Saturday, July 25, 2015

A Strange Delivery

Print magazine readership has declined over the years due to digital capability allowing for instant access to articles across multiple platforms.  In fact, so many of the articles that are found in magazines eventually find their way to the internet, whether you've paid for a subscription or not.  And even if particular publishers don't share their content online without a subscription, the sheer volume of content that can be found can make print magazine subscriptions a waste of money.   The thing is, I like magazines.  I like holding them in my hands.  Tearing out an article you want to read later, a recipe you want to remember, or a unique picture just can't be done on electronically.  I resisted letting subscriptions lapse for a while, but have finally given up most of them.  There just isn't time in the day.  There is one that I haven't given up yet...Vanity Fair.
Several years ago I went to a Vanity Fair photography exhibit at the LACMA.  The caliber of work that this magazine produces is incredible.  I've been a subscriber since.  While I am able to access the magazine through their app on my iPad, it's far more impressive in its print form.   So, I continue to receive it each month.  
Last week the newest addition arrived.  Oddly, when I opened the front door to take the dog for a walk, it was sitting on the doorstep.  I had assumed it was delivered to a neighbor's mailbox by mistake, and they dropped on my doormat.  I threw it inside the house and headed out.  Not too much thought went into it again until a day or so later when I was cleaning up.  As I removed it from its plastic wrapping, the following letter was included.
Hand delivery?  Have they really hired people to hand deliver it to my doorstep?  Is that cheaper than mailing it through the postal service?  The funny thing though is that it's not saving me any time.  I still have to go to the mailbox and get my other mail, so really, it's a strange service.  Maybe it's giving someone a job who otherwise didn't have one? 

8 comments:

  1. I'd say like here it's easier and cheaper for them to courier it for they probably have a set cost contract while the post/mail costs for each one.

    But yes I do agree about holding the physical is a better experience. It isn't for me only the reading of it but the touch and especially the smell. Of course not VF for me, nope it's VS :-).
    What's downright dangerous these days is when you get into teh habit of reading a newspaper, bit of it anyway. And then you go on holiday and forget to disengage the 'roaming' feature. The Irish Times web page is 25 Meg and in the US roaming charges is €1 per meg download on the data. Scary !.

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    1. Maybe so. The flat rate could be cheaper than the individual media postage. Our postal service can sometimes be unreliable on the time things take, so it could be a way for them to control the delivery. Mag subscriptions always pride themselves on being delivered before they're on the shelf in the stores/stands. Maybe that wasn't happening. I could really care less on my end, so the new "service" is wasted on me.
      Yah, when I travel out of the country, before landing I've turned data roaming off. They charge an arm and a leg for usage. I paid for out-of-country service a few trips ago. What a waste of money that was. It didn't work most of the time anyhow. Most hotels and cafes and some attractions have free wifi, so you're not completely disconnected.

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    2. WTF is 'strategic sourcing'. I do wish they would stop butchering the language with made up terms that lessen the individual meaning while trying to jigsaw fit the meanings into the compound. It's like saying stone-water or fiery seas.

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    3. A fancy name for subscription manager? Corporations are good at the made up names. Having not spent time in a business with a lot of titles, I don't know for sure, but from examples like this and others I've seen there's something of a self-importance with titles.

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  2. Hand delivery wouldn't work for me. Too many dogs! (meaning they would "read" it before I got my hands on it)

    I love magazines and much prefer the real thing to a digital version. Over my lifetime I've taken a variety of magazines, but there are a few that have been constants. I even did a "favorite five" entry on magazines one time.

    You know...I'm not sure I've ever even picked up a copy of Vanity Fair.

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    1. VF can lean a bit on the pretentious side, but past that there are lot of really good articles that are about other things going on - different than we get on the news - and the arts.
      I have found that magazines pile up on me, sitting on the coffee table until a school break. Then I end up tossing most of them.

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  3. Pretentious. That's how I've grown to feel about Southern Living. I've decided just following them on Twitter will give me access to the things I want to see from their print magazines without all the other.

    I tend to intersperse my magazines between my books. Oxford American is the only one I let sit there any real length of time (it's a quarterly) and I often debate whether to continue it.

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    1. Yah, there is so much available online now! I haven't felt like I'm missing out.
      I LOVE decorating mags like Southern Living or Real Simple, but you can only decorate SO much. I kept getting them and then felt resentful that I couldn't redecorate my house every month! ;) I The tips and recipes those offer are good, but again, they can be found online or something similar. Pinterest has really become my ideas magazine. And I don't have to find a place to store the pages. Which is also a plus.

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