OK, Autosport arrived only two days late WITH the postal strike in effect.

Strange!

Good lord, my Autosport has arrived ON THE DAY OF DELIVERY!!!

Was just about to say the same thing. Bizarrely my post has been getting better, not worse recently.

Viva la postal strike!

Same for me actually.

This week's issue arrived on Thursday, the day the mag comes out, once more.

Awesome!

And this week it doesn't!

There's no postal strike, so where the flip is my Autosport....?

Three weeks running now I've had my magazine arrive on schedule. Who knows what goes on in the Royal Mail sorting offices eh?

Subscribed to Autosport for 18 months and it have always received my copy on Thursday, apart from one day of strikes a couple of weeks ago when our post office was fully closed and no one in the town got mail.

The only complaint I ever had was that I never got my free gift!!

Through the door on time today!

And what a weighty package, nearly broke me arm.

There's the magazine, Demon Tweaks catalogue and Autosport Directory for 2010.

Can't wait for the diary stickers in a few weeks, they are totally handy.

Nice job Haymarket.

I love autosport, so much that i have asked for a subscription regardless that i live in Guatemala. But i havent even get the first one, and i am waiting since almost 1 month for now....

I sent 2 emails, but still no answer....

I live in Guatemala, Central America... 14 days waiting for my first issue to arrive... it should not be a great deal to get the mag here....

Still waiting for last week's.

Again mine hasn't turned up.

Is there no consideration being given by Harmarket to conduct an investigation into what's going on? I received a first class letter today that was posted yesterday, so if my Autosport was posted yesterday....where is it?

I've always put this down to a problem at the Haymarket end, whether that be the time the magazines leave the printers (and we've been told on this forum that this is never an issue, pardon the pun) or whether it leaves the next stage late.

On many Thursdays when Autosport has not arrived I have received post that day that was posted from elsewhere in the UK the day before. I know there's just a few of us have mentioned this on the forum, so to the casual observe it can look like an isolated problem, but of the total number of Autosport's UK subscribers I do wonder what % don't receive their copy on a Thursday.

Mine popped through the catflap right on time today!

Christmas edition doesn't seem as fat this year, or as witty as years past sadly.

Post has come this morning and... No magazine again.

Snow Dank, snow...

There, fixed that for you.

They still only have last weeks edition in Sainsbury's in Headingley.

Still no Autosport from last week as of today's post. Normally arrives on Friday, sometimes Saturday but not to get it by Monday is a bit off, luckily it is the 2 week edition otherwise I wouldn't read it in time before the next one arrived (assuming that would be on time...)

Come on Haymarket get the online version going every week, you have proved the technology is there

I'm going mad here, is there an edition after the December 10th one, I haven't seen one anywhere in Leeds.

Double issue was out 17th. Next one is out this Thursday, 31st December.

You should subscribe fella, that way you'll never miss an issue...

...although they might arrive a bit late!*




*That said, mine has been spot on ever since the Royal Mail strike.

I can't afford to subscribe unfortunately. I know I pay more over a year but as a student I don't have the one off cash.

From the day that it was supposed to be out I've searched for the double issue, even the WH Smiths in Leeds city centre didn't have the bugger.

That is frustrating man.

I'd mail you my copy but it is thrashed from riding around in my bag and has spent the last few days sitting on the cistern.

When it's not being read in the Big House.

People actually read magazines on the throne? I thought that was just one of those myths!

The myth is alive and real in my household!

And a few others I know of. Personally I prefer a book, easier to handle.

Not the most hygenic of things though is it?

As an aside, popped into Tesco today and they had at least half-a-dozen copies of the Chrimbo issue of Autosport.

I said reading Autosport in the toilet, not wiping your arse wtih it!

Got this weeks episode from Headingley on my way home tonight. It was the last copy though.

Mine arrived on Thursday, as is now quite normal.

This week's issue (Dec 31) is quite weird though.

It has a lead story on the cover which is hopelessly out of date.

Says that Michael Schumacher is 'close' to a deal with Mercedes, backed up by those quotes from Luca di Montezemolo...

...but the identical story was reported on December 18 on the website, and since then the horse has well and truly bolted with Schumacher signing for Mercedes the day before Autosport's previous Christmas two-week issue went out.

So it looks as if the latest magazine was actually banged together before Christmas, as there's very little new stuff in it.

Hmm, perhaps I'm not that desperate for this week's issue to turn up then!

It seems weird.

Normally the magazine goes out of its way not to timelock itself.

This seems to have been set in stone more than two weeks ago.

Given the media blitz that accompanied Schumacher's annoucement on the 23rd, it seems weird the magazine has no shots of Schumacher at Brawn, or Schumacher in front of Mercedes Benz signage etc etc.

I guess the magazine is basically shut down over this period and they've locked away three weeks worth of issues (double mag, plus the 31st edition) before Christmas Day.

It is pretty amazing really.

If that issue was put to bed two full weeks before it was due to hit the stands you'd think they'd not get locked into a story which could very well change.

I bet Schumacher shifts issues though.

Hello,

I thought I'd come on here to clear up the confusion surrounding the Decemeber 31st issue and the Schumacher story.

Owing to the production schedules around Christmas - the way the printers and distributors operate - the print deadline for that issue was Monday December 21.

Now, we had a pretty good idea that the Schumacher deal was going to be announced before the end of the year, but we were unable to get confirmation of the exact date. Given that the next issue we'd be able to put that 'news' into would be January 7, I decided that we'd run what we had and hope the news broke as expected. Imagine if his neck wasn't ok and Heidfeld had been picked!

This is why there are no pictures or quotes or whatever. It's not that we couldn't be bothered, it was that they didn't exist when the magazine went to press.

I hope this clears things up, and that you enjoyed the rest of the (less time-sensitive) parts of the magazine.

Best,

Andrew van de Burgt
Editor, AUTOSPORT

Hi Andy,

Thanks for stopping by with the explanation.

I appreciate you are under no obligation to address our gripes, and us armchair critics do moan like drains here on the basis of the handful of gold coins we throw your publication each week.

I'm not suggesting your team would leave the Schumacher stuff from the 23rd out on purpose, and figured there'd be another explanation, and thanks for providing one.

I just found the piece did seem dated when I picked up the magazine, especially the use of the word 'closes', given how widely covered the Mercedes deal was at the time.

However, like a fan who has never played the game, I'm only chipping in from the sidelines.

I've no professional understanding of the magazine business, what covers sell, how holidaying printers and various other things influence the decisions taken as Autosport is produced.

And yes, the rest of the magazine was excellent as usual.

Cheers,
P

(p.s: Feel free to put Quick Nick on the cover at any time, he has a loyal and long-suffering fanbase and I'm sure he would sell like hot cakes...)

Decent of you to drop by Andrew to explain the reasoning behind the Schumacher story in this week's issue. Certainly isn't the end of the world, and like you say, could have been made twenty times worse if his come back hadn't come to fruition!

As an aside, I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the look back over 'the biggest stories of the decade' feature, which was essentially twenty pages of reviewing the ups and downs in F1, and about 5% dedicated to any other category. In an ideal world, it would have been good if you could have done a larger-than-normal issue and really gone to town on it. Something to bear in mind in ten years time perhaps?

I think Autosport are probably saving up lots of stuff for the 60th anniversary issue, if the 50th in 2000 was anything to go by.

PS I thought it was a bit sloppy putting a 2002 pic (Ralf) on the 2003 article though!

Today is the first time since before the postal strike that my Autosport hasn't arrived on time.

Mine neither, but then, I never really expected it to grace my doormat anyway, what with the copious amounts of snow outside at the moment. I'll let the postie off this week.

Unsurprising, still not turned up.

And, as anal as this may seem, I have been keeping tabs over the past three months just when my issues actually turn up. Date of publication in bold, actual date of arrival in brackets.

Oct 01 - (Oct 03)
Oct 08 - (Oct 09)
Oct 15 - (Oct 17)
Oct 22 - (Oct 24)
Oct 29 - (Nov 02)
Nov 05 - (Nov 07)
Nov 12 - (Nov 14)
Nov 19 - (Nov 21)
Nov 26 - (Nov 28)
Dec 03 - (Dec 04)
Dec 10 - (Dec 11)
Dec 17 - (Dec 19)
Dec 31 - (Jan 04)

Average delay is usually at least two days, which I find unacceptable for a weekly publication. I live between Oxford and Aylesbury, approx. 90 miles away. Not in another country or continent.

Unfortunately, this thread on the surface does appear to be 'The Dank & Promtor Show' as there has been little in the way of anyone else suggesting they may have been having similar problems. But the thing I find bizarre, and yes it may have been sheer coincidence, is that when someone intervened and sent several issues from a different location in the summer, they all arrived on time, every time.

I subscribe to F1 Racing and this always pops through my letterbox before it hits the shelves, so why the continued problem with Autosport?

Don't think I am merely pacing around my house waiting for the postman to turn up with my copy, but I would like it to arrive on time. If my other subscriptions can manage it, why not Autosport? I am giving some serious thought now to not renewing my annual subscription in a few weeks time, surely it is better for Autosport I don't, as they reap more income per copy than if I only buy a handful per year from WH Smith, plus also helps the publication to remain in print?

Oi!

Mine has shown up yet this week, but it has arrived every day on time since the postal strike.

I'm working on a powerpoint presentation to rival Dank's statistical analysis.

This week's edition was the first late arrival since I started subscribing a couple of years ago. Even then it's only a day, so it's not all bad.

It's because you're big bully's and everyone's scared of you.

We're proper internet tough guys.

Yeah. We're like Right Said Fred or something.

Still not got last week's mag yet! (sorry, couldn't resist it).

1 month and a half and i still havent receive my first issue... and i paid in advanced ! no response from haymarket after 4 emails...

I would ring them!