11 replies to this topic

[Parkesi]

I would like to take the opportunity and ask European subscribers of MotorSport when they receive their magazine.

The publication is second to none and the journalists are the best of their profession but the distribution/delivery is a constant nightmare.

Nowadays it takes 3 weeks to reach my mailbox – in Germany. This I find not acceptable in the 21th century.

The subscription dept. promised to take care of the trouble many many times but nothing ever improved – quite the contrary instead.

Your feedback is most appreciated. A faithful but VERY frustrated subscriber. AH 

[nexfast]

My copy arrives in Belgium around the 10th of each month.

[Stephen W]

When I had it on subscription in the UK it would arrive approximately two days before appearing on the shelves at WH Smiths. However when it suddenly starting dropping through the letter box three days after it appeared on the shelves I cancelled my subscription. I now only buy it if there is something that I particular want to check up on.

[AlanH]

My copy of the June issue of Motor Sport arrived in Australia today (May 19th) I don't know when it was released in the UK.
One thing that always intrigues me is that it is mailed from Malmo in Sweden ??

[VWV]

I find it interesting why some people think its important when something arrives in their mailbox in the 21st century when we are living in a digital world where information delivery is whenever one wants it.

 

Motorsport magazine offers print and digital delivery and the articles in the magazine are not time sensitive so it does not matter when you read it. I have been evolving over the last 2-3 years to moving all my subscriptions over to digital only. I still prefer the physical book to read over an ebook but magazines I am going 100% PDF and saving the articles I want. I have both a real library and a digital one. I have a future project to scan the articles I want from my existing magazines and getting rid of magazines. Saving magazines takes too much unnecessary space. Hopefully I will be able to trade with others magazine PDF's.

 

Disclaimer, I am a print only Motorsport subscriber, living in Canada where Canada Post provides 19th century service!!! My magazine arrives when Canada Post feels like delivering it, usually in the 2nd or 3rd week of the month. I am a 51 year old mechanical designer, have about 400 racing books, reads about 2-3 hours per day.

Edited by VWV, 19 May 2016 - 13:29.

[RA Historian]

I am in the US and delivery is very erratic. Sometimes the mag comes as early as the 10th of the month, but usually around the 20th. Today is the 19th and it is not here yet.

 

As far as digital vs print, I abhor digital. Not only is trying to read something online a royal pain in the rear, what with constant scrolling, back and forth and the like, but I want to hold something in my hands, take it around with me, and then store it in my archives when done.

 

Tom

[F1matt]

Another vote for the print version!

 

 

I pick it up from my local retailer on the Friday it comes out, by far the best and informative magazine that is willing to offer an opinion and not afraid to upset drivers and team managers, hopefully for the people whoo have to wait as it travels overseas it is worthwhile.

[Dipster]

I use postal services in 3 countries and find them all awful. Sometimes (in all the countries I get mail sent in) mail arrives speedily, at others it is returned to sender or simply fails to arrive.

 

I put it down to the fact that they have traditionally been monopolies. That is less true nowadays but still mainly the case. Thus the employees seemingly feel no need to actually provide good service. Couriers are better but not perfect. I use them for anything important that would cause me problems if lost. My experience has led to me using UPS. They do seem to be truthful when giving delivery dates. Others are simply fanciful. 

 

So perhaps Motor Sport are trying but at the mercy of the mail systems we all seem to suffer.

[doc knutsen]

I use postal services in 3 countries and find them all awful. Sometimes (in all the countries I get mail sent in) mail arrives speedily, at others it is returned to sender or simply fails to arrive.

 

I put it down to the fact that they have traditionally been monopolies. That is less true nowadays but still mainly the case. Thus the employees seemingly feel no need to actually provide good service. Couriers are better but not perfect. I use them for anything important that would cause me problems if lost. My experience has led to me using UPS. They do seem to be truthful when giving delivery dates. Others are simply fanciful. 

 

So perhaps Motor Sport are trying but at the mercy of the mail systems we all seem to suffer.

 

i concur with those who prefer reading matter that is printed on paper. Living in Norway, I find that vital racing car parts from the UK can be delivered here in no more than two working days, even bulky items like tyres. However, when it comes to magazines....Motor Sport is erratic but usually the delay is not too bad. With Autosport magazine, the situation is ridiculous. Having subscribed since the late Sixties, I could always rely on the magazine being in my mail box Saturday morning, following UK publication on the Thursday. This was the case through the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Having given the magazine a break, trying to become trendy and use the vartious digital services, I realised I missed the paper version and duly re-subscribed last December. However, the magazine these days takes exactly two weeks to make it across the North Sea...Yesterday I received the Autosport magazine published May 5th, telling me that Rosberg had just dominated the Russian GP.

 

As for mail systems, our goverment pledged to improve public services by allowing  private companies to compete with the State monopolies, postal services being one of them.

[Vitesse2]

Obviously there's nothing Autosport can do about Motor Sport deliveries  but for anyone - like doc knutsen - who has a persistent problem with European postal subscriptions to Autosport, it might be worth posting in this thread in Feedback:

 

http://forums.autosp...he-netherlands/

[Charlieman]

Having subscribed since the late Sixties, I could always rely on the magazine being in my mail box Saturday morning, following UK publication on the Thursday. This was the case through the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties.

We need more information from the magazine publishers about how they distribute. My MotorSport magazine arrives (UK) in a grey plastic sleeve with no obvious Royal Mail markings. I suspect that it is handled by a third party distributor until it arrives at the local mail sorting office for the final stage of delivery.

 

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Autosport rarely arrived on Thursday at my Lancashire newsagent -- usually on Friday or Saturday.

[Stephen W]

I used to have my copy of Autosport delivered by my local newsagents in the late 60s and through the 1970s. There were only rare occasions when the magazine didn't arrive. I got hold of the telephone number for the main magazine distributor in my area (WH Smiths) and would phone them. Invariably on these occasions the magazines had not arrived in time for distribution. On rare occasions they only had half the number of issues arrive and it was the local newsagents who lost out in the shuffle, so you can guess who they favoured.