Overseas Subscription - Poor Deal

[shelmed]

First of all would like to compliment you on LF Mag - there has not been another Linux magazin that comes near the level of quality and broadness of scope as LF does.

I have been looking at getting an annual subscription but I live in Australia and I was very disappointed to see the lack of discount given for an annual subscription as compared with buying individual magazines:
13 Issues for 108.00 GBP = 8.31
1 individual issue = 8.49

i.e. a very small saving of 18p per copy

I would like to see a greater discount offered to us overseas fans and if that were the case I'm sure you would see a rise in your annual subscriptions

[Dutch_Master]

Do you realise what it costs to send a bunch of dead trees halfway round the world? I know the economy, even Down Under, is very much down, but the last 4 complaints about the price of an LXF sub all came from your continent...

[shelmed]

Well thank you for that helpful rant putting both me and the continent of Australia down - an impressive reply to someone who was trying to make a genuine point and not an out and out complaint as you put it.

First let me address your points/jibes:

Do you realise what it costs to send a bunch of dead trees halfway round the world?

Yes I do, I'm frequently posting material to the UK.

I know the economy, even Down Under, is very much down,

You don't know very much about our economy do you - it's one of the strongest in the world which isn't in a recession due to our wealth of material resources

but the last 4 complaints about the price of an LXF sub all came from your continent...

Now you wouldn't want to generalise would you with that massive sample!

If you read my post carefully you would understand I was NOT complaining about the overall price of the LXF mag - my point is that when one commits to purchasing 13 magazines with a single lump sum payment (quarterly is not an option for ROW) then one would hope to receive a slightly larger discount than 18p per magazine when compared to buying an individual copy - i.e. virtually no difference in price and THEREFORE NO INCENTIVE to take out an ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION.

So if your getting this, my MAIN POINT is with a carefully calculated larger discount they may get MORE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS and HOPEFULLY INCREASED NET INCOME (if the figures are right) - and so I was hoping to hear from somebody in the know

So please get off your high horse, stop being so defensive and read before you write next time

[nelz]

AIUI the shop copies are sent by surface transport while subscription copies are air-mailed, so the real benefit to you is to get the magazine around or before the time it appears in the UK shops, rather than several weeks later.

[shelmed]

AIUI the shop copies are sent by surface transport while subscription copies are air-mailed, so the real benefit to you is to get the magazine around or before the time it appears in the UK shops, rather than several weeks later.

Thanks for that Nelz. Yes I do appreciate what your saying. But I guess what I haven't made clear is that the individual copies I am referring to are the ones purchased off the LF website and not shop copies - so I am assuming these are Air Mailed too - or is this incorrect - are the individual website purchased copies surface mail?

[net-knave]

I don't know if a digital subscription will suffice but I noticed an ad in my hardcopy LXF160 that said 'digitial only' subscriptions are now available. The price for an annual digital subscription in USD is about 60% of what I'm paying for my overseas hardcopy subscription (delivered in the USA).

The ad points readers to Zinio at https://www.zinio.com/linuxformat

FWIW, I can relate to your reluctance to subscribe to hardcopy at the over-seas rate, I held off subscribing for nearly a year because of the expense (and 3 months later digital subscriptions get introduced). However, LXF is so great IMHO that I only regret not subscribing sooner.

Access to the LXF digital archives is a huge plus so if you consider the digital subscription check to see if it includes digital archive access.

[update - I just found a thread 'Digital Offerings' in this same forum about the digital subscriptions through Zinio. Recommended read for anyone considering going the digital subscription route.]

[shelmed]

I don't know if a digital subscription will suffice

Thanks for the helpful info and link net-knave. Yeah had thought about a digital subscription but I do like to relax with a hardcopy in my hand. However I will take a look at the Zinio idea.

LXF is so great IMHO that I only regret not subscribing sooner.

As I said in my OP I too think LXF is great

[net-knave]

... but I do like to relax with a hardcopy in my hand.

Agreed, much to my surprise!

I hadn't had a hardcopy subscription to anything for nearly a decade and thought that what I really wanted was a digital subscription to LXF (to save $ and avoid the pulp). I waited nearly a year (lurking in the archive freebies) and then broke down and shelled out for a overseas hardcopy subscription becasue that was the only option at the time.

Boy I'm glad now that I went the hardcopy route. I'm sure that I get four times the value out of the issues because I read them when I'm away from all the distractions at my workstation. I also find that I get interested enough to explore the DVD contents when I never used to take the time to track down and d/l interesting looking tools or distros from online articles. I've had some good finds already.

Like I said, I only wish I hadn't put off subscribing for nearly a year. In hindsight, even at the overseas rate, LXF is a fantastic value for me.

[shelmed]

In hindsight, even at the overseas rate, LXF is a fantastic value for me.

Overall I agree - it's still approx. 30% less than the newsstand price here in Australia

Just want to reiterate (as I think some may have misunderstood the comparison I was making) that the 18p difference in price per individual mag IS comparing 'eggs with eggs' i.e. Purchasing an annual subscription of 13 mags and buying a single hardcopy off the LXF Website

Anyway after all that I really do like LXF and like you net-knave I may end up buying the annual hardcopy subscription

[GregS]

AIUI the shop copies are sent by surface transport while subscription copies are air-mailed, so the real benefit to you is to get the magazine around or before the time it appears in the UK shops, rather than several weeks later.

Actually, deliveries down here are often so erratic that the shop copies arrive first...

Shelmed has a point - we colonial subscribers don't get a whole lot of advantage out of subscribing. Now, I know there are economic pressures that make it so...but the only reason I subscribe is that i can't be bothered chasing up shop copies - and my nearest shop (if they stocked it) is over 12km away; and the nearest town with stores that LXF is regularly stocked is over 80 km away.

Out in the nearly-bush we don't have corner stores!

<Edit coupla days later...This months issue appeared just two or three days after hitting the webpage...an exception that proves the rule, perhaps? Last issue was about three weeks later.>

[Bruno]

You'd think that in this day and age, since the content is 100% digital prior to printing the mag and producing the disc, it could be sent electronically to continents like Oz and N America and printed by a local firm.

Beer can be brewed locally under licence, far from its original home

[Rhakios]

Yes, if only Future had US and Australian divisions that could be trusted with something like that...
<cough!>

[Bruno]

Or form partnerships with established firms in these territories instead. A well specified contract and service level agreement will not require local divisions. If my village vicar can engage the services of the local printers to produce the annual round-robin, it can be done.

[wyliecoyoteuk]

Although the circulation is largely overseas, it is in a lot of countries, and the numbers involved would probably be less economically viable than posting.
Even these days, print run costs are largely dictated by volume.
The shorter the run, the more expensive it is. This is simply because the cost of plating up and inking a press is still high.

Your vicar's stuff is probably produced on a photocopier.

[Rhakios]

If LXF is printed like a parish magazine, it should certainly bring down the cover price.