Firecrown has moved Canadian subscriptions to digital only ostensibly because it cannot guarantee delivery of paper magazines in Canada. A flimsy rationale at best. But it is not surprising since digital only magazines are more and more common. The problem is that Zinio is a horrible digital platform. It is cumbersome to navigate and it is not possible to download or to print an article of interest. Now I have to put a laptop or tablet on my already busy work bench to be able to reference a digital article. I am not impressed.
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Hi Paul,
You are not alone in this problem, many of us a faced with the same issues. Here is a link to another thread with some more info in it.
Iād be curious to know the numbers of Canadian subscribers as maybe itās a numbers game with effort vs profit to ship the physical copies up here.
If I recall correctly (sometimes happens) my issues are sent from a distribution center in Canada, so I figure they would ship bulk copies to them for sending out. Would the copies sent to stores be shipped from the same place? No idea, but if not, that could be one of the concerns with delivery. Small numbers, one extra handling step.
Iāll be sending in an email shortly letting them know about my concerns with this decision, followed up with a phone call. Iāll be looking for a refund as I donāt use the digital copies and will have to find some source for the physical copies. I may just wait until they are listed in the Trains.com store and buy them as back issues using my leftover gift cards.
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Frozin - I am with you and will be writing to seek a refund. The Zinio version of the magazine is unreadable, inflexible and useless. I have subscribed for 18 years and have never had a delivery problem until Firecrown decided to stop delivering the hardcopy magazine. I believe you are right that this is about profit, not about quality of service. I suspect Canadian subscribers are few enough that they donāt care. - Paul C
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Frozin - I sent the following e-mail to Tim Kidwell (editor@finescale.com) and to Customer Service (FineScaleModeler@Omeda.com).
Tim
The decision by Firecrown to suspend delivery of hardcopy FineScale Modeler to Canadian subscribers is baffling, if not disingenuous. I have been a loyal subscriber for 18 years and never experienced a delivery problem until your publisher chose to stop sending the magazine through the mail. Firecrown clearly does not believe it owes loyalty to FSMās Canadian subscribers. What is the evidence that there is a problem guaranteeing delivery to Canadian subscribers? How many Canadian subscribers do you have? How many delivery complaints have you received from them? The Zinio digital platform is inferior to the hardcopy magazine. It is impossible with Zinio to print the magazine or individual articles and while it can be read in PDF format, it cannot be saved to my desktop even though I have paid for the content. Once I no longer subscribe, I will lose access to the digital magazine, whereas the hardcopy would always be on my bookshelf. This is clearly evident insofar as Zinio has already stopped access to FSM digital issues published by Kalmbach.
I am deeply disappointed with this arbitrary decision by Firecrown. Zinio is no replacement for the real magazine. Please relieve me of my disappointment and frustration and have Firecrown send me a refund for the balance of my subscription. I am not interested in an extended subscription for an inferior product.
Paul
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Here is my letter to Firecrown Media, Omeda, and @Tim_Kidwell1
(Sorry Tim, you are one of the only contacts that shows up on the website. Please donāt take this personally and please pass it higher up the food chain.)
Attention : Tim Kidwell
I am writing to inform you of my disappointment with Firecrown Media Incās recent decision to terminate delivery of print issues of Fine Scale Modeler to Canada and other countries outside the United States. This sudden change to your product is not something I agree with and is not something that is a desirable outcome.
I have been a subscriber now for the better part of 30 years. While this was not a continuous subscription, I have been a subscriber more often than not. I do have a nearly complete collection of FSM print copies going back to the first issue printed. in fact I still scour used book and second hand stores looking for the issues I still require.
FSM has been through many changes in that time, starting with 4 issues per year, growing to 10 issues annually. Not so long ago the print issues were reduced to 6 annually with the remaining 4 issues being downloadable PDFs. While not an ideal situation, I accepted that there were possibly some issues with print lead times and getting articles, formatting etc. done to schedule. The big difference with this was that every subscriber was affected the same way and received the same product. This change was implemented mid subscription with little to no warning and in itself alienated a number of readers, affection subscription numbers Iām sure.
After about 6-8 digital download issues, those were terminated as well. No real warning, just now your subscription is down from 10 issues annually to six. More discontentment and more lost subscribers and readership. Then the demise of Scale Auto Magazine, forum shut down, abandoned, all subscribers now having their remaining subscriptions fulfilled by receiving FSM. How much more lost readership?
The one major problem which I have with this type of digital magazine is the lack of real ownership of the purchased product. The digital magazines on Zinio can only be read through Zinio. I am forced to use a third party program to view my purchases. This is completely different than how the original digital download issues operated. I was able to download the PDF from FSM directly and save it on whatever device I wanted. This allowed me to access my purchase at any time, anywhere, on any device I wanted - almost like a physical copy, imagine that.
I feel that the publicly offered reason behind the termination of international delivery to be somewhat suspect. Yes, we have had a few issues with postal strikes here in Canada recently, but I donāt think this is the case through the rest of the world. The only time my issue was delayed was during the complete postal strike last December and my issue arrived a short time after service resumed. For myself (and, I suspect, quite a few others) timeliness of delivery is not our main concern. we already get our issues later than continental United States subscribers. I have had early access via Zinio since that became an option with my subscription, yet I have never felt such a desperate need to read the next issue on that platform and am happy to wait for my physical issue to arrive. My gut feeling is that Firecrown sees itās international readership as an overall small percentage of the whole and this is being done as a lazy way to reduce costs.
Firecrown has recently spent a lot of time, effort and money to resurrect and modernize the FSM and Trains forums. In order to increase participation there are monthly incentives for keeping the forums alive and healthy. Now, however, a unilateral change has been made affecting readers world-wide with no thought as to how this change impacts them, nor seemingly any thought to how this change will impact Firecrown, or the FSM / Trains forums.
Where is the concern to not only keep a customer base happy, but to even complete a simple contract and provide the product as originally purchased? Where is the integrity to honour a multi-year, pre-paid commitment? At the very least any current subscriptions should be grandfathered to continue to receive print copies until the expiration of the current subscription.
Below I have copied the text from the FSM website at https://finescale.com/magazine/about-fsm/2002/10/welcome-to-finescale-modelerāmagazine-website
I have made a couple formatting changes only in font size and colour in an attempt to bring your attention to what you so proudly proclaim to be and the value you purport to give to your customers.
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FineScale Modeler or āFSM,ā as many of our readers refer to it, is the worldās leading magazine devoted to the hobby of scale modeling. Our readers build models of every kind of subject you can imagine, from planes, armored vehicles, ships, and figures to autos, sci-fi spaceships, and real space vehicles. We present stories about those topics - and more - in the pages of the magazine as well as at this site.
FSM publishes 6 print issues a year, and in each installment we seek to help our readers enjoy their hobby more through articles that help build better modeling skills. In addition, the FSM staff produces Great Scale Modeling, Contest Cars, and other special interest issues that feature some of the best models and modelers from around the world and highlight model shows.
We inspire our readers by presenting the best of the hobby in FSMās Reader Gallery and Showcase sections, and to keep our readers informed about the latest kits and products. Above all, though, we work to produce the best modeling magazine in the world and to give our customers a good value. FSM readers live in more than 80 countries, and we welcome those of you who live outside North America. FSM is truly an international magazine, and we have readers and authors from around the world. We welcome your stories and photos, no matter where youāre from.
I am not only disappointed to have this change thrust upon us, but also quite frustrated by the audacity of the manner in which it was done. To assume that everyone not in the United States would just accept a small token via subscription extension for a poor substitute of a product is appalling. I will be writing in to Firecrown customer service next to cancel my subscription and request a refund of my next two years pre-payment.
A once loyal customer,
Hopefully this gets some attention from the right people at Firecrown, if not it may only be a matter of time before this gets rolled out for the entire customer base (my thoughts only). It would be a shame to see things at FSM degrade again as it may not be resurrectable a second time.
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Hi Paul,
I just wanted to link this page for you. If you look at the section near the bottom about āAutomatic Renewal Detailsā, it has information and details about how to cancel your subscription āany timeā and receive a refund for remaining issues.
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Frozin - An excellent, evidence-based and thoughtful response. I agree 100%.
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Frozin - Thanks for the link. I will certainly follow up on it. - Paul
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It is done. 18 years of continuous subscription flushed by Firecrown because they offer rental of FSM content through Zinio rather than ownership by providing print copy. What a terrible, thoughtless business decision. Not sure how Firecrown priced that decision when it bought FSM from Kalmbach. But I guess I will have more bench time now.
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@Frozin Well said. And thanks for the link.
Delaying my cancellation pending answers to a couple of questions I have presented to customer service.
Cheers,
Mark
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Hi there , everyone , iām in Australia & just got the same notification about no more hard copy , the reasoning of ādelayed delivery and/or not being able to guarantee deliveryā , is total BS , in Australia remember the currency conversion makes for a fairly pricey model mag , and itās not like the delivery is free either , thatās also i premium iāve absorbed for years , because , surprise-surprise our local news agent gave up receiving/stocking finescale because of the cost ! , so anyways , just so everyone knows , Airfix model world , happily deliver a hard copy of a world-class mag , in a A4 format with more pages , sorry fine scale but bye- bye , i hope the push-back is huge
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Im also going to cancel mine. Disappointing!
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Typical customer service
( hello, we are sorry to hear you are disappointed that we no longer offer the hardcopy in your area, we are pleased to offer you a coupon for 5% off of a hardcopy subscription, enjoy on us)
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Demolition - After I wrote to Customer Service I received an e-mail from them asking to confirm my name and address so they could send me a refund for the balance of my subscription. No attempt whatsoever to respond to my questions or to convince me not to cancel. Clearly Firecrown cares not a bit about non-US subscribers. We are now a cost not a benefit to the company. I also wrote to Tim Kidwell and heard nothing back, but I would expect that Firecrown issued a gag order to FSM employees to toe the line. I expect to lose access to the Forums at any time, So goodbye all yāall.
Naw they wont kick anyone off the forum unless itās a spammer or someone is being abusive. Iām sorry that this is going on though. I will say you should look into Tamiya magazine though, itās a good read, I get digital copies so Iām not sure what the paper copies cost or if they ship to you but itās worth looking into.
Not true,I got banned a few years ago for talking negatively about the magazine,stating some reasons why I donāt subscribe anymore and it wasnāt in abusive terms.I was let back in after giving some assurances to management
My point,if you want to stay in the forum,then tread lightly with your public criticism of the site or magazine.
No kidding, thatās wild. I had no idea this forum was moderated like that.
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Hi Paul,
Thank you for sending me your email. I didnāt respond simply because there is a lot on my plate, and I have to triage my workload. I understand why youāre ending your subscription.
There comes a point, though, when I have to let the process play out. There is little more I can do now but watch what happens. I will be disappointed for every subscriber we lose, and ecstatic for every subscriber we keep. And I also need to keep going for the subscribers who remain and who join us in the future. If Iām to stay at my post, thatās the job.
For the better part of the last 20 years, Iāve worked on Kalmbach titles, and it has been an absolute pleasure to have been an editor for Scale Auto and FSM. Beyond being a life-long modeler, I steadfastly believe in the magazineās mission.
Lastly, there are plenty of non-subscribers on the FSM Forum. Donāt let your disagreement with our business decision keep you from spending time here. No need to say goodbye to the relationships youāve built on the Forum. Stay. Share in the hobby and support and be supported by the community.
Best,
TK
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Tim - I appreciate how busy you must be and very much appreciate your response. I am heartened to hear that I can remain on the Forum despite the status of my subscription. I will certainly stick with the Forum. The on-line experience is helpful, but not the same as being able to sit with a hardcopy of the magazine. If Firecrown were to adopt a different platform for accessing the magazine on-line I would renew my subscription, but renting the content through Zinio is not the solution. Owning content in hardcopy is better than renting content online. Your hardwork, along with the rest of the FSM staff, is highly appreciated. I will miss my bi-monthly visits with the magazine but will look forward to the occassional visit to the Forums. Thanks again and all the best. - Paul
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