It kind of irks me that after paying nearly $43.00 for a subscription to the magazine, it comes to me damaged almost every month. It can't be that much to have the mailed issues sealed in a clear plastic envelope or even a standard plain brown wrapper. Am I the only one having this problem????
Mines been pretty much perfect every month for years, decades, even. That's through three or four moves all over the west.
Just call the customer service number and get a replacement.
I don't think any of my train magazines come in an envelope or plastic bag any longer.
Have you addressed the issue with the Kalmbach people? I am sure they have an interest in you getting an undamaged copy every month!
I am on an overseas subscription and my MR comes in a clear plastic envelope.
We live in New Brunswick Canada and we just got the June issue yesterday April 29th in the mail, and we have been receiving it for the last several years in a plastic envelope. I had unsubscribed for several years because it came just with a address label on the magazine and was always damaged and I bought at the local magazine store at a slight discount from cover price. MR went to the sealed plastic envelope so I went back to subscription. RMC was loose and always arrived damaged too so I get that at the magazine stand now. Model Railroad News is sealed plastic envelope so I subscribe to that one too.
Kalmbach has gone back and forth in the 45+ (!) years I have subscribed to MR -- paper envelopes (I still have one somewhere addressed to "Master David Nelson"), no envelopes, plastic, no envelope again, combined MR and Trains in one envelope, and so on. Two things have remained constant. First, even in the days of paper or plastic envelopes, when the US postal system gets the urge to damage something it doesn't let a little thing like an envelope get in its way. Second, Kalmbach has always been prompt about providing a replacement copy.
Dave Nelson
MR and TRAINS used to be in plastic bags years ago.....but they wanted to make a bigger profit so they stopped bagging them.
I have a subscription to RAILPACE and they come in a large white envelope.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
You know, if the mail person is having a bad day and disgruntaly shoves your MR issue in the mail box, a little plastc sleeve or paper wrapping is not going to save it. It also has nothing to do with MR. Try talking to your mail man. It probably won't help, every piece of "do not bend" mail has been curled over itself into a taco shape to fit in the tiny main box in my apartment. I'm not surprised if my MR comes a little tore. These late mailings are getting a little annoying though. I used to get my MR around the 20th or so, usually at the end of the 3rd week of the month or begining of the last week of the month. This will be the 3rd month in a row it hasn't come to almost the 1st. I mean it really isn't too much of a hassle, I'm just so addicted to MR that this new delivery date is killing me and will take a long time for me to get used to.
rdgk1se3019 MR and TRAINS used to be in plastic bags years ago.....but they wanted to make a bigger profit so they stopped bagging them.
It might be good to remember that postal rates went up recently, and the cost has to be recouped somehow.
The best thing to do is to call or e-mail Kalmbach customer service, and tell them what happened. They've always been pretty good about replacing damaged copies. I would also hope that if they notice a trend (such as, e.g., a spike in the number of replacement copies sent to ZIP code 12345), they have someone who will lodge a complaint with the appropriate postmaster.
Dan
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
I subscribe to three Kalmbach monthly publications and get all the special issues they offer.
They come plain, with no wrapper and are completely intact.
Your postal regional office must have issues with sorting the mags into the mail. COntact BOTH Kalmbach AND your regional postal service to find out where the problem lies.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
MILW-RODRYou know, if the mail person is having a bad day and disgruntaly shoves your MR issue in the mail box, a little plastc sleeve or paper wrapping is not going to save it.
You know, if the mail person is having a bad day and disgruntaly shoves your MR issue in the mail box, a little plastc sleeve or paper wrapping is not going to save it.
It's more likely the magazine or other mail is damaged long before it gets to your carrier. The mail goes thru several machines (that reads the barcode for example) and any one of them can cut up a magazine.
It's pretty unlikely a mailman or any postal worker would take a magazine out of the envelope to look at it. Not only would they probably get fired if caught, it's also a federal offense which could lead to a fine or jail time.
I agree with Stix on this. It is usually the machinery that tears up some parcels and not others. I have been a subscriber to MR for five years and have never had an issue with a torn magazine. When I receive mine, it is plain, it used to be in a plastic envelope. I have to give MR and whoever in the postal system kudos that mine arrives all neat pristine.
As for the cell phone bill's envelope, that is a different story.
Will
I have had a non-stop subscription of MR since 1982 and have had less than 5 issues come damaged or missing altogether. In each time with a phone call to Kalmbach a new issue was sent quickly.
Funny. I remember when they dropped the plastic wrap. They sent out a notice about how they switched to a different mailing system (bulk packages or something) that made the plastic wrap unnecessary. I contacted them and praised them for the decision. I hate extraneous wassteful packaging, and my magazine usually arrives in pretty good condition without it. People who get mangled copies must have something else going on with the postal system in their neck of the woods.
I haven't had any dammaged issues out where I'm at.....I figured that once they stopped bagging them there would be problems, but amazingly, not one....
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
My only Kalmbach subscription is Classic Trains, which comes to me in Canada with both a plastic cover over a printed paper cover which is stapled over the magazine's true cover.
In three years, I have not had any problems. Mind you, that comes to only 12 issues, but with no 'issues'.
-Crandell
Having been a subscriber for longer than I care to admit, and having moved all over the world (moves courtesy of the USAF) I can count the number of damaged MR mags I've received on the fingers of one hand.
The most recent probably was the final mail handler's fault. MR was shoehorned into a standard lock box with a pile of junk mail and a small box, as well as the usual first class bills and such. The plug was about one square millimeter short of airtight.
On second thought, I might have done the damage myself, in trying to disassemble the plug!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
MILW-RODRevery piece of "do not bend" mail has been curled over itself into a taco shape to fit in the tiny main box in my apartment
Try talking to your land-lord to see if you can build your own mailbox. I don't think he will do it, but who knows? some land-lords show interest in what the tennants are doing and will support them on some of their endeavours. My friend's family lived in a house they rented a while back, and my friend contracted the railroad-bug from me. The landlord, hearing about my friend's interest, allowed him to use a spare room that had always been locked, and it started to work out, untill they moved again. Real shame, their moving, because the house was a few hundred yards away from the CSX main line, and Amtrak used the line to get from Jacksonville to Orlando.
MILW-RODR. I mean it really isn't too much of a hassle, I'm just so addicted to MR that this new delivery date is killing me and will take a long time for me to get used to.
I can agree with that. Unfortunately, I have an extreme case of "Railroader's itus"( as my family calls it) and I read every page of the Model Railroader (and Garden Railways) within a day or two. Let me tell you, it kills me, waiting on the new issues to come. I subscribe to 4 model railroading magazines, and the 1 Fine Scale Modeler (as well as the newsletter the railroad museum I volunteer for sends me) and it still drives me nuts. Sometimes, it drives me crazy, because there are not that many hobby shops within driving distance, so I can't get the materials for the how-to articles I see every month.
Thanks, Kalmbach, for having the forums set up. It helps to keep what I have left of my sanity (funny thing is, I may be the most sane person I know.)
Have had maybe two problems in all the years (since 1960) that I have read MR. Sometimes I bought at the hobby shop but in the last several years let them send it to me. Never have a problem but the two I mentioned, both of which were explainable..
Bob
I have received a grand total of one issue that was torn up in the mail, and I have been receiving it for over 30 years. Currently my magazines I receive have a heavy paper overcover. I would guess that the USPS is the responsible party, although it could be the printer as well. The magazines are processed by machine at the USPS, the AFSM 100 , (which your magazine is probably sorted on) flat sorting machine processes about 16,000 pieces per hour. That is why it does not cost you an arm and a leg to have the magazine shipped to you. The machine that sorts the letters is known as a DBCS runs just about 40K per hour. At those speeds there is a very small percentage of mailpieces damaged in the process.
The USPS does take the sanctity of the mail very serious. You will get fired for reading somebodys mail, even a magazine. Of course people do look at your magazine in the mail, but it is an awful big risk that could easily cost your job.
Yes I work for the USPS and we work very hard to bring you the best product possible, for the least cost. It is important not to lose customers, because of the decrease in the volume of the mail. In my oppinion it may only take one messed up mailpiece to push you over the edge, and the results could be the loss of you as a customer. We process about one million pieces a night (letters, flats and some parcels) where I work, and it is not a large facility. I am sure the printer uses high speed machines to print and prep the magazine for mailing and they have some of the same issues we do here at the USPS so they have a very small percentage of problems as well.Just so you know I also get P.O.d when I receive my mailpiece torn up, but it happens very infrequently.
My pun: It has taken over 200 years to get the price of mailing a letter to .44, but the price of gas goes up that much overnight, and you probably use more gas than stamps.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
Mine always come in good condition. Sometimes I get mine a week or more later than others in my area. Even the Walthers and Historic rail fliers are later then a friends who lives in another town. I got one that had folded page corners like someone book marked the page. I wouldn't suspect anything if there were more than one or two random pages. My February issue of RMC just came last week and the May Walthers flier came yesterday. I wouldn't mind if someone reads it before delivery just as long as I get it a day or so later. I had asked the local Post master why someone in a neighboring town would get their bulk mail a week or more before I did and he had no reasonable explanation. The only thing he could come up with is maybe a miss delivery to another address and then redirected to mine. I can understand that sometimes. I get a lot of my neighbors mail and they get some of mine. But not every modeling magazine? Funny the next delivery day I got 3 magazines/catalogs in the box. Just one of the pitfalls of having a rural mailing system.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
With the suggestions already given to the OP, it's probably at a good point to move on...
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https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.