Another one bites the dust

[joe_padavano]

One of the few remaining paper car magazines that I get - Auto Restorer - has also bitten the dust. I received notification that the electronic version of the Feb 2020 issue was available (with Oldsmobiles featured) over a month ago, but the paper copy never arrived. I just called and got this recorded message, which is also on their website:

Quote:

To our Subscribers, Contributors, and Suppliers:

Please be advised that the Publisher of Motorcycle Consumer News and Auto Restorer magazines, Lumina Media, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Company”), doing business at 640 Avis Drive, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108, will be dissolved by written resolution of the sole manager and all members of the Company, effective as of February 1, 2020 (the “Dissolution Date”). Effective as of the Dissolution Date, the Company will cease its business operations and shall continue for the sole purpose of winding up its business affairs. The last publication of Motorcycle Consumer News was distributed (shipped) on January 17, 2020, and the last publication of Auto Restorer was distributed (shipped) on January 17, 2020. Subscription payments for future issues paid by credit card or check after the Dissolution Date will not be processed. If you paid for future subscriptions by check and the check has not been drawn against your bank account as of this notice, the check has been or will be destroyed by the Company. If you otherwise paid for future publications in advance, you may submit a claim for the value of the issues you will not receive in accordance with the below instructions.

Please be further advised that the Company has insufficient assets to satisfy all of its liabilities. Upon the conclusion of the wind-up process, creditors will receive a pro rata distribution of available assets, if any, to satisfy claims submitted in accordance with the following:

1. If you believe that the Company owes you money, you must submit a final invoice or claim for any liability through the Dissolution Date in writing and include the claim amount, basis for the claim, origination date, proof of payment if a subscription claim (e.g. copy of front and back of cancelled check; as well as other data mentioned here), and documentation evidencing the basis of the claim.

2. The deadline for submitting claims is March 9, 2020.

3. Any claims that are not received by the Company on or prior to March 9, 2020 may not receive a distribution from the assets of the Company, to the extent such distribution is made.

4. All claim submissions must be sent to: Lumina Media, 640 Avis Drive, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, Attn: Lumina Claims Desk.

Dated: February 1, 2020

Lumina Media, LLC

This one isn't due to declining ad revenue, since they did not accept paid ads. Apparently their subscription-only business model wasn't viable. Oh, and of course my subscription is paid up through Nov 2021... 🙄

[D Yaros]

A good pub.  Sorry to see it go.  

 

Would like to see the Oldsmobile edition.

Edited February 18, 2020 by D Yaros (see edit history)

[GARY F]

I looked forward to it every month.

[Zimm63]

Enjoyed it a lot, but it has faded a bit in recent years.  Guess we'll never know if the NSU Prinz makes it back onto the road.  

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

Our library has had that magazine for years....I always enjoyed reading.

The magazine business is sure dying.

[joe_padavano]

20 minutes ago, Zimm63 said:

Guess we'll never know if the NSU Prinz makes it back onto the road.  

 

That was exactly my first reaction!

[JamesR]

I had subscribed to this publication several years ago...10 or more. They were the kind of publication that you rooted for because of their very modest format. Nevertheless, there was only so much in it that applied to me, so I let the subscription lapse. It was my impression that it was a published more as a very serious hobby by it's editors and contributors than as an actual money making endeavor, but I could be wrong. Some pretty good content, it seems to me. Best wishes to the staff as they seek new opportunities.

[Ron Dame]

Very sad. At least I had not renewed yet. The past few years weren't ads good as earlier years, which had some great how-to info

 

[Ron Dame]

And what about the three MGTDs?

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Ron Dame (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

31 minutes ago, Ron Dame said:

And what about the three MGTDs?

 

 

Those haven't been heard from in a while.

[Billy Kingsley]

I'm sad to see another car magazine end, but, I've never even heard of this one before. And it's not like I've been living under a rock or anything, I've been reading and collecting car magazines for more than 30 years. Perhaps that may have something to do with it? How many possible subscribers did they miss from people who didn't know it existed? 

[plymouthcranbrook]

As with JamesR I too subscribed for years but eventually realized that at my then age and income level it wasn’t very likely I would ever use but a small part of the information. I think I still have the issues I got somewhere.

[KURTRUK]

A very good magazine.  No ads.  Just good reading.

My wife recently renewed my subscription through Amazon, something new to us, because it was a better rate.  Whoops!  Now how do we go about getting a refund?  We could claim we didn't get the goods we paid for.  But I think the well is dry.

[SC38dls]

Publications are required to be on one of two accounting systems by law. They can earn income at the time they receive it - cash method- most new pubs do it this way as startup cost are high. Or they can accrue it over life of subscription by taking equal amounts of earnings each issue - called accrual method. Most older pubs do this as it is better tax wise. A pub is only allowed to change methods once in life of publication. 
if this pub is on accrual you may be able to get the unused portion of your sub back. If they are filing protection the court will recognize the unearned liability and you will get a check with a lot of luck. Most likely they will try to sell the sub list to another pub which will assume the time liability but not the financial one and give you the remainder of your sub term in their pub which you may have no interest in. The other possible outcome is they close their doors and you are SOL   I wouldn’t hold my breath for the check as I doubt they will even say it is in the mail

 

Have fun

Dave S 

[TTR]

Perhaps it’s just me, but reading/seeing people lamenting about end of print media on the internet is quite humorous if not outright ironic.

I continue receiving half a dozen or so (print) magazine, some self -, some gift subscriptions,  but like 2-3 internet forums I’ve signed up with, I don’t have much spare time to spend on them.
With exception of perhaps a handful, all my subscribed magazines from past few years are unread and most still in their unopened mailing  envelopes/pouches/sleeves/etc., so if they were to stop arriving or the internet got closed down, my everyday life wouldn't probably be affected much.

Edited February 19, 2020 by TTR (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

2 hours ago, SC38DLS said:

Publications are required to be on one of two accounting systems by law. They can earn income at the time they receive it - cash method- most new pubs do it this way as startup cost are high. Or they can accrue it over life of subscription by taking equal amounts of earnings each issue - called accrual method. Most older pubs do this as it is better tax wise. A pub is only allowed to change methods once in life of publication. 
if this pub is on accrual you may be able to get the unused portion of your sub back. If they are filing protection the court will recognize the unearned liability and you will get a check with a lot of luck. Most likely they will try to sell the sub list to another pub which will assume the time liability but not the financial one and give you the remainder of your sub term in their pub which you may have no interest in. The other possible outcome is they close their doors and you are SOL   I wouldn’t hold my breath for the check as I doubt they will even say it is in the mail

 

Have fun

Dave S 

 

Every company is required to use either cash or accrual accounting method. Neither one has anything to do with the amount of cash on hand or the value of any remaining assets. Read the quote in my first post. There's already a long line of creditors and the whole reason they ceased publication is because they have no more money. Submitting a claim for a missed subscription will just waste the postage.

[SC38dls]

That is basically what I am saying but if they are on an accrual method you may get something in the terms or another pub if on a cash method you will not see anything.  Being part of the publication industry for the last 40+ years, I’ve seen it go both ways multiple times. More and more these last 10 years or so due to lost advertising/subscriptions to the internet. 
Dave S 

[joe_padavano]

53 minutes ago, SC38DLS said:

That is basically what I am saying but if they are on an accrual method you may get something in the terms or another pub if on a cash method you will not see anything.  Being part of the publication industry for the last 40+ years, I’ve seen it go both ways multiple times. More and more these last 10 years or so due to lost advertising/subscriptions to the internet. 
Dave S 

 

I ran my own business for 8 years before I sold it. Accrual vs. cash accounting has no relationship to how much cash (or other assets) remain on hand, period. And since Auto Restorer accepted no advertising, that is not part of the reason in this case.

[mdh7475]

Yep - I received the notice yesterday also.   It is a shame due to the fact that it was about the only source that went into some detail on how to actually do something on a car.  Compared to the pathetic car shows that are on now thanks to Motortrend, I dont even bother trying to find any useful information off any of these total wastes of time shows.

 

Unfortunately I renewed my subscription for 2 years back in September.  I like the comment about filing a claim, but due to the fact that they are broke I would suspect I would have a better chance of seeing Bigfoot hitchhiking before every receiving a penny.....

 

MH

[STEVE POLLARD]

Wow, I had no clue... Been a subscriber from early on and I was just reading February's edition last night... Always like reading Jim Richardson's how to articles !

 

I will miss this publication !

 

Steve

 

[joe_padavano]

7 minutes ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

Wow, I had no clue... Been a subscriber from early on and I was just reading February's edition last night... Always like reading Jim Richardson's how to articles !

 

I will miss this publication !

 

Steve

 

 

You got a paper copy of the Feb issue? I never did, only the electronic one.

[STEVE POLLARD]

Yes.... I have it right in front of me.

 

Steve

[STEVE POLLARD]

26 minutes ago, joe_padavano said:

 

You got a paper copy of the Feb issue? I never did, only the electronic one.

Joe - if you like to have the paper copy, I'll send it your way..... just pm me your address.

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[89tc]

Lowrider Magazine is also out of business. This March will be the last print issue. They've been around since 1977. I'm not Chicano, but am a car guy, and any car magazine intrigued me when I was a kid. 

 

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-13/lowrider-magazine-ceases-print

 

[SC38dls]

20 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

 

I ran my own business for 8 years before I sold it. Accrual vs. cash accounting has no relationship to how much cash (or other assets) remain on hand, period. And since Auto Restorer accepted no advertising, that is not part of the reason in this case.

I never referred to cash. I referred to liability and that does not change no matter how much cash you have on hand. I also said if they file chapter the court will recognize that liability and you may get some form of compensation but don’t hold your breath for a check. if they close the doors you are SOL. 
I don’t really care as I have nothing to do with this pub. I was simply trying to give some subscribers possible options of what they might expect. 
Seeing they sent some hard copies out but possibly not all I would bet based on my experience in the industry if you had an email registered with the. You got the electronic version if not you got the print version. 

one more point the USPS will be the first to get any $$ as they do not mail without $$. The printer contract will state they are next in line after any secured debts. The subs without emails will be just above those with emails so the chance of you seeing anything other than an electronic version or a completely different magazine that accepts the liability to acquire to mailing list is less than slim. 
Have fun. 
Dave S 

[joe_padavano]

2 minutes ago, SC38DLS said:

I never referred to cash. I referred to liability and that does not change no matter how much cash you have on hand. I also said if they file chapter the court will recognize that liability and you may get some form of compensation but don’t hold your breath for a check. if they close the doors you are SOL.

 

Creditors will only get a payout if the company has cash on hand. Their choice of accounting method has nothing to do with how much cash they have on hand. Your first post in this thread implies that accounting method can impact how much cash is left. In any case, if they are dissolving the company, It's because they can't pay their big creditors like the printing company, etc. Those creditors will be first in line to get any payout long before subscribers get anything. As I said above, it's not worth wasting the stamp.

[8E45E]

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 7:39 PM, Billy Kingsley said:

I'm sad to see another car magazine end, but, I've never even heard of this one before. And it's not like I've been living under a rock or anything, I've been reading and collecting car magazines for more than 30 years. Perhaps that may have something to do with it? How many possible subscribers did they miss from people who didn't know it existed? 

I haven't seen Classic Auto Restorer on the newsstand for about 30 years, and I HATE subscribing to magazines as the Post Office is brutal on anything bigger than a standard envelope.  I thought Classic Auto Restorer ceased publication as it suddenly vanished from the newsstand.  I only learned about this magazine from England https://www.magnetomagazine.com/single-issues.htm  which is not available in newsstands from this site: https://www.magazinecollector.net/magazines/cars/

 

Craig

[Billy Kingsley]

I had no idea there was a Database of magazines! I'd been looking for something just like that. I'm going to be busy for the next several days. Thank you! 

[8E45E]

12 hours ago, Billy Kingsley said:

I had no idea there was a Database of magazines! I'd been looking for something just like that. I'm going to be busy for the next several days. Thank you! 

If you have any automotive magazines in your collection that are not on their list, sign up, scan and upload them. 

 

Craig

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, 8E45E said:

If you have any automotive magazines in your collection that are not on their list, sign up, scan and upload them. 

 

Craig

 

Yeah, who needs copywrite laws... 🙄

 

As for that particular site, am I missing something? All I see are images of the covers, and requests to buy or sell that particular issue. I don't see any way to access the actual content in an issue.

[Paul Dobbin]

For you guys that like tp read Jim Richarson, Try Classic Car, a Hemming's publication.  He gets the last word every month.

Classic Car is my favority magazine and it's only $18.95 a year, in full color and coverd the whole antique world.

[KURTRUK]

On 2/18/2020 at 8:30 PM, KURTRUK said:

A very good magazine.  No ads.  Just good reading.

My wife recently renewed my subscription through Amazon, something new to us, because it was a better rate.  Whoops!  Now how do we go about getting a refund?  We could claim we didn't get the goods we paid for.  But I think the well is dry.

 

Well, renewing through Amazon turned out to be IN our favor!  My wife contacted Amazon, they looked into it and wham, bam, thank you Ma'am, we got a full refund from Amazon, almost instantly.