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RCM&E December 20 / Jan 21 Issue


Capt Kremen
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All you grumblers are just a wee bit out of order, even a great big enormous bit

RCM&E is a pretty wonderful magazine, and lets face it, most businesses are having an unprecedented hard time right now. Over the years, I've found that most businesses related to our hobby are pretty straight, and do their very best, most share our enthusiasm, and understand our problems very well. It's when the bead counters move in that the skulduggery starts.

Cut them a bit of slack, or guess what No mag, no forum, no place to grumble

ernie

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Posted by GrumpyGnome on 08/12/2020 16:45:52:

My only grumble is the lack of communication, and I do not feel I am even "a wee bit out of order" in that respect tbh.

GG

I feel the same GG. Still not received mine yet either, but I refuse to buy one from the supermarket.

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I was lucky as my print copy renewal date was 08/01/21, with a price of £44 for the year. I phoned the subscriptions hotline and Amanda very kindly cancelled my dd subscription and signed me up for the 2 year deal for £90 (print only) qualifying me for a complimentary £60 indoor helicopter. It is a lot to pay out in one go, but then how much will it save me against next year's inflation increase?

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Stuart, new subscribers can still have 3 months or a year. it says on the section at top of page that one can have a 3 month subscription for 10.99 or a year at 44 pounds. It's only 2 years if you want the free heli, but that seems worthwhile.

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Mine arrived today. Good content. As with KC above, free plan is very important, it keeps me subscribing, next month's RV plan looks good too.

One small concern, TN says his next 2 plans are scheduled for Feb and April. Does this mean the Feb issue will be a bi-monthly again, no March issue?

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No mention from the editor of any further changes,

20 percent less pages per issue now through the back door loss of another in total.would appear to be the same profiteering that has gone on with building supplies bricks wood plaster etc since march.time to make a stand my subscription will have to be cancelled

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Mag finally arrived yesterday 9th December. Haven't started reading it yet, but it seems a bit thinner than usual, articles look interesting on a quick flick through and it has a picture of a Defiant on the front which is a bonus.

However, the news that, having not had a special issue and with it looking like a bimonthly publication might be ion the offing in the new year I'm disappointed in what we are getting for a subscription- given that subscribers are underwriting some of the costs of production, in advance. I haven't noticed a huge decrease in the advertising content, so I'd be interested to hear how exactly the pandemic has affected the publishers, resulting in the decreased number of issues -for the same price?

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I do seem to remember reading, either in the magazine or on this forum some time back, that there would not be a special issue due to covid. Perhaps written by David or Graham. I should imagine that everything will get back to normal once the pandemic is over. I'm not going to winge over one or two, maybe more, missing magazines, just feel lucky I'm still alive and kicking.

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Hi All

Just to try to keep you in the picture here's a chunk from my next Welcome piece in the February issue. I hope it helps explain things:

As many of you will have noticed the December 2020 and January 2021 issues were merged. Although this affected all of MyTime Media's magazines, for RCM&E it came at a particularly difficult time as by then the last issue was all but ready to pass for press. So, it was really all we could do to rename all the footers at the bottom of each page - and I for one was left scratching my head as to what it was all about...
When things had calmed down, after the magazine was handed over to the printer, I was able to dig a little further and find out what had happened. Here's the information I was given:

Due to November's month-long English lockdown MyTime Media decided to postpone their magazines' on-sale dates until after the lockdown had finished.
All MTM magazines, including RCM&E, were rescheduled to avoid any going on sale during the lockdown, during which time the majority of UK news outlets would be closed. Hence, it was decided to rename the December issues to December/January to cover the time the issue following the lockdown would be in the stores.

So, much to the disappointment of the naysayers there's no grand conspiracy. Just a sensible business decision to help us get through yet another difficult period caused by Covid.
As the only member of staff who works full time on RCM&E you may be forgiven for thinking that I had a grand time by taking a month off. But in reality, it only amounted to ten days, which coincided with a (thankfully) rare bout of illness (no, not that one!). Hence, my grand plans for catching up in the workshop were thwarted as I spent most of it shivering in bed!

Of course, those exact same naysayers will probably lock on to my 'no conspiracy' comment above and ask, 'Why didn't something similar happen during Lockdown V1, then?' The answer is: it did! But, fortunately, not to RCM&E. Other magazines, like our sister title Model Boats, were not so lucky and ceased publication for a few issues, whilst other titles were closed for good. Compared to this the merging of two issues has let us off pretty lightly considering the circumstances.

As for going bi-monthly, that's not on the cards, nor what the latest schedule says. There will be a monthly mag for the rest of the year, Covid willing. But even if things do have to change again, such as for another lockdown, then please rest assured that all at MyTime are just doing their best to keep things going in what is a very difficult time for any publishing business. Thanks for your understanding.

I'll hand back to David now so I can concentrate on the mag. But you can reach me anytime by email and I'll try to answer promptly.

Thanks

Kevin

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Thanks Kevin for the explanation. With lockdown and continuous drivel from TV reporters and program makers doing their best to report everything in the most negative way possible, having something positive like RCM&E to read becomes so much more important to keep sane. Dec/Jan is a very good read with an excellent free plan (plans are important to me, I've made quite a few). My subscription is direct debit and and I plan to continue while I still breathe.

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Cheers KC. Nice to have an explanation from MTM, even though it's a little baffling as I thought most outlets would be open as 'essential'........

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next issue, and now discovering the delights of the electronic versions of the mag!

I sympathise re plans going awry - most of my life seems to have been like that!

GG

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Thanks for all your kind comments and positive replies, folks.

Just one last thing I should add before I get too diverted again by putting the next issue together and that is that whilst I am happy to try to help resolve any subscriber issues (by email please) all I can really do is to pass them over to the Subs Department. So there's a limit to what I can do or promise, although to be fair they are pretty good at following things up when I've passed them over.

It's important to understand that subscriber queries and complaints are dealt with on a one to one basis, so please let the Subs Department know if you have any concerns. Please also give them a few days to reply.

Thanks

Kevin

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