Posted By:
Jim VBRob,
Truth be told, I fully understand their delivery issues. It's a circulation and money issue.
Weeklies, like Time, Newsweek, SI, People, TV Guide, and Entertainment Weekly are all printed regionally. By subcontracting the printing out to local printers, the Super Bowl can end at 10:00 PM Sunday, they can go to press by mid-day Monday, and the publication can be delivered on Wednesday or Thursday, almost everywhere in the country.
Smaller circulation, specialized magazines, like SCD or Track & Field News don't have that option. They all get printed in one plant and delivery becomes a national issue. To keep rates low, the publishers pay USPS for the lowest, slowest postage, with no guaranteed delivery dates. If you pay them enough, USPS will deliver it whenever you want. Ask anyone you know if Victoria's Secret has problems getting the Post Office to deliver their catalogs on time. They have it down to a science.
Back in the 80's and early 90's, I used to pay SCD extra to mail my issue by Priority Mail. Neither their web site nor the magazine itself offers this option any more. I think I pay Track & Field News an extra $30-$35 a year to mail my magazine first class. I get it a couple of weeks faster that way.
So far, over the last 30-35 years, Track & Field News has not reported any factually inaccurate events on their covers. Nor are they filled with ads for fake merchandise.
SCD can't say the same thing.