Originally Posted by
flyinwalenda
No one but you said anything about raising salaries. If cash is tight for the AMA then they should (like other reputable businesses ) look for ways to cut costs; like cuts in salaries, benefits , etc..or the high costs of printing a magazine that is 3/4 advertisements.....not keep raising membership dues.
Please show me the stats where an overwhelming number of members still want this outdated magazine.
Fair enough, when you mentioned shifting possible cost saving from printing that's either going to be done with raises, or more staff. Either way, it would probably be an issue for some. As for membership dues, I thought they were the same over the past few years, but could be wrong there. Any increase was probably nominal at best. Then again, what gets cheaper now a days? Heck I'm happy when fixed cost things stay the same, like insurance, gas etc.
As for stats, I don't have any hard and fast stats just as you don't have any to back up that money is misappropriated or that very few people sit down and read the mag. It's an assumption, right or wrong, on our part. What I think though is that if nobody is reading this, and it's that expensive to produce, it would have been gone long ago. What business would keep tossing money at something that nobody is looking at (wait..how long was Windows Vista sold?). I've got to think there is sufficient demand there. As a stand alone mag $5.95 it sure beats other similar type of mags out there no?
Originally Posted by
flyinwalenda
Fair enough. My thoughts will always be; who wants this rag anyway now-a-days ? The last estate sale I went to there was a decades old collection of modeling magazines floor to ceiling in cabinets 30' long. Magazines that were chock-full of kit , scratch builds, plans, etc... Guess what?.......Nobody wanted them ...couldn't give them away. Yes maybe a few folks wanted one or two editions to complete a collection but not worth it. It's a waste of money and resources to keep printing it....make it electronic and lower the dues!
Again, not sure why you say this is a waste of money. Enough people out there are reading this, or enough revenue is coming in from corporate ad buys, as well as clubs and individuals to make it worthwhile. What would the actual savings be going digital?
I took a look through the last copy of MA, Decembers. I didn't see 3/4 of the mag being devoted to ads, the opposite actually. 160 pages, and of that 52 were all ads. The rest was copy, with some ads as well. And might I mention, lots of ads some mom and pop/one man US based hobby operations too!
Articles on the ARUP (bizzare and cool as hell), Focal Point (my fav section,,,geeky centerfold), old timer antigue planes (SAM), RC Giant story, a profile on slope soarer/builder Michael Richter, free flight article to name a few. I dunno, I think that's pretty comprehensive. And the district info too, always cool to see what other groups are doing.
It's not a mag for everyone, or the person looking for one facet of the hobby I guess. I think it has to be as much as possible for everyone, so there are hard choices to make. Kinda like making a perfectly bland turkey hoggie appeal to everyone.