Latest PBO - junk

[maxi]

Have just received the latest PBO, and the ratio of magazine to loose inserted junk is now approaching 50:50. How annoying is that. I buy a creditable magazine and am inundated by unwanted c--p, merely to feed IPC's greed. What an incentive to cancel my subscription, does anyone feel similarly?

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[Robin]

I am afraid this goes for all magazines and newspapers too. What really irritates me is the junk that is STUCK into the page, sellotaped on the cover or provided as a tear out insert all of which can result in a torn page when removed. And then there is the mail, 10% wanted and 90% junk to fill the waste bin, on Mondays probably 100% junk.

In the current PBO Sarah is praising the additional pages of chandlery ads as being of great service to the reader. True the advertisements are a means of providing information - ONCE - but I see nothing new in the latest PBO mammoth ad issue, only the same stuff from the same people that appears each month and which will no doubt also appear in Yachting World, Yachting Monthly and even the foreigner Sailing Today.

I know that without advertising we would pay more or lose something, but that doesn't mean I like it.

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[Trevethan]

At least you get to see yours.. I signed up at the boat show, I got last month's issue OK, but current mag is missing in action. Really annoys me actually. Maybe I should have a rant somewhere.


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[Talbot]

I completely disagree with you, the big advantage of having the catalogues seperate is that it is easy to throw away the ones you dont want. This also allows the magazine to have a better article to advert ratio /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[kimhollamby]

IPC greed?

With respect I'm sorry but I don't get that. What provoked the greed comment? And why are the inserts such a problem to you...you can take them or leave them.

We can, if you want, kill all ads and reflect the true cost of a magazine of this kind in the cover price (personal opinion at least double the cover price last time I did the maths in my head) and start charging you for the forum on which you happily accuse its host of greed.

Last paragraph a bit tongue in cheek but always a bit bemused by these statements.

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[kimhollamby]

Please PM me

Your name and address and I will rattle cages this end.

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[Trevor_swfyc]

If this is all we have to moan about how lucky are we.

Sorry but maufacturers make things, chandlers sell things and magazines sell advertising space. As long as the inserts/adverts are about boating then its acceptable as it gives me information that I might want if not bin it.

What does annoy me is the every increasing amount of junk e-mails, I do not want to buy viagra or any other drug, thanks.

Trevor /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

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[Plum]

I do not agree with you - NM

-

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[snowleopard]

at least with the inserts you can hold it over the bin and shake. what used to annoy me was when i bought a mag to read while waiting for the train - have you noticed the lack of public litter bins these days?

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[carl170]

I like PBO (even if they didn't put my boat pictures in the readers column!)

If I learn one thing per issue (eg headlining, making covers etc) it is worthwhile. I like the sketchbooks and readers problem pages.

I also like to know what is going on in the boating world. Also if you don't have multiple catalogues and ads, you don't know whether you are getting a good deal! Competition is good for the consumer.

Also, I think the price is quite low when you subscribe. Especially when I see my girlfriends junk mags which cost about the same!

Carl

PS what does SWMBO mean?

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[powerskipper]

SWMBO she who must be obayed

<hr width=100% size=1>Julie ,
IMOSHO of course,/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Ric]

Re: IPC greed?

I too find loose inserts a nuisance. The Economist magazine (my other read) has now stapled in the subscription flyers etc as their readers didn't like them.

I find loose ads just another example of overbearing advertising. Here in France television has become unwatchable because of the length of the ad breaks. I am getting fed up with the internet too because of being bombarded continually with spam and popups. When I pick up a magazine and loads of leaflets fall out all over the newsagent floor I just get irritated and put the magazine back on the shelf. There is too much advertising these days. "Marre de Pub" as the Paris graffiti artists have started spraying over billboards.

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[Robin]

OK so don't stick or staple them in and I can give them the trash bin drop test. I don't need 4 sets of the same thing every month, 3 at least will be scrapped.

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[Trevethan]

Re: Please PM me

Thanks!

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[Sinbad1]

I too completely agree. It is VERY irritating to be inundated with paper extras that drop out.

However it is even more surprising to have Mr Kim defend the action with some rather vague economics. Supplements are a method of 'maximising' revenue income with the magazine which is going to be printed and distributed anyway. The advertising space is inevitably sold to suppliers on the basis that if you don't advertise in this special supplement/edition you will lose out to your competitors. Hence I suspect the reason for the editors blatant plug in the editorial for the advertisers, rather tatty that I thought and certainly not nautical.

Further, to go to the other extreme and say 'lets remove all the adds and you can pay the actual cost' of the magazine is nonsensical. People wouldn't buy it and PBO staff wouldn't have a job. A balance is required.

It was not the contibutors to this forum who formed the idea of creating the forums. It was IPC/PBO etc etc. It is however available, and as such we are entitled to use it within the guidelines without being made to feel that we should self censor any negative IPC comments. If IPC or staff don't like negative comments then withdraw the forum and its contributors will take up residence elsewhere. This would of course remove those companies that pay to advertise or be associated with the forums and would mess up any cosy deals that IPC etc have with retail outlets who are contacted via this website. So I suspect that the setting up and running of the forums is far from an altruistic act on behalf of IPC.

Shame on you Mr Kim!

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[Evadne]

All magazines contain junk mail, even the unsolicited trade papers and magazines I get at work. I bin all inserts without reading them, and what I don't read doesn't hurt me. Companies which stick things into the magazines are a pain, they're the only ones that impinge on my conciousness, but not long enough for me to remember who they are. At least we have a recycling bin at home so I don't feel I'm overly polluting the planet by subscribing to YM and PBO.


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[powerskipper]

But the PBO Mag's excellant !!!!!!!!!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Julie ,
IMOSHO of course,/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[kesey]

Sinbad1, did someone eat your porridge this morning? Get a grip.

Big deal, so there are a few inserts in the magazine. The world will not fall apart over it. I certainly prefer inserts than to have to wade through more ads. in the magazine.

The forums are obviously wanted. Why whinge about them and who provides them, and why shoot the messenger, aka Kim?

 

[kimhollamby]

Aw come on!

I was merely pointing out that an immediate association with greed seemed a bit strong -- a kind of vision of us all sitting here around a campfire with a whole pig on the spit and the fat dribbling down our jowls.

Anyway, if defending the greed accusation why shouldn't I point out areas where IPC is very evidently not greedy, such as here. Seems only fair to me.

Or is the real deal that we should sit here, take the comments and not reply from time to time?

Did I say we were going to run away crying and shut the forums? No of course not. Did i ask you to self-censor your comments? Of course not. Do we directly earn a penny from them? Far from it -- over a year ago I took the decision to remove all banner ads and pop-ups from them, to improve performance issues and hence make a better area for users to view and post. I make no bones about it that if you go off and use other sections of this site because they are conveniently located alongside what is here, then it helps. Never hid that, never have done.

Now I'm on a roll you've made me reach for the latest PBO. Two minutes into Waiting for the Tide I have the firm view that Sarah is merely reflecting what we are being told by readers themselves -- that a healthy chunk of chandler advertising is exactly what they want in a mag and, frustratingly for editorial types, often is the first section looked for -- either that or boats for sale (whoops, there goes another plug). Having worked on a magazine that struggled to book reader-satisfying levels of chandler listings (motorboaters don't spend money in chandlers, apparently, complete tosh but there you are) the flip side is a steady stream of letters telling you your magazine is missing something vital.

So to summarise that little lot if you are still with me -- criticise by all means but please don't think it is shameful when we decide to reply and put an alternative point of view.

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[Guest]

This way - chuck \'em

The mag will then be less thick to stow ..... not flyers / inserts - then the mag will be that much bulkier and take up more space.

Don't like inserts - bin them then. I actually get more annoyed when I pick up a mag and the inserts are missing because some prat flicked through the mag in the shop and let 'em drop out - failed to replace them. I want the choice of bin or not - not some cheapskate who doesn't buy the mag and flicks through in shop.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html>http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html</A> For all those disbelievers ! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif