subject: Why does it take several weeks to start a new Magazine Subscription? [print this page] Taking out a subscription to your favourite magazine can be a convenient and rewarding experience. If you find yourself buying your magazine regularly, then there are invariably savings to be made by subscribing. Also, if you find that you often forget to purchase the latest issue of a magazine, again by subscribing you can have the magazine delivered directly to your door meaning you never miss an issue.
The Problem
However, when you take out a subscription you will find that it can take several weeks before your first issue arrives. Once that first issue has arrived, the delivery runs like clockwork, but there is still that initial delay. This article aims to explain why this delay occurs, and why a new subscription does not commence with the latest issue currently in the shops.
The crux of this issue lies at the heart of how the magazine publishing industry works.
The first thing to understand is that the majority of revenue from magazines does not come from the newsstand sales, but from the advertising revenue generated within its pages. In order to sell advertising space, the publishers must keep the circulation of the magazine above a certain level. This is why subscriptions are important, as this helps maintain a known level of circulation. This is also why publishers are willing to offer huge discounts on subscriptions (to keep their circulation figures up).
The second thing to understand is that for every magazine that is printed but not sold, the publisher has incurred a charge. Any unsold magazines are returned to the wholesaler or distribution company, and then destroyed or pulped. The publisher must therefore try to forecast the number of magazines they need to print to meet demand, without over printing and creating a cost. When printing each issue of a magazine, the publisher must account for:
The number of current subscribers + estimated newsstand sales + % margin
Once the magazines are printed, issues are distributed to the subscribers, and the remainder is routed to the newsstands (your local newsagent, supermarket, convenience store) via a distribution company.
When you take these 2 factors into consideration, you can see why a new subscription will not start with the current issue. The reason for this being that the magazines have already been accounted for, and distributed to the existing subscribers and shops. The publishers do not have a batch of magazines sitting in their office, on the off chance that they receive a number of subscriptions. Therefore any new subscriptions will commence with the next issue to be printed.
So we have explained why the subscription can take a little while to start. But if we take the example of a monthly magazine, the maximum time to wait should be 4 weeks right? If I place my subscription order on the day or 2 after a magazine has been published and available in the shops, then I will receive my first issue 4 weeks later. This is true, however many websites and publishers state that it can take up to 6 weeks to receive your first issue of a monthly magazine subscription. Why is this?
Well, consider point 2 above. The publisher must at some point calculate how many magazines they need to order from the printer. This is the print run cut off date. This could be up to 2 weeks before a magazine is published. If a customer was to order a subscription the day following the cut off date, then their subscription will not start with the next issue. They will start with the following issue, which is 6 weeks from their initial order.
This is getting complicated, so let's have an example.
Magazine X is published monthly on the 1st of each month.
The print run cut off is the 15th of the month before the magazine is on sale.
Customer A places a subscription to Magazine X on the 3rd of the month of June. Their order is included in the print run, as it has been placed before the 15th of the month of June. They will then receive their first issue of the magazine by the 1st of July. They have received their first magazine within 4 weeks.
Customer B places a subscription to Magazine X on the 17th of the month of June. Their order has not been included in the print run as it has come after the cut off date of the 15th June. Therefore their order will be included in the print run of the 15th July, meaning their first issue will arrive on the 1st August. This is 6 weeks from their initial order.
Every Magazine is Different
Every magazine has its own unique publishing schedule, therefore the print run cut off dates for each publisher and therefore each title varies. This is why the general advice given to magazine subscription customers is that their monthly magazine subscription will take 4 to 6 weeks to commence.
So you can see that the initial time it takes to receive the first issue of your magazine subscription is simply due to supply and demand. In order to keep costs down, and pass on the savings to subscribers, publishers must keep print runs under tight control.
Why does it take several weeks to start a new Magazine Subscription?
