Non Subscribers?

[ben10ben]

" I assume they are reasonably prompt about getting the magazines into the customer's hands?"

A couple of years ago, my dad ordered me a CTT subscription through them as a Christmas present. It was April before I received my first issue. After that, they showed up around the same time as everyone else's. They always came through Kalmbach, and not the other company.

My subscription lapsed in April of this year, and I have yet to get around to renewing. I certainly will do so through Kalmbach when I do, if for no other reason than not short-changing the people who so graciously provide this forum. I'd also hate to have to wait another four months for my subscription to pick back up.

[jefelectric]

Am I the only one who subscribes? I get CTT, Trains & MR by subscription and generally buy Classic Trains at Barnes & Noble. I like the convenience of getting them by mail and have not had a problem with damage. Now that I have said that, look out!

[Anonymous]

I subscribed for one year to CTT, but the post office keeps trashing my copy. I even left a letter in the mailbox to stop folding my magazine and ripping it up. So I will continue to buy at the trainstore or bookstore.

[Anonymous]

I don't subscribe to any of the train magazines but I do buy every issue. I am tired of every magazine being beat up by the post office so I prefer to buy from the hobby shops or bookstores.

[3railguy]

These changes could be a big investment for Kalmbach and they probably feel better about it with the gauranteed income subscriptions bring.

[lionelsoni]

I just read the announcement and don't think that it will matter to me, since I have never read the 300 product reviews nor seen the 75 videos (not that I would know how to do that, anyway). So I will keep buying the magazine at King's Hobby. (Village Hobby RIP)

[willpick]

I tend to agree with Allan- I don't subscribe to any of the Kalmbach magazines any more- I do buy them at my LHS if there is something of interest in an issue.
I don't think i'm going to subscribe just to get additional on-line content(I spend WAY too much time online as it is). Here's hoping the switchover goes smoothly[:)].

[Anonymous]

I think it's wise to offer value-added features for subscribers.

That said, I don't currently subscribe to any train magazines aside from "Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette" and "Z Track," preferring instead to buy my magazines at the local B&N or Books-a-Million. That gives me a good excuse from visiting those full-line bookstores from time to time since I like seeing what ese is out there and just browsing through the latest book offerings.

I'll have to think about subscribing to either GR or CTT--probably one or the other, but not both. I also regularly read "Trains," "Classic Trains," and MR, but can't subscribe to everything so I'll continue to get those publications, and a handful of others I read regularly, at the bookstore.

Each consumer will have to make up his/her own mind about subscribing (if they are not already doing so) and the real value to the individual of any value-added features. I don't generally pay all that much attention to product reviews, for example, preferring instead to read such reviews when they are provided by actual users who bought the stuff and report their observations on this and other forums.

Still, I think it's a good idea for Kalmbach to follow this path--certainly makes a whole lot more sense than those unsolicited DVDs which, from all appearances, ticked off as many or more people than they attracted.

[Anonymous]

I just reviewed the posting on the changes. There isn't anything that you will "lose" if you don't subscribe to one of the publications. This is just a case of "value added" content for people who do subscribe. I've wondered why the paper publishers haven't done this before. There is usually material that doesn't make it into the publications because of cost/space issues, photo's, illustrations, etc. This is a way to offer that material at significantly lower costs to the supplier/producer and still use the material as an incentive to subscribe.

[douellet]

I see there are changes coming to trains.com in July. It seems that one should become a subscriber in the future if one is to really enjoy the website. I for one perfer to buy my CTT and Trains at my local hobby shop. I have every CTT since the first issue, I have missed a few, less than you could fit on one hand. I will continue to buy my issues from the same store as I have since the early 1990's. It's just a personal preference. Anyone else feel the same way?[?]