Good Afternoon
I have just returned from the newsagents and I don't know about you but I am starting to get really annoyed at model railway magazines in sealed plastic bags.
Apart from the woman at the newsagents who probably thinks it something from the "Men's Interest" section, you cannot see the contents to make an informed decision about whether it has anything of interest. Maybe that's the game.
One magazine this month merely has a Hatton's flyer in it.
One time there was supposed to be a "how to do but not get it" booklet on model railway photography. I took the punt because I have interest in that topic thinking it would cover such subjects as composition and lighting. What a waste! It was little more than what the dials on the camera meant. I already knew that from reading the manual.
So is it me or are you getting irritable at the plastic bags?
Kind regards
Geoff
Geoff
I agree completely with your sentiments, with the qualification that the 'phenomenon' has been rife in the British enthusiast-aviation magazine field for years.
Curiously, the practice seems very random. Hornby Magazine and British Railway Modelling mags' seem especially prone to the affliction, although Railway Modeller has been known to follow the practice, albeit rarely. To date, I haven't seen a Continental Modeller so-packaged, but then, perhaps I've missed it when it was...
The other 'bugbear' is the curious practice of putting a plastic strip around the middle of a magazine, almost as an attempt to 'hold everything together'.
Notably (at least at my local stationer's), US, kiwi and Australian Model Railway magazines do not seem to suffer the same indignity...
The reason? Presumably to prevent the 'light-fingered' from souveniring a CD or booklet. as such an admirable practice, but to do it continuously, when there doesn't seem to be either of these items within would seem to be pushing things somewhat - especially as sometimes these 'gifts' are 'Available to residents of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland' only. Oddly, the plastic bags, though, still migrate southwards...
All of the above does of course make things very difficult for those (myself included), who want to know if they are going to get value for money before handing-over their hard-earned hobby money. The only way to assess this is of course by 'flicking through' then deciding. I'm afraid hermetically-sealed plastic -bag covered Model Railway mag's don't get a chance. if I can't see what's inside, I can't buy it (purchasing something sight-unseen and all that). As a result, I've probably missed quite a few good articles, but, if I can't see inside to find out, how can I know...?
It's a curious phenomenon, which, I suspect. continue to become more-widely applied. Time will tell.
Maybe the plastic bags are to stop people in WH Smiths from thinking they're in a library? ;-)
Absolutely agree, at times it's difficult to even get near the mags cos of people blatantly reading them instead of buying them !
When this happens I wonder how sales that particular month decrease through our inability to review the content first. I'm with the rest, no review = no purchase.
One magazine used to let you review the whole thing online, which I used to do and then make my purchase decision. Now they only let you look at about 8 pages and so I don't bother. As to actually buying that mag well I will look at it in Smiths but it's rare I buy it, the ongoing saga about a 4mm southern layout and the building of a 7mm class 50 are not my thing. This particular mag used to be debated a lot elsewhere but now they don't bother, guess they've now realised that it's a waste of bandwidth as the content is now very thin.
Nigel
Quote from: Buzzard on January 29, 2014, 07:04:21 AM
When this happens I wonder how sales that particular month decrease through our inability to review the content first. I'm with the rest, no review = no purchase.
Last time this subject came up it was actually stated that some magazines reported an
increase in sales when the issue was plastic-wrapped. Whether this is due to extra content necessitating the wrap (brochure, DVD, etc) or just because it stops the aforementioned WH Smith freeloaders is another matter ;)
Paul
Quote from: Sprintex on January 29, 2014, 07:14:04 AM
Last time this subject came up it was actually stated that some magazines reported an increase in sales when the issue was plastic-wrapped.
Bizarre.
Surely if you buy these magazine regularly, you've either got a subscription or you've looked at the 'in next months issue' bit at the back of the previous magazine?
I buy my railway magazines, model or otherwise, on iPad download, no more paper magazines cluttering up my railway room (other than the older issues I pick up at shows or railway book shops!), and if you stand in Smiths reading the magazines and not buying then shame on you! ;-)
I'm with you Geoff. We mags costing over $13 a hit I want to see which one has what interests me the most before handing over Nicole's dress money :D
Bart
I gave up magazine subscriptions a few years ago now and only buy ones that have some decent N Gauge interest. If it's in a sealed plastic bag that prevents me from ascertaining whether the content is of interest or not then I just don't buy it.
It is annoying. If their is a 'mag in a bag' then I simply won't entertain it and therefore buy it.
Iam guilty of browsing through magazines at popular newsagents but I like to 'try before I buy'
A bit of a nuisance but as previous postings have mentioned it can be like a public library in WHS. In the branch at Glasgow Central station which has a lot of mags and narrow aisles you can't move for manky oiks devouring every page of Which laptop/ phone etc while dribbling the remains of their chicken mcburger down their parkas.
ps don't get me started on tattoo and bodybuilder mags which put you right off your tea.
I`m going to throw a spanner in the works and comment in favour of plastic wrapping----sorry in advance
Would you go into a supermarket or other food store and expect to try their produce (ie baked beans/tinned prunes etc) before buying a tin?
Producers of any item have spent time and money to produce the product for you. Be fair and buy one then if its not to your liking don't buy anymore
Not really "like for like" though, is it ?
Would you buy a tin of "food" because last time you had it there was something you liked in it - but this time, there isn't ? That's what we're being asked here ...
I browse mags as well; if I see something interesting, I get it. If I don't I use the money elsewhere, as there is no point in buying a mag that has nothing I want in - hence I dropped the subscription to one of the rail mags some time back (they had an offer on at the time that was attractive enough for me to discount that aspect; IIRC, an airbrush, two DVDs, a book & some other bits).
But I don't use the place as a reading room ...
Quote from: jonclox on January 29, 2014, 10:33:51 AM
I`m going to throw a spanner in the works and comment in favour of plastic wrapping----sorry in advance
Would you go into a supermarket or other food store and expect to try their produce (ie baked beans/tinned prunes etc) before buying a tin?
That only works because the prices are low and the quality reliable. Even then the answer is often that people won't change brands unless they get freebies or cheap stuff to try - hence all the coupons and bread samples and stuff you get.
Generally speaking the academic evidence is that non-commercial casual listening to stuff without buying it drives sales, I suspect the same may be true for magazines.
Mind you I've given up on buying them as the mass market shop ones all seem dire these days, and forums and the like are really eliminating any use they had.
Alan
I don't think the bags/wrapping strips are simply a question of stopping the "library" reader just for the sake of doing so. They are also an attempt to ensure that the magazines remain undamaged for sale and stay as a complete package with all supplements, etc.. I once had a member of Sainsbury's staff positively wrest a magazine from my hand because it wasn't in good condition - one corner was a tad bent. He was going round with a trolley, weeding less than perfect copies of magazines off the shelves. He wouldn't let me buy the damaged one, even though there wasn't another copy...
Why this problem doesn't afflict magazines in the US, Oz and the Land of the Long White Cloud, I have no idea. Another symptom of how the UK is going to the dogs, presumably. :(
Also, even if the magazine isn't giving away something the readers want, like a DVD or some super supplement on how to model King's Cross using two cereal boxes, three matchsticks and an effigy of Valerie Singleton, a lot of them are stuffed with advertising flyers nowadays, which someone has paid for, with the intention of them getting into the readers' hands. Admittedly, when they get into this reader's hands it's only a brief interlude on the way to the waste bin, but presumably the advertising managers want their pride and joy to stay in the magazine!
(As the saying goes, half of advertising expenditure is always wasted. The trick is to know which half... :))
But as a consumer, I agree. Personally speaking, a magazine that I don't buy pretty regularly is going to have an uphill struggle for my hard-earned if I can't even skim it before purchase.
What Nick above says is a very balanced version of what I feel.
Even if you can't flick through the pages there are well known times not to buy the magazines anyway :-
1. Special Christmas double editions Twice the price and only 50% more editorial.
2. First edition after Christmas - put together by the poor malleable new kids who can be forced to work when everyone else is on holiday.
3. Annual Awards edition - pages and pages of advertising pictures wrapped up in Gold Award, Silver Award, and Bronze Award logos.
4. Summer Holiday edition - put together by the same crew who were forced to work around Christmas.
Recently bought a motorcycle mag (wrapped), that headlined a road test of a new bike. When got home and opened bag, just magazine inside, but article was not a road test, just a description of bike and an interview with the bike manufacturer's chairman. If I could have flipped through mag in shop, I would have seen what was inside and not bought it.
Interestingly, the latest US railway mag is plastic wrapped with a booklet inside.
I wish more magazines had plastic covers. Its not only getting rid the readers, it's also the damage, missing inserts etc.
I don't know why retailers allow extensive reading before or instead of purchase.
The responsible magazine publishers could bag the product and put an accurate description of content on the front or back cover. If the contents description is not accurate (as in the motorbike road test earlier) then return the magazine as not being as advertised. That should solve that problem.
I'm at the stage where magazine adverts are not useful because of the time delay getting them down here, and secondly a forum like this is far more useful and reliable. So, now I rarely purchase printed magazines; maybe electronic versions could become worthwhile but the excessive prices need sorting first.