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Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
QUOTE: Originally posted by fwdguy Has everyone gotten there April issue via US mail? Im in Texas and still waiting for mine. It is usually here by the 1st. Mark
QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill Here's some info you might not know about magazines and mailing. Most magazines are mailed in a very narrow window from the printer -- one to three days, tops. Very large-circulation magazines such as National Geographic and People are printed regionally to obtain lower mailing costs, better delivery consistency, and to be able to sell regional advertising, but most magazines come from one press. The base rate for the typical magazine subscription is via second-class mail, a class that is extremely low-cost because it is handled on a space-available basis and has low service guarantees. The post office moves first-class mail first, then if there's any space left in the truck, or time in the day, it sorts and moves the second-class and lesser-class mail. Because mailing volume is not flat -- it varies widely by day of the week, time of the the month, and time of year -- some days the second-class mail arriving at the post office moves expeditiously and other days it will gather dust for a week while the resources are devoted to meeting the first-class guarantee. Because mail moves on multiple sorts, each step of the process introduces a new opportunity for delay or missed connection. It is not unusual for a second-class mailing to be wildly inconsistent at a given address, especially if that address is at the end of a delivery chain that is badly stressed by growth, insufficient capacity, or poor management at one or more steps of the way. Every delivery chain is different right down to the level of the mail carrier's route. If you get your magazine unusually early, all the cards lined up for you that month. If you get it late, you didn't. If you're having unusually bad delivery, complain to your local post office. But I wouldn't bother complaining to the publisher, because you didn't pay for anything but inconsistent, space-available service. There is, according to some sources, a significant subsidy of second-class by first-class mail. Regardless, the recipient cannot expect first-class service for a second-class price! At present, first-class delivery for Trains is an extra $30 per year, which nearly doubles the cost of the product just to obtain consistent delivery dates. This is a fun thread for me to look at, because it represents so genuinely the exact situtation between railroads and their customers. Rail customers love the low rates, but they hate the poor service, especially the not-knowing when the shipment will arrive. Well, consistency and dependability cost money -- money for the railroad to buy plant and people that will sit around doing nothing on the slack days, and spring into action on the busy days. That is by far the easiest way to obtain consistency, but it is very expensive. What customers want is good service at low rates. I can't blame them, I want that too, but if they really need it, they might have to pay for it. Scheduled service, as it's now practiced by railroads, acknowledges that on many days trains will be run with less-than-full tonnage, and yards and crews will often not be worked to their fullest potential output. The customer is paying for that suboptimization of the transportation machine in order to obtain best optimization of his total logistics chain. The big change, which so far has received almost zero due notice, is NOT that the railroads changed, but that rail customers changed. The relative importance of logistics costs has increased, because many rail customers are squeezing out every possible cost in order to remain in the game. Rising costs of labor, real estate, and inventory (more high-value goods are being sold) has given rail customers more incentive to pay extra for the transportation in order to reduce the cost of other aspects of the logistics chain that are increased by the false economy of a low freight rate. In essence, at the request of the customer, railroads raised their rates in order to offer better service. It comes down to "want" vs. "need." Everyone, including me, wants a lot of things. But everyone, including me, doesn't need most things. If I need a magazine (or a boxcar of plywood) delivered on a predictable schedule, I expect to pay extra. Some good USPS history and description of operations is here: http://www.lookd.com/postal/operations.html