ORIGINAL: desertpig
Hi Dave - thanks for all the info and your willingness to investigate.. hope its not too much of a pain! I understand the optional part - bottom line is if the AMA still has to produce the magazine for those who want it it won't make much of an impact if you make it optional for some as the main cost in the magazing production is art, setup, presswork, etc It does not matter much if you make 100 copies or 100 thousand - the fixed costs remain. The paper, ink, etc is not the most expensive part of production. Postage, people and distribution (postage) is.
My proposal is to get rid of MA altogether and go with a yearly black and white newsletter and put everything else on the web. I would bet you would get a lot of support for that and save the AMA a lot of $$ as well.
The goal of a non-profit is to run efficiently with as little overhead as possible but also to deliver the maximum benefit to its members. Lobbying Washington, fighting legal issues for modelers, and providing some basic liability umbrella coverage are benefits. Selling us a magazine and/or being in the magazine publishing business is not a benefit - it's pure overhead.
My opnion anyway..
DP
Hi DP,
MA was first published in 1975 and was an option until 1979. In 75,76,77 the non-subscriber's dues were $5 less than those that took MA. In 1978 the non-subscriber's dues were $4 less. In 1979 MA was no longer an option.
I guess it would be interesting to do a cost analysis. If the production costs are pretty much fixed, as you suggest, regardless of the number of copies printed it seems as though if there are fewer copies printed the production cost per copy would be higher. Postage and distribution cost I think would roughly be the same per copy regardless of how many copies were distributed. Does it make sense then that if fewer subscriptions are sold, the actual production cost, per subscription, would be higher? This is a question, not a statement.
Assuming the audit report paints an accurate picture of the magazine operation, in round numbers, it appears as an expense of roughly $1,000.000. Divide the million by, say 155,000 (figuring that not all youth memberships or 2nd family members receive the magazine) and that works out to about $6.45. So the question becomes could we create a black & white "newsletter" including paper, ink, printing, postage and the labor to put it all together for .54 per copy? I don't know.
Do you think we might do better if we tried to reduce the operating "loss" of MA by increasing, as an example, non dues revenue from things like adjusting advertising rates, improving subscription sales, etc. I agree with everything you say about the goals of a non-profit organization. It's just not as black and white to me that doing what you suggest is going to have the result you're expecting. The only way to really know would be for somebody to sit down and actually crunch some numbers. Does any of this make sense or do you think I'm missing something?
Dave