Don’t get me wrong… I love this hobby, I love American railroading, I read my first Model Railroader in 1962 and I’ve been subscribing to Model Railroader for a good number of years now. I love everything that’s available now in this hobby and all the great help I’ve received on the forum pages. But, being from anywhere outside of the U.S. means that the World’s Greatest Hobby tends to exclusive to the U.S.
I just got my subscription reminder today (18th June) and it said, ‘re-new by the 18th June and get a 5% discount!’ Well, I won’t be getting that then! The guys in subscriptions obviously believe that all letters delivered around the world at the same speed as mainland America.
Also the phone number for ‘Outside the U.S.’ doesn’t have an international code. We also cannot take part in any of the sweepstakes that are offered by Model Railroader as these are for U.S. citizens only.
As I say, don’t get me wrong, MR is the best mag in the world, but I wish Kalmbach would now and again appreciate that the ‘World’s Greatest Hobby’ is also in a world beyond American shores.
5% isn’t really much of a bargain. If you Google on “model railroader subscription” you will find a number of “magazine brokers” with substantially better discounts. Last January I bought a 1-year subscription for $14.95. (Yes, fourteen ninety-five. That’s not a typo.)
I’m curious - do you pay the same for a subscription outside the US as inside?
It’s not just here–I pick up several English car magazines (Practical Classics and sometimes Classic & Sportscar) from time to time…and they say the same thing. By the time they get to me, the contests and special rate deals are usually over. Funny story about that–one of those mags had a ‘scratch off’ card where you could win a new Porsche Cayenne. Imagine my annoyance when I matched up the car halves…and then flipped it over to read that it was only good in the UK. D’oh!
Most times, if the letter is postmarked by the date in question, you’re usually OK.
No - you pay $10 more, $50 instead of $40 for 12 issues from Kalmbach. With the current exchange rate that’s pretty comparable to many UK mags.
I realise I’m treading on dangerous ground here [}:)][:-,] but like the OP I have thought that calling it the World’s Greatest Hobby is a bit of a misnomer when the campaign doesn’t even stretch outside the US or US modelling - its like there are no model train fans elsewhere in the world doing their own thing?
Maybe they call it the World’s Greatest Hobby because most of the rest of the world has already caught on and it’s we Americans that still haven’t figured it out (kinda like soccer?). As I understand it, MRRing is much more prevalent (per capita) in Germany for instance than in the US - and because it is more common, there is less of a stigma attached to the hobby. In other words, it’s easier to admit you’re a MRRer in Germany than in the US. I don’t know to what extent this holds true for other developed countries (UK, France, Japan, etc . . .).
…well I didn’t want to mention that … or that the Le Mans 24 hours is actually the greatest motor race in the world, whatever Indianapolis thinks … [}:)][swg]
Of the European countries I’ve been to I think that only holds true in Germany (on the whole I really like the German outlook on life).
There’s certainly a whole lotta modellers in the UK, but its still seen as a bit of a “nerdy” hobby, you certainly wouldn’t want to shout about it tooloud in a bar (or in high school for the younger readers) or you’d rapidly become the butt of quite a few jokes.