My subscription is running out

[NEIL SMITH 1Participant @neilsmith1]

I had a call from Exp.Mag two days ago,advising me that my sub. to ME expires with #4394 but no letter yet.I recieved #4393 today.

[nodakerParticipant @nodaker]

Hello Sid and other Canadians,

 

I believe most every thing related to media be it books, magazines, music that doesn’t originate in Canada will cost a certain percentage more than the comparable media item will cost in the US.  This is because Canada places an excise tax on these items and uses the revenue to protect and support Canadian artists/authors/etc.  This excise tax is applied to the items as they cross the border into Canada.  In addition, Canada and perhaps the Provinces also apply the VAT to the item based upon the Canadian sale price of the item

 

john

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Hello John,

 

Your belief is erroneous. There is no “excise” tax on printed materials to protect Canadian artists and authors. You’re confusing it with the tax on recordable materials (of which Canadian artists have seen a minimal amount anyway).

 

There is no “VAT” in Canada. there is GST at the Federal level, PST at the Provincial level or the combined (and universally reviled) HST in some provinces. All of these are added after the purchase price and nothing to do with the argument here. Raising them is just adding the same old, same old red-herring that we keep having to do battle against.

[Stephen RowleyParticipant @stephenrowley13300]

There is one simple answer to this problem, stop using Express mags. There are lost of company’s out there who will post mags to any where in the world one is called the Post Office. all you have to do is ring then and they will come collect all the mags and away you go.

James.

[Robert GeorgeParticipant @robertgeorge91087]

Posted by jsk on 15/01/2011 08:32:14:

There is one simple answer to this problem, stop using Express mags. There are lost of company’s out there who will post mags to any where in the world one is called the Post Office. all you have to do is ring then and they will come collect all the mags and away you go.

 

 

You can’t subscribe to Model Engineer in North America without going through ExpressMags!

 

If you try to use the links on MyHobbyStore, it re-routes you  ExpressMags.

 

 

[Robert GeorgeParticipant @robertgeorge91087]

So John tells me that the latest Model Engineering Workshop has an editorial from David Clark complaining about whinging North American subscribers.

 

Oooh, I can’t wait to read it!

 

So in summary:

 

1. North American subscribers must go through ExpressMags, who tacks a  £10 distributor fee onto the subscription.

 

2. North American subscribers can’t get the discount subscriptions that MyHobbyStore offers.

 

3. North American subscribers don’t get the Workshop Practice books that the rest of the ME and MEW subscribers get for renewal. 

Edited By Robert George on 16/01/2011 15:03:02

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

Yes

Yes

Yes and No.

 

Newsagents copies of MEW 173 in US and I assume Canada will have subscription leaflets in them offering a Workshop Practice book.

Does not appear to be in the next ME but I believe it is ongoing and in MEW and will be included in ME soon.

 

We can make this offer because no one will bother to subscribe in the US or Canada so the offer will cost us nothing.

 

I can’t see the whinging, John must have a different copy than the one I wrote the editorial for.

regards David

 

 

[Robert GeorgeParticipant @robertgeorge91087]

Posted by David Clark 1
on 16/01/2011 15:23:03:

 

Newsagents copies of MEW 173 in US and I
assume Canada will have subscription leaflets in them offering a Workshop
Practice book.

 

Last year’s MEW
indicated a copy of the Mini-Lathe workshop practice book, and (North American
subscribers) didn’t get that either.

 

I’d *love* to receive a
copy 

Edited By Robert George on 16/01/2011 15:43:19

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

We ran North American and Canadian offers offering the Mini Lathe book last year.

They ran for several issues. They were a separate half page advert in the body of the magazine.

regards David

 

Edited By David Clark 1 on 16/01/2011 15:54:00

[Robert Miller 1Participant @robertmiller1]

Robert George wrote:

“So John tells me that the latest Model Engineering Workshop has an editorial from David Clark complaining about whinging North American subscribers.”

Whinging?  Hardly.  The quibble is not so much with MHS as with their North American distributor, Express Mags.  I was hoping that MHS (via David Clark) might see that it was in their interest to encourage Express Mags (and everyone else in the distribution chain) to be more reasonable.

The fact is that every middleman involved in the distribution chain adds to the cost as each wants what he sees as his share of the selling price.  In the case Canada that ‘share’ seems, to me at least, to be unreasonable.

For almost as long as I can remember, the Canadian dollar has traded below the US dollar with the ratio reaching a maximum of about 60% a few years ago.   Books and periodicals printed in both the US and Canada had cover prices printed on them that approximately reflected the difference.  I expect that we got used to this and as the Canadian dollar rose against the US dollar, the difference in cover price didn’t track and that fact seemed not to garner much notice .  Typically now the difference is in the range of 10%, but 30% isn’t unusual, and there are extreme cases such as that of Machinery’s Handbook which costs nearly double from Amazon in Canada what it does from Amazon in the US.

 

I used to buy a lot of books and magazines, mostly from our local bookseller Chapters.  As complaining to the clerk at Chapters is clearly a waste of time and air, the only recourse the consumer has is to withdraw his business.  That is exactly what I have done.  I haven’t been in Chapters in months.  I very nearly decided not to renew my subscription to MEW, but relented.  My reading now is done mostly on a KOBO and I generally buy the epub issues from the US as Revenue Canada haven’t yet figured out how to tax that.  When my subscription to MEW runs out, I’ll opt for the digital version (but I’d much prefer a printed copy for such a publication) and Express Mags will lose one, statistically unimportant, customer.

 

And yes it is annoying, but understandable, the we don’t get the promotional offers.

[Robert GeorgeParticipant @robertgeorge91087]

Posted by David Clark 1 on 16/01/2011 15:45:25:

 

We ran North American and Canadian offers
offering the Mini Lathe book last year.

They ran for several issues. They were a
separate half page advert in the body of the magazine.

 

regards David

Right, but the
instructions to get the book indicate that you should renew online at:

http://www.subscription.co.uk/myhobbystore/X0nn

When North American
subscribers clicked that link, they ended up back at ExpressMags with no
Mini-Lathe book offered.

 

Robert M.: my
irritation is that all ME/MEW subscriptions outside of the UK, except North America, are handled by
MyHobbyStore directly.  So the Australian subscribers, for example, don’t
pay ExpressMag’s distributor fees, they have access to the discounted
subscription rates, and presumably get the Workshop Practice books for renewing
their subscription

Edited By Robert George on 16/01/2011 17:01:44

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

No one overseas gets free gifts or reduced rates.

The only book offer was to the US and Canada.

If you could not access the offer you should have let UK subscriptions know.

The instructions also gave a phone number for the US. Did that not accept the offer either?

 

regards David

[Robert GeorgeParticipant @robertgeorge91087]

Posted by Robert George on 16/01/2011 14:57:58:

 

So in summary:

 

1. North American subscribers must go through ExpressMags, who tacks a  £10 distributor fee onto the subscription.

 

2. North American subscribers can’t get the discount subscriptions that MyHobbyStore offers.

 

3. North American subscribers don’t get the Workshop Practice books that the rest of the ME and MEW subscribers get for renewal. 

       Posted by David Clark 1 on 16/01/2011 15:23:03:  

              1. Yes

              2. Yes

              3. Yes and No.

 

 

We’ll, at least we clarified that part.  

 

The horse is dead — please lock the thread David.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert 

[Author]

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