Model Boats Magazine

[DamienG]

One month into a 12 month subscription and I get an email this morning from them saying the they've shut down indefinitely, that's a lot of lost cash.
When the covid19 finally clears I hope they recover and the subscriptions start from there.

[Walter Snowdon]

Hello Damien.  Thats supprising news- I havnt got my copy either.  Its not suprising really. As magazines go, MB circulation is relatively small and in this crisis I can see a lot of model magazines going to the wall for good. The nail in the coffin for model magazines came when WH Smiths decided that the sales of quite a number of model mags was too small to justify stocking them in all but a few  outlets. SMITHS HAD ALWAYS BEEN THE LARGEST SOURCE/OUTLET FOR MODEL MAGAZINES. So the largest part of the market has gone. Smaller outlets (newsagents) stopped stocking them a long time ago and when did you last see MB in a model shop?. (The only Smiths stocking MB in my area was only sent TWO copies last  month! Keeping my fingers crossed. regards, walter.

[Walter Snowdon]

Damien, just got mine. Our W H Smiths in town is open as it has a post office and MB was on the shelf!. Regards, Walter.

[kiwimodeller]

Their website is still active and it would appear that they would have accepted money for a new subscription if I had ordered one. Have you tried emailing through the website to see if you can get a refund? Ian.

[DamienG]

No but it's a thought Ian.

This is the email my wife received.

"Due to the unfolding situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the closure of most WH Smith stores, newsagents and other stores, we're writing to let you know that we are going to pause production of the magazine from the current edition.

For many years, our mission has been to provide the best quality editorial to our valued readers – and rest assured, we are committed to try and get through this very difficult time for the country, and world at large.

You do not need do anything and we still be fulfilling entitlements in the future. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and communicate with you further as and when we’re able to restore business as usual.

For this period, we are extending to you free access for the foreseeable future to the digital archive containing back issues of your magazine. These issues are available to read whilst connected to the internet. We will continue this until we can be confident that our supply chain has returned to normal."

[Spankbucket]

I havn't subscribed to any magazines for years but in the days when I used to it was all managed by some kind of outsourced clearing/processing house. Because I noticed a significant lag between instructions I gave and their implementation I decided to give the whole thing a miss.

In my humble opinion outsourcing is one of the ten plagues of our modern times!

[The Long Build]

This has been discussed in some depth on a few other Forums, big thread on MB, was one on FB  MB site until they deleted the original post from the Current editor saying that he was basically out of a job, however he was told to remove the post by powers above him.

I really do hope it comes back after this is all over but I am not holding my breath..