Discontinuation of sending physical magazines

Model Railroader
1

Due to circumstances, I haven’t been involved in model railroading for a long time.

Now that I’m getting back into my hobby, I have almost two years’ worth of magazines to catch up on, and I’m missing a few model train magazines, namely October/ November/December 2025. (I think they stopped in October/November).

After contacting customer service, I was informed that they have stopped shipping physical magazines to Canada and internationally.

The reason given (I quote from the email) is: “This change was necessary due to ongoing delivery challenges with untracked international mail, which resulted in frequent delays and missed issues.”

Now, I have to say that I have been subscribing to Model Railroader since 1980 and, if I am not mistaken, in those 45 years, I have never lost more than 10 copies and had to request replacement copies.

I did place an order for books last year, and it was lost, but I believe this was due to the fact that the shipment was not sent via USPS but via some private company (the name escapes me), and it was sent to me in the EU via Switzerland, and the tracking went as far as customs in my country, and then there was no more tracking. (the package was stolen or lost at customs or afterwards).

In the past, I have ordered books and DVDs from Klambach and never had any problems because the shipments were sent via USPS.

It is unfortunate that this decision has been made, but I cannot believe that the main reason was “due to ongoing delivery challenges with untracked international mail, which resulted in frequent delays and missed issues,” and that this is a fallacy.

Especially since no physical magazines are sent to Canada, I cannot believe that the sole reason for this decision was delayed and lost magazines.

I also do not know whether physical magazines are still sent in bulk for sale in newsagents or model railway shops in Canada and internationally.

Reading a magazine on a computer screen is neither pleasant nor practical. It is easier to pick up a magazine and read it for 5 or 10 minutes or longer to relax (for example, I used to read Model Railroader in bed after coming home after midnight following a late night shift).

Reading on a laptop in bed is also not practical.

2

Initially, I considered organising a petition to reinstate our beloved magazine in our mailboxes.

However, I don’t believe that a petition from Canadian and international model railroad enthusiasts would be enough to reverse this decision.

I believe that other factors besides lost magazines during shipping are at play in the current decision.

3

I don’t believe there’s anything nefarious going on. Magazines are mailed in bulk shipments. When single issues need to be sent to ‘one here, one there’, the mailing costs (especially international) and the employee time costs are multiplied.

Many forum users complain the magazine is not as thick as it once was. Most of the loss of pages is due to loss of advertisers who have migrated to online ads. The profit margin for magazines is low, and costs are being cut.

Kalmbach essentially went out of business. The magazine itself was rescued by Firecrown. I imagine Firecrown will do whatever is necessary to keep the magazine going by cutting costs.

4

I understand that it may have been necessary to cut costs, but by excluding some of your subscribers, you are not only saving money, but also losing revenue, as some subscribers are unlikely to renew their subscriptions.

And you’re right that they are shipped internationally in bulk, but that wasn’t always the case. When I started my subscription in 1980, it was shipped from the US.

But the question is also, is it still shipped in bulk to Canada and internationally for sale in newsstands and model train shops?

5

I wouldn’t necessarily attribute it to Canada’s mail service. The USzpS sucks. We’ve lived on “Encino Summit” for 40 years. They decided to abbreviate “Summit” to “Smt”, and now a large portion of “Summit “ gets returned.

I am the executor of my brother’s will. They complexly fail at Certified Mail. They are too lazy, so they just send them back. It’s likely that the interface between the US and Canada is staffed with incompetent or uncaring workers and the magazine is suffering losses.

This is all so unfortunate, because we love our mail carrier. Some are just awesome. Unfortunately, it just takes a few to mess things up.

6

I have been a reader of Model Railroader since the mid 1970"s & sure their has been times that I was a bit late with my renewal but I always got my magazine on time except this year. i believe that the new company is just trying to eliminate the Model Railroaders all together just like the hobby store that I use to buy my train stuff from has now gone to selling more Drones then Trains. It was those of us in Trains that kept them going now we R being pushed out.

7

Like you, I started in this hobby in the 70s. Had and read MRR for many, many years. Our local hobby shop just can’t deliver. About 40% trains, but after waiting 4 months for a decoder, I went online. I love Scale Sound Systems. Better personal attention than I ever got locally. Most of my subscriptions have gone online. Especially if I can read them from my Kindle, I actually prefer it.

8

I think the real reason is they want Canadian/foreign readers (and eventually US readers) to subscribe to the digital edition.