Missing physical magazine copies

[forumuser686992]

I have not received SOS by post since the April issue, and I note the "Print only" option to renew was no longer available. Has anyone else received any print copies ????

I have been unable to ascertain from the Subscriptions Department a statement as to whether (a) physical print copies delivered by mail have been ceased, or if not, when physical copies will again be delivered (this won't be until August at the earliest ?)

On-line or downloaded PDF's are useless for me .. I want to be able to read the mag in the garden, on the train, in an airplane and on the toilet. I can only read it in electronic form on my desktop - hopeless !

[Hugh Robjohns]

I have not received SOS by post since the April issue...

The likelihood is that your subscription has expired, but I've drawn your post here to the attention of our subscriptions manager who will be able to investigate and find out what the problem is.

Has anyone else received any print copies ????

Yes. Print copies are still being distributed. I received the latest issue last week.

I have been unable to ascertain from the Subscriptions Department a statement...

I don't know how you tried to contact the subs department, but there is a Call Back option via an online form here which is usually the best way:

https://www.soundonsound.com/help/subscriptions/call-back-subscriptions

[forumuser686992]

My subscription expires at the end this month (I have been a subscriber for 16 years). There has been no explanation for the missing copies - all other routine mail from other sources has been received as normal during COVID.

I have been in direct contact with the Subscriptions Department, who gave me a work round to renew for a 'print only' subscription (which is not not offered on the web site - "no demand")) , but they did not answer directly the two key questions which were

(a) has the physical print option been discontinued (which I now assume is 'no' since you have said that you are receiving copies), and
(b) if it is still extant, when will physical delivery will be resumed - it has clearly been stopped for the last 3 months.

I don't want to renew unless I get a statement from Subscriptions that physical delivery is still being offered, and an explanation as to why recent issues have not been delivered. Will I get the July issue in print if I renew ? I have no idea.

[Lucinda Harper]

Hi,

I have responded to your email this morning. Looking at your subscription file it appears your previous Print subscription lapsed with the April 2021 edition and you haven't paid for a renewal to the Print subscription, what you have running instead is the FREE REPLICA subscription which you access via the Sound On Sound website.

I have lapsed that free subscription this morning so you will be able to order a Paid for PRINT subscription using the Promotion code I have already given you. Your subscription will commence with the next available edition which is currently the August 2021 edition BUT once you have subscribed if you email me direct I will start the subscription from the July 2021 edition.

Lucinda

[Hugh Robjohns]

So in light of Luci's response and just to answer your specific questions directly:

(a) has the physical print option been discontinued

We no longer include a print-only option in the standard subscriptions listing. Most people want the added benefits of the digital outputs as well. Increasingly extra content associated with reviews and articles for which there's no space in the paper magazine are included in the digital options, along with embedded audio and video clips etc.

But if you only want the paper magazine Luci might be able to sort a bespoke package out for you.

(b) if it is still extant, when physical delivery will be resumed - it has clearly been stopped for the last 3 months.

No, it hasn't been stopped at all. The absence of deliveries to you is simply because your subscription expired and wasn't renewed.

I don't want to renew unless I get a statement from Subscriptions that physical delivery is still being offered

Paper magazines are definitely being printed and posted to the relevant subscribers.

...and an explanation as to why recent issues have not been delivered.

Your subscription expired and wasn't renewed.

Will I get the July issue in print if I renew ? I have no idea.

Luci has said in her message above that she will arrange that especially for you.

Hope that's cleared everything up for you. I can understand the frustration, but there is usually a simple explanation for things like this, and we're always happy to help as best we can.

[tomas]

Come to think of it, I haven’t got the new issue yet either

[Dennis J Wilkins]

Oddly, I haven't seen the June issue yet and realized that when I saw that the July issue was out. I'm in the US, Colorado, and this is not the first time an issue has been lost in space. I've always had a good response from Lucinda and Nathalie, who either extended my subscription when I could buy an issue locally, or sent a replacement. Since COVID, I have found no local magazine dealer who carries SOS, and this is the second issue gone missing in the past year. I feel badly that a single issue needs to be sent from the UK since it costs much more than in-country mail. I still prefer to read on paper when possible since I spend too much time a day looking at an LCD screen.

BTW, just got a renewal notice that I have only three months to go, so I better get on that before there is a legitimate reason to be missing an issue!

[Forum Admin]

As the boss and owner of SOS, I can 1000% confirm that we have NOT stopped printing a paper magazine (which is confirmed by the recent bills we paid for our North America printer and our UK printer!). There are no plans to stop print.

Regardless of what postal services may publicly say, their services are still not operating to pre-Covid levels, and we have been sending out lots of undelivered magazines to our valued subscribers (replacements are free). Australia and New Zealand seems to be affected often -- whether this is because they are delaying magazine mail, nobody will tell us a straight answer. But it is ad hoc across countries and thus very difficult to trace where problems are caused and how to find a solution.

A guy in Sienna, Italy, gets his mag without fail (he often emails me with his feedback on its contents) but another person three streets away from him regularly claims for undelivered magazines. Go figure!

Last year, lots of the college subscriber mags were returned to us undelivered after 4-6 weeks. Emailing the customers, we were told something along the lines of "oh yes, the mailbox is full to overflowing as no staff have been in to empty it"

One of the biggest headaches we encounter is from subscribers who uncheck the mailing list and "allow contact" preferences in their MY ACCOUNT, even though doing so states clearly that you will not receive notification emails/reminders when your sub is coming up for renewal. We stopped sending paper letter reminders years ago, so may I suggest all subscribers log in and check their My Account > MAILING LISTS tab settings.

[Forum Admin]

On-line or downloaded PDF's are useless for me .. I want to be able to read the mag in the garden, on the train, in an airplane and on the toilet. I can only read it in electronic form on my desktop - hopeless !

Just so nobody gets the wrong impression from your comment, you can do all of this with a tablet or smartphone SOS app, with no wi-fi needed if you download the issue(s) onto your device and read them offline.

[tomas]

Come to think of it, I haven’t got the new issue yet either

All is well here, it arrived yesterday!

[Forum Admin]

All is well here, it arrived yesterday!

Given the July (UK) issue went live on Thursday 17th June, and overseas copies were mailed on 16th, that's not bad for bulk mail delivery to Luxembourg. Thanks for letting us know. It helps us keep our mailing agents on their toes.

Note: the North America edition is typically printed one week later than the UK edition, as the UK edition has to be fully laid out and proofed etc before the team can start work on US layouts. Therefore the NA edition is always later for delivery -- and the USA is a big country!

[awjoe]

A guy in Sienna, Italy, gets his mag without fail (he often emails me with his feedback on its contents) but another person three streets away from him regularly claims for undelivered magazines. Go figure!

I'm in Canada. In the past, I've had occasional copies go missing, despite really reliable postal service here. It happened when the magazine was packaged in see-through plastic. Too interesting/attractive not to pinch is my speculation.

[Forum Admin]

I'm in Canada. In the past, I've had occasional copies go missing, despite really reliable postal service here. It happened when the magazine was packaged in see-through plastic. Too interesting/attractive not to pinch is my speculation.

Yes, semi-transparent plastic wrapping we suspect to be the cause of many an undelivered mag. In the UK, we pay extra and have moved over to paper wrapping, which is both environmentally friendly being made of recycled pulp as well as opaque.

Unfortunately, at this time our US printer does not offer the equivalent; hand-inserting into paper envelopes is not feasible and not the same as a bulk mailing wrapping line that can use paper to encase a magazine, so we're stuck with the plastic wrapper for now.