How Many MV Clubs Have Print Newsletters or Magazines

[CMP-Phil]

Hi All

I am curious how many MV Clubs still have print Newsletters/Magazines?  Asking this question probably dates me, I've been involved in the MV hobby since the late 1970s, which predates what the internet has become.  Back then it was fairly common to see International, National, and local MV Clubs having regular printed publications. 

So back to my question-  how many regular club print publications are there?  What clubs are putting them out?  How often do they publish?  What is the nature of the publication, couple of pages etc.?

Cheers Phil

PS- Yea, I'm the editor of our local MV Clubs Newsletter.

 

 

[john fox]

as no one appears to have replied yet... as you doubtless well know, both MVT and IMPS still produce and post out paper magazines. The on-going high quality of both publications needs no further comment.

Don't know about other dedicated MV clubs.

As you rightly surmise, the advent of the internet has reduced the relevance of club membership if primarily only looking for info/support. So, clubs that don't have strong social elements are much reduced in size when the answer is but a keyboard away.

With fewer members, the cost of paper mags becomes prohibitive, and Clubs switch to "e" versions instead, hence we in the 101 FCC&R now do Six Stud by e mail only. Add in that 20% of our members are overseas, that meant magazine postage was getting to be > total annual subs, hence the plug was pulled on paper copies.

Edited September 7, 2022 by john fox

[fv1609]

I belong to two smaller military related clubs.

The Ex-Military Land Rover Association, which has a printed & online  bi-monthly magazine.

The Vintage & Military Vehicle Amateur Radio Society, this has a monthly on-line newsletter & a superb monthly printed magazine.

I have articles due out in both, but I worry that national magazines are now super professional but seem to have lost the feel of how club magazines used to be where there was more grass roots emphasis on the automotive aspects of vehicle ownership.

[B series]

I am a member of the Austin Champ Owners Club, based in the UK, and they produce a  good full size colour magazine titled Champ World and post it out to members. 

 

fv1601 makes valid point about magazine becoming professional, and in the process have lost their local feel or close connection with members at a grass route level. Compared with club magazines and even some commercial magazines from the 1970/80's there is now a lack of technical content on vehicle systems, repairs and technical help.   I miss Wheels & Tracks magazine, pack with interesting information.

[wally dugan]

The north east  military vehicle club  produce a  good club magazine which l get sent now and again

[CMP-Phil]

Hi Gentlemen

First I want to thank the four of you for taking the time to respond to my inquiry How Many MV Clubs Have Print Newsletters or Magazines.  I'm trying to see how much of a dying thing print newsletters are in the Historic Military Vehicle hobby really are, it would seem that they have not gone the way of the DODO Bird quite yet.

Our club has had a print newsletter going back some 35 years, almost without excepting this has been a monthly newsletter being mailed to the membership each month.  I'm the third editor having taken it over in 2007.  The newsletter now is full color with as many photos has get submitted, with an emphasis on club activities, restoration projects, tech tips and local parts and vehicles for sale. 

Over the years there have been several request to take the Newsletter to a web version, which I have resisted as when asked our membership has been almost evenly  split between those who are comfortable using the internet and those who don't really enjoy it.   People bring up the cost savings which would be significant, our cost are postage and actual printing cost.

I wonder about what we would loose in such a move away from receiving some thing tangible in the mail each month.   So far my response each time the web version of the newsletter comes up is to say good do we have a volunteer to take on getting it out each month.  So far no takers.     In closing yes our club has a web page, and I have resisted putting a PDF copy of the print newsletter because I think we would loose more than we gain.

Cheers Phil

PS- My stubbornness to change probably has something to do with driving right hand drive MVs.

[john fox]

Hi Phil 

how big is your membership? The 101 club used a print company with a minimum print run of 500 copies. With membership well below that level by the time we pulled the plug, they were putting >100 copies in the bin as we had no storage for such paper "waste"

You sound very lucky that you have sufficient content to produce a mag on a regular basis. That is normally the main hurdle in production. 

As for "can't use the web" that comes down to do you have more members like that willing to pay a premium membership cost, compared to those who can use the web but are on tighter budgets. What is the age profile or your membership? Younger members may "expect" web version (and/or be less financially able to pay a premium for paper). If your membership is old and not attracting new young entrants, then your situation will resolve itself, you won't have any members left to worry about paper v web.

Not an MV club, but the Morris Commercial Cars owner's club used to piggyback one of the free (ie advert funded) web message boards, but its online engagement was severely limited and mostly comprised: join us and we'll print an answer to your question in the next edition.

When such online boards ceased business, the anti-web cadre "won" and they now have a website steering you towards paper only engagement with the club. It is noticeable that military MCC owners are now very much more visible on MV related websites and have abandoned the MCC club as far as I can see. That said, that particular club makes no bones over the fact its core membership is MCC ex-employees who by definition are "rather" aging, so the future of that club is doubtful with its current mindset.

I agree there is a huge value in sending paper to members, as that is undoubtedly a demonstrable benefit of membership. We certainly lost members by stopping the paper mag, but it was > £35 per member per year to produce just 4 editions, so in our case economics overrode sentimental attachment to paper, otherwise the club would have closed to avoid bankruptcy.

BTW I know of a Landrover guy in the States who puts out monthly online mags for 5 different USA clubs and can only sustain that level of activity because he is doing it all online. Horses for courses, what else does one get for their membership fee: mag + x, or just mag? If the latter, then stick with paper because people don't understand subs need to pay for web hosting, not just paper.
 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by john fox

[CMP-Phil]

Hi John

I am going to try and answer your questions in order;

1. Now big is your membership?   Our membership runs between 100 and 130.  I print the newsletter each month on my own printer purpose bought for the newsletter.  It is a HP Lazerjet M553.  Cost about a $1000 which I recover from the club $30 a month until the full cost is recovered.  Why that printer it is rated for the 900-1000 pages at a time 40+ pages a minute.  It uses 4 large color cartridges with a life expectancy of 10,000 to 14,000 pages which give a cost per page add to this cost of paper which varies to give a cost per page of $0.218.  US postage currently is $0.60 for 1 ounce first class.  Total cost per newsletter mailed is $2.34 copy or $28.13 per year our club dues $30.00.
2. Just in passing the rest of the club income comes from being paid to participate in parades and our annual summer rally.
3. So the average cost per newsletter of paper 4 to 5 sheets of paper giving 8 to 10 pages.
4. Newsletter format is 8.5 x 11 inches, printed both sides to mail it is folded in the middle with a staple and mailing dot seal on the top edge.  This means that most newsletters survive the the post office automated sorting for our state and adjacent states.  For those sent across country or to Canada they need a sealing dot on each edge.  
5. Size of newsletter  is yes dictated by how much is submitted and by how much I’m willing to write.  But the real limits are postage cost which is based on weight.  So 4 to 5 sheets of paper can be mail 1st class mail.  If a slightly thinner paper is used this can be stretched to 5-7 sheets of paper for 10 to 14 printed pages.  The 4 to 5 sheet or 8 to 10 pages gives a good amount for text and pictures.  
6. Over the years I have studied how many sheets of what weigh can be mailed through our postal system generally I see about a 1% shredded rate or 1-2 per month.  As we mail 1st class the shredded ones are returned.  Interesting when I’ve sent 1 sheet special notices the shred rate goes through the roof.
7. One question I’ve been asked is do we want just mail subscribers?  No, we want to keep people active in the hobby of military vehicles.

If you or others are interested I’ll post a PDF copy, nothing flashy but it seems to get the job done of getting the word on events out along with other club stuff.  You can also take a look at the club activity level on club web site http://mvmvc.org/

Cheers Phill

[DaveR100]

Interesting reading. The E-HMVA give the member the option of hard copy for their quarterly magazine. Receiving all (magazine, newsletter and "magazine extra") on line is sub £20 and if a member wishes they can add a supplement to get a hard copy of the quarterly magazine.

This seems the way to go for all in the future