Laughing so hard I'm crying

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Posted By: Jim VB

I didn't want to hijack another thread (especially one with 600+ posts) so I'm starting a new one. About a month ago, I started a thread questioning the relevancy of SCD. I don't have to question it any longer.

Today, 2/21/08, I received the 2/15/08 issue in the mail. I'll gloss over the fact that it arrived 2 days after the 2/22/08 issue.

I'm captivated by the cover story.




Should we shoot them an email and let them know who won the game? Do you think it's an issue with print deadlines? Is it because they're from Wisconsin and therefore refuse to acknowledge that the Packers lost to the Giants? Does their set of U.S President cards include President Dewey? Can we come up with any better excuses?

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Love it!!

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Posted By: leon

Is there any way they meant to do that on purpose for effect? That's rather unconscionable otherwise....

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Can they really claim to be the largest hobby publication? Are they talking about physical size of the magazine or largest in terms of distribution numbers? Beckett has to have the SCD beat don't they?

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Posted By: Rob D.

Possibly a cross-promotion deal with a Coach's Corner ad selling Patriots autographed footballs with 19-0 stamped on them?

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Posted By: John S

Simply hilarious

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

Jim,

Are you talking about 19-0 or the $3,000 Jordan autograph?

Go Packers! (They didn't really lose, did they?) P.S. I voted for Dewey in the primary last Tuesday.

Rick

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Posted By: Steve

Why can't we just forget about the past?

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Posted By: Rob D.

SCD obviously saw an opportunity. Others don't.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Hey Rick,

In deference to you, please note that I'm giving the USPS a pass on the delivery snafu. SCD claims no control once they mail it. They blame you guys.

Notice how, from one cover, I question the 19-0, Dan is asking about "The hobby's ...largest publication", you're looking at a $3000 Jordan autograph, and wolfie is swearing that Brady is holding football signed by Red Grange. (And nobody even noticed that the Brady picture is from Super Bowl XXXIX! That's #39 to the non-Latin speakers or 2005. )

I have to admit, when I saw this cover my first thought was that wonka was playing photoshop games again.

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Posted By: Fred C

Dewey Wins!

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

SCD's so old, they're senile! (insert laughing icon here)



Steve

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Posted By: Bill Panagopulos

Get Lincoln to sign it and put it up for auction...after it's certified!

Keep it - it's worth framing!

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Posted By: Mike

Rob D. - "SCD obviously saw an opportunity. Others don't."

an absolute classic!

--
Mike

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Posted By: martindl

I'm not going to defend SCD for their 19-0 cover but Jim you make it sound like this issue was released after the Super Bowl. It was not. It was the issue from the week before hence the Super Bowl XXXIX photo.

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Posted By: howard

Jim, that copy of SCD was sent to you by mistake. Like the prematurely printed 19-0 T-shirts all of those SCDs were supposed to be delivered to Nicaragua's needy.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Martin,

I'm not making it "sound" like anything.

The facts are:
The issue has a cover date that is nearly two weeks after the game (2/15 v. 2/03).
It arrived at my house 18 days after the game was over (2/21 v 2/03).
It has a season record for the Pats that did not happen (19-0).
It has a features a cover photo that was taken three year ago at Super Bowl XXXIX.

I'm sure their defenses will be:

It was intended as a "preview" issue.
The Post Office is responsible for timely delivery, not SCD.
The headline writer forgot to put the question mark after the 19-0
They always use old file photos.



I find these, and any other excuses I can think of, as unacceptable for a WEEKLY publication!

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

The Feb 15-dated issue of SCD was mailed the Monday before the Super Bowl, Jan. 28. Unless Monday is a postal holiday, SCD is ALWAYS mailed on Monday. Delivery from that point forward is strictly up to the USPS.

SCD carries a cover date significantly later than its mailing date for two reasons: 1) To help minimize subscriber discontent with "late" delivery, and 2) To allow sufficient shelf-life for those copies that are sold in card shops, newsstands, book stores, etc.

No word as to whether the 19-0 cover blurb was wishful thinking, a serious prediction or a jinx.

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Posted By: Richard Simon

subscriber discontent ,,, that is putting it very mildly,,,, there is subscriber discontent over a lot of things in SCD,,,, i have not subscribed nor advertised in that rag for a very long time now.
--

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

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Posted By: Jim VB

Thanks Bob. I know you no longer speak for SCD, but I appreciate you coming on here to explain their side. I have to say that they must take some responsibility for their delivery, at some point. About a year ago I started to complain about the lateness of my issues. They told me that they try to time it so that each subscriber gets the issue at least 8 days before the cover date. Since then I have saved every issue and noted on the cover, what day I received it. If 5 of my 50 issues were on time I'd be surprised. Their response of "Nothing we can do. It's the Post Office!" leaves me cold. No other newspaper, magazine or catalog has this problem. The four of us in this household probably get 15 magazines a month and 3 times as many catalogs. They're all on time. If SCD wants to survive, they must take some ownership of the problem.

Add to that the dwindling number of pages, and the ongoing embarassment of Coaches Corner and what is left? All I can think of is that I get my name sold to a couple of auction houses I might not see otherwisw.

Regardless of when the issue was printed and mailed, putting "19-0" on the cover was foolish. At no point in the season were the Pats "19-0". At least it should have read "19-0 ?"

So what are we left with? A shrinking publication, arriving late, filled with ads for bogus merchandise, and implying events that did not occur.

Why would anyone renew? It must be difficult to defend them when they have fallen so far, so fast.

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Posted By: Rob D.

FWIW, I remember back in the late '70s and early '80s -- when SCD actually was relevant in regards to the hobby -- delivery times were a major issue. Maybe in the next 25 years they'll be able to figure out what just about every other periodical has managed to solve.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Rob,

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.

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Posted By: Rob D.

Jim,

Point(s) well taken. I didn't mean to imply that SCD's delivery issues are a mystery that can't be solved. Like you, I paid extra for faster delivery in the days when SCD carried ads that made receiving the magazine in a timely matter more important than it is now. I always felt it was unfair to ask subscribers to foot the bill for on-time delivery when much of your content was time sensitive.

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

but when I left SCD two years ago, the paper was being printed in Shawano, Wis. on Saturday, and trucked to Chicago for national dispatch. Every ZIP Code that had 6+ copies going to it was placed in a seperate mail bag for delivery directly to that post office. Any ZIP Code with fewer than six copies was put into a "Mixed States" bag along with all other copies with the same first three digits of the ZIP Code. Those Mixed States bags were routed to each post office represented by even a single copy in the bag, with the not unsurprising result that the bags somedays sat for relatively long periods in one or more of those post offices before being routed on.

I was publisher back when SCD was nearly 400 pages and THE fastest way to buy/sell cards and memorabilia. Getting your copy first back then often meant getting the first crack at any real bargains to be had. That's when First Class, UPS, etc., delivery alternatives were offered at extra cost.

With SCD's status as the timely marketplace having been usurped by eBay, I imagine delivery complains are not so frequent or vehement these days. And, with the way current ownership has decimated the "support" staffs, and with the oft-mentioned bigger problems in the hobby and in its pages, I doubt that beleaguered middle management types have the resources or corporate clout to effect any real improvement to the delivery situation.