We received this issue of Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures for the third time and I said enough is enough. The second delivery came in when we still had stock of the first. This third delivery, while bagged with a bonus DVD, is too much. The title has been on the shelves too long. It’s not paying the rent and has not paid the rent then entire time we had it. So, we have early returned the stock.
This is an example of magazine distributors abusing the trust of newsagents.
I should be able to set supply criteria for each of my newsagencies and this should determine whether a title is sent a second or third time. That I cannot control this and therefore my indebtedness to magazine distributors is evidence of an unfair relationship given how accountable we are held for what we owe.
i early returned this issue with the DVD because as it was packaged, the customer could not see what the mag or the dvd was about other than “4×4”
I received my overly generous supply on the 3rd last day of the billing month (after final returns for the month). I haven’t had top-up supply, but there will be early returns nonetheless, considering low turnover and excessive space requirements (one copy per pocket is all that fits).
Mark, just out of curiosity, is your multiple delivery supply because of SBR or just continuous re-issuing of the title?
Wendy, SBR is only used for ACP titles.
Last issue we received 5 of this title and returned 4…this issue 11 arrived only 2 sold to date. We did sell out of 5 supplied mid year when the nomads all go north but 11 copies is ridiculous and another example of our space being abused.
Not surprising from Network. They send extras and then get upset when accounts are not paid when accounts are overpriced because of these extras being sent. Will it get better?
Only ever received 1 issue. Always returned it afterwards 🙂
The handling of this title is, to me, a good example of a key problem with the magazine distribution model.
Hi guys,
Pat Callinan here, the publisher of the mag!
I can certainly appreciate your comments on oversupply of previous issues of the magazine. The reason we have bumped the distribution up this time, is two-fold. Firstly, this edition is timed to coincide with the airing of the TV programme on Network TEN, which sees over 450,000 viewers nationally per episode. We have in-programme spots promoting the entire magazine package, and encouraging people to buy the magazine at their local newsagent. We are the only 4X4 magazine to do this, as we are the only ones with a national TV show.
And secondly, the value proposition of the latest edition is vastly different from before. Previous editions were not value-added, but this one contains an enlarged magazine (196 pages), plus a high quality calendar plus a high quality documentary (for the same price).
We are a small Australian publisher who print in Australia, and try to do this ethically – and this includes dealing with newsagents. If we can help you guys in any way, please let me know. And finally, let’s hope that our promotions will help kick some goals for your bottom line.
Sincerely,
Pat Callinan
Pat I didn’t realise this was a new issue. It looked like the title I had had twice already. It would have been good to know about the TV before I returned the stock.
Thanks Mark, all good. As a small publisher, we rely on Network to inform newsagents about the additional media support and value-add campaign. They were supposed to put it in their newsletter, but I haven’t seen a copy. If newsagents have channels through which you like to communicate (like this one!), let me know so I can keep you better informed
.
Cheers,
Pat
So is it the same magazine just re bagged or is it a new issue??
Pat, it’s always great when a publisher responds here and clarifies issues we have or think we have with magazine supply. I must confess we’ve already returned 4 of 11 supplied leaving us 2 more copies than our maximum sold in the past. I don’t know if the distributor failed to advise us of the situation or if we missed this ourselves but would probably react differently if we knew why so many were delivered in future. Maybe the answer is for such circumstances to be advised through XchangeIT with the downloads in a way that we cannot miss???
I am not a fab of cuminicarion vua Xchangit , i very rarley look at my XchangIt screen , i remember years ago there was this thing called AN EMAIL it was a great tool , it came out just after the fax machine and before that there was a stone they chiseled messages onto that would have reached more people than out current methods reach . Lucky we have the blog i suppose , at the moment that is the only up to date messages we see .
Oh that should have read not a FAN of cummunication via Xchangit …..woops still cannot type or spell
Shaun, I was thinking of something a bit more sophisticated than a message on the exchange it site. More like some sort of a newsletter that downloads with the magazine data and is printed as part of the label process so that people like you AND I were less likely to miss it. It should not be the more general stuff that the distributors currently issue but more relative info as Pat would like to pass on to us…just pondering and suggesting.
Ok I thought you were talking about those little messages that are on the XchangIT screen from time to time eg unable to do returns on the $&date due to gate down or what ever . I hate these type of messages