of the month.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I got my March issue right around the 1st of February; I'm way out here in idaho.
SeeYou190 I received my March, 2021 Model Railroader on Monday 01/FEB/2021. I almost always get them in the first three or four days of the month. -Kevin
That used to be my experience but not lately. I wonder what has changed and why. I guess I'll have to call customer service to find out.
John-NYBWI wonder what has changed and why.
My guess would be it is the lingering service problems through certain hubs of the United States Postal Service.
SeeYou190My guess would be it is the lingering service problems through certain hubs of the United States Postal Service.
I think so, too. Way out here on the plains, I still get my issues the same time as always. It seems like certain areas of the eastern U.S. are having Post Office delays. It doesn't seem to me to be a Kalmbach problem.
York1 John
BigDaddy I used to get them around the 3rd of the month. I think I got Nov at the end of Oct. This one came this week. I mailed a check to pay a bill on 1/28 and as of yesterday, it hadn't arrived.
Lot of issues with the USPS these days.
I always get mine a week or so before the end of the month - benefot of digital. I think they release the digital edition to Zinio within a day or two of sending the completed issue to Quad for printing. I got and finished March weeks ago.
The free guys are changing up their release date. I see their point to include news and new item information, but I think they are shootign themselves int he foot with advertisers. IMO, the best release dtae to support advertisers (with things like sale annoucements) is a week or so before the beginning of the cover month - MR is basically a month ahead, but pretty consistent so that's probably OK, just odd getting an April magazine before February ends. As to my advertiser issue - if they want to have a sale in, say June, they can get the ad with the sale to run in the June issue, which is released about a week befoire the beginning of June, and stays on the news stand until near the end of June - so even a newcomer will pick up an issue and see the sale ad while the sale is still in effect.
Releasing in the middle of the month now makes the advertiser place 2 ads with the sale listed. Once half a month before the sale begine, and another when the sale is already half over.
MR's way ahead release dates (I'm not sure when that started - I've been a subscriber since the 80's and it always was like that) just mean the advertisers have to plan ahead. But an issue comes out near the end of the previous month, even if it is 2 months out, not the next month.
I think the idea is that the physical copies would be in subscriber hands by the first of the month, but with slow mail delivery, that's not been the case lately. Street behind me, they were complaining on the Nextdoor app that they hadn't gotten any mail all week. Mine's been pretty good so far.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I don't know if this is true or not. I once read that, in the past when people bought a lot of magazines at newstands, the magazine publishers put out the editions very early in order for newstands to physically get their copies delivered and displayed before the first of the month.
I live over in the UK and was very lucky to be given a MRR subscription as a retirement present. I have found the service very good, I received the March 2021 edition two weeks ago.
Regards
Paul
US Railroad Fan modelling HO on Merrylands Rail layout in Bookham,Surrey,UK.
York1 I don't know if this is true or not. I once read that, in the past when people bought a lot of magazines at newstands, the magazine publishers put out the editions very early in order for newstands to physically get their copies delivered and displayed before the first of the month.
I'm just guessing is the reason the cover month is a month before the actual month is so they can sell the issue at newstands right up to the end of the month. People might be less inclined to buy the February issue at the end of February than they would be to buy the March issue at the end of February. About the only place I see MRR sold is at the LHS, not general news stands. I think a long time ago I saw MRR at an airport news stand but my memory of that is a little fuzzy.
SeeYou190 John-NYBW I wonder what has changed and why. My guess would be it is the lingering service problems through certain hubs of the United States Postal Service. -Kevin
John-NYBW I wonder what has changed and why.
You might be right. I hadn't noticed other items arriving late but the magazine is the only one I have an expected delivery date. Now that I think about it, I'm still waiting for a couple 1099 forms to be delivered and those are supposed to be sent by the end of January. Maybe they are being delayed as well.
I buy a lot of stuff online now. Since I live in a rural area, a lot of time UPS or Fedex finds it more economical to handoff the package to the USPS rather than send a delivery truck. It probably depends on whether they have enough other deliveries to make in the area to make it worthwhile. I can track the packages and they usually get passed to the local post office rather than a hub so I don't see the delays with those packages.