Hemmings MIA?

[Pomeroy41144]

I haven't received an issue of Hemmings Motor News in a couple months.  

I paid my sub in August.  

I can't get anybody on the phone over there.  

Is anybody else having delivery issues with Hemmings Motor News?  

 

 

[George Cole]

2 minutes ago, Pomeroy41144 said:

I haven't received an issue of Hemmings Motor News in a couple months.  

I paid my sub in August.  

I can't get anybody on the phone over there.  

Is anybody else having delivery issues with Hemmings Motor News?  

 

 

Get mine pretty much like clockwork every month.  A little late this month, but it came yesterday.

[joe_padavano]

I've noticed that none of the Hemmings magazines have been on newstands for the last six months or so. The only car mags I see in stores anymore are Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Car & Driver, and Rodz.

[auburnseeker]

I spend the extra to get it mailed priority mail every month,  and this month it was 10 days late.  Different places in the country have different mail distribution center issues.  Being regular Hemmings is near media mail,  then it's going to be the last stuff moved.  You might get them all at once.  I subscribe to Auto Roundup and for a week I was getting one every other day.  Didn't know i had that many missing issues.  It normally comes every other week. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

I received my Hemmings Motor News pretty much

on schedule.  It typically arrives at the end of the month.

 

The number of ad pages in Hemmings is 'way down

from where it was a few years ago.  Even Hemmings

Classic Car magazine cut their pages from about 104

to 72 a few months ago--the smallest I think it has

ever been.

 

I hope they're doing okay.

[joe_padavano]

14 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

The number of ad pages in Hemmings is 'way down

from where it was a few years ago.  Even Hemmings

Classic Car magazine cut their pages from about 104

to 72 a few months ago--the smallest I think it has

ever been.

 

Frankly, I'm surprised the HMN mothership has hung on this long. They really missed the boat by not becoming "ebay motors". Sadly, it seems that every automotive print magazine is just fading away. The latest issue of Hot Rod is a whopping 84 pages, and most of them have a single full page photo with very little editorial content. My 1960s issues were typically over 200 pages each. The digital media that was supposed to make up for this lack of printed content is actually recycled articles from the print magazine from 5-6 years ago. What's even worse, is the there is nearly no technical content in HRM anymore, just glossy photos of pro-built cars. I guess that also reflects the changing demographics of the hobby - no one builds their own car anymore. Frankly, I'm REALLY tired of "barn find" articles, especially when the rusty turd still has the bird droppings on it.

 

Road and Track (which I got by default to ride out my subscription when Autoweek ceased printing) has now gone to the "half the issues, twice the content" model. When Autoweek did that some years ago, the thicker issues lasted about three months, then content dwindled to less than it was before. I expect R&T to do the same.

[TerryB]

My Hemmings Classic Car magazine has been arriving mostly on time.  Newsstand magazines are an endangered species as digital only advances to more and more publications.  I don’t want digital only!

[AL1630]

I have a subscription to Hemmings Classic Car and it's been arriving on time. I typically get it around 1.5-2 months early, got the March issue a couple weeks ago which is pretty close to normal.

Edited February 9, 2021 by AL1630 (see edit history)

[vintage1]

My January issue of Hemmings arrived the last week of January. I miss Autoweek from the days when it was printed like a newspaper.

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

2 hours ago, plymouthcranbrook said:

 HCC... Really starting to wonder if I will renew....

 

I had renewed for 3 years about a year ago,

when the content of Hemmings Classic Car

was 104 pages monthly.  Then it was cut to

72 pages.  With the inclusion of a couple of

foreign-car articles, which I am less interested in,

the content of American cars was much less.

After all, that's a 30% cut in pages!

 

I remembered when Cars and Parts magazine

drastically changed direction, that publisher,

forum members said, wouldn't give refunds.  So

with the new editorship at the Hemmings magazines,

I figured it was time to get out, regretfully.

I called and canceled my subscription to

Hemmings Classic Car.

 

The title of this thread is "Missing in Action."

That means content as much as mailing.

But I'm still counting on Hemmings Motor News.

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[alsancle]

My wife keeps forgetting to pay my HMN subscription and it takes me 3 or 4 months to notice.  What does that say?   It isn’t 1990 anymore!

[TAKerry]

I let my subscriptions to Hemmings Classic and Hemmings Muscle lapse (also my aaca membership). If its not in my daily email I usually dont see it. Anyway, I re-upped both Hemmings in Dec (also just did my aaca) and have yet to receive either. I just figured I was out of their cycle and would get caught up at some point. I used to get the Hemmings 'bible' but let that one go. I'm not in the market for a car, but I look at their website almost on a daily basis. I figure I get just as much info there as the printed magazine. Also it seemed like the articles were rehashed from either of the two magazines I already get.

 

As far as content, yes it does seem redundant at times. I enjoy the restoration articles. Personally I would rather see 2 articles showing details of a restoration than anything with another hemi in it. I would also like to see something a bit more in depth, rather than just a quick gloss over.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

I take as many magazines digitally as I subscribe as I can and I have no delivery problems. Yes, it is not 1990 anymore!

 

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

My wife keeps forgetting to pay my HMN subscription and it takes me 3 or 4 months to notice.  What does that say?   It isn’t 1990 anymore!

 

[alsancle]

12 minutes ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

I take as many magazines digitally as I subscribe as I can and I have no delivery problems. Yes, it is not 1990 anymore!

 

 

 

I know I can do that, but it is not the same thing as sitting in bed or in front of the fire with a newspaper or magazine.   Something is lost.

 

[joe_padavano]

7 hours ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

I take as many magazines digitally as I subscribe as I can and I have no delivery problems. Yes, it is not 1990 anymore!

 

 

 

The problem with digital versions (other than the intangible "feel" of a paper magazine) is that for me, anyway, you can't skim or move as easily from one page to the next. The absolute worst digital format is the one with the gratuitous "page flipping" animation. A number of vendors use that for their online catalogs. I refuse to deal with them. Not everyone has multi-gig internet speeds.

Edited February 9, 2021 by joe_padavano (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

2 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

I know I can do that, but it is not the same thing as sitting in bed or in front of the fire with a newspaper or magazine.   Something is lost.

 

Your just showing your age!  The younger generation has been the main digital user in surveys we have taken over the last 15 or so years. As they get older they seem to enjoy the printed versions more. The biggest reason for that is the ease of going back to read a previous paragraph or page. Some have said that is due to eye site and memory reasons. They find it difficult to find the information online within an article. 
we also found digital accounted for approximately 22- 28% of subs. This may be a little higher as it’s been a few years since I’ve done any survey. 
Print and mail cost along with decreased advertising (mainly due to internet) is reason for down sizing. The USPS has discounts for palletizing and co-mingling  of publications. So printers will run a few magazines then put them on a common pallet as opposed to individual bags for delivery to a USPS distribution site. Supposed to improve delivery speed at reduced cost. We found most small pubs (50,000 circulation or less) suffered in delivery and only saw marginal cost savings. 
My personal experience is the C19 has hit this industry very hard. Most publishers were somewhat hopeful the stay at home orders would increase circulation but the advertising loss was much greater than expected. My circulation service bureau saw a loss of over 50 pubs shutting down. Most were trade journals. The paid pubs did not give refunds. I do process for the oldest automobile magazine in the market. It went from 90,000 monthly to 5000 quarterly and recently down to 2000 twice a year. This pub (I will not give the name out) is over a 110 years old and was originally a pub on wagon freight hauling. 
It’s a changing world and I don’t think the next generation is going to see car pubs like we have had unless they are an association publication. 

dave s 
 

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

3 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

I know I can do that, but it is not the same thing as sitting in bed or in front of the fire with a newspaper or magazine.   Something is lost.

 

 

2 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

 

The problem with digital versions (other than the intangible "feel" of a paper magazine, is that for me, anyway, you can't skim or move as easily from one page to the next. The absolute worst digital format is the one with the gratuitous "page flipping" animation. A number of vendors use that for their online catalogs. I refuse to deal with them. Not everyone has multi-gig internet speeds.

I agree with Joe that some digital magazine formats are a PIA, some such as Hemings classic car are excellent. Most of my national car club mags come paper only. I am fine with that. I wish they were backlit like my iPad to help these poor old eyes I have! 
Al, digital is of course not for everyone. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)

[John S.]

I have been a subscriber to Hemmings since 1975, and noticed many changes in the magazine. Hemmings seems to be more interested in online auctions, and pushes it with every issue. The magazine has been trimmed  down quite a bit. In the 1955/1956/1957 Chevrolet section for this month has only 11 cars listed for sale for the three years, amounting to just a half of a page! That section usually has a 3 to 4 page spread . Hemmings, along with it's other Title magazines aren't  available in Barnes and Noble anymore. After all these years, I have not renewed my subscription. I feel that in they will go 100% digital in the near future. 

[Walt G]

I have been on many sides in publishing - as an editor, as a subscriber,  as a author ( I like the description "story teller" better) . To me the best publications need to have an Editor that can "read" his audience, know what they like and try their best to give an even variety of well researched ( no rehash) stories . Publishers are bean counters, they have to be, they need to look at costs, what is popular , that factors in / determines the number of pages or entire issues that need to be produced - deal with printers after being composed ( formerly type set) etc. . It certainly is easy to fill pages of a magazine with copy ( ie words) then have to deal with images and photographs that need to be scanned, resized, cropped, and fit into a page and format that looks good. Some Editor's take the time and effort, others just think it easier to edit copy and fill pages.  My view is that an editor has to also be an artist or have someone who knows what a good lay out /mix of words and photos will do the story justice. If you are involved with history/research of the 1950 and earlier era resources ( period material) can be difficult to reach or be available to use, or even know about that it exists and where. It is why some authors take great effort and time to try to build their own library and archives to contain the material they can easily reach for to do research to present a accurate and interesting story. You also need to know what you are looking at! I have focused on the WWI to WWII era in building my library ( with a lot of help from friends on both sides of the Atlantic) for over 55 years. I bought my first sales literature in an antique store on the way to the Franklin Club annual meet in August in 1965 - two mid 1920s Studebaker sales catalogs, a month later I did a cash /trade with Frank T. Snyder of NJ who was a literature dealer at the old Ridgefield , Ct. pre 1942 car show. Frank thought it was pretty cool a young teenage guy liked old literature. I still have the sales folder on a 4 cylinder Plymouth I got from Frank.

I am old school, computers are necessary, but holding a printed paper in my hands as mentioned here by someone else is just something I will never ever stop loving to do.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long tirade.

Walt

[STEVE POLLARD]

19 minutes ago, Walt G said:

I am old school, computers are necessary, but holding a printed paper in my hands as mentioned here by someone else is just something I will never ever stop loving to do.

I totally agree Walt !

 

Steve

[Pomeroy41144]

I got some one on the phone.  They said there have been a lot US Mail delays this year. 

 

No problem with Classic Car.  

 

 

6 hours ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

I take as many magazines digitally as I subscribe as I can and I have no delivery problems. Yes, it is not 1990 anymore!

 

 

 

Jeff, For me, it is 1980.  The last thing I want to do is look at a screen for my pleasure reading.  Plus, I can take my magazine anywhere and it does not need batteries.  I subscribe to several Old School type paper magazines.  

 

Thanks to all.  Take care.  

[Terry Bond]

Got mine a few days later than usual.   Didn't really make much difference.  It's been a long time since "automobilia" was redefined to mean toys made yesterday and moved to the back.  It's been a long time since brass era stuff took up at least a whole page.  It's been a long time since....

I think they've tried to be all things to everybody and they've lost some folks in the process.  I still enjoy some of it, but not as much as I used to.  When my wife told me the mail was here and I got my HMN I just said "lay it on the table, l'm looking at ebay."

Terry

[MochetVelo]

Know the average age of a Hemmings reader?  We were told a couple years ago at the AACA Convention by editor Richard Lentinello. It's 68.

 

Phil

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

8 hours ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

Most of my national car club mags come paper only. I am fine with that. I wish they were backlit like my iPad to help these poor old eyes I have! 

Al, digital is of course not for everyone. 

I reposted this because I do NOT disdain the printed media at all. I use both.

[ericmac]

I have noticed there is a distinct push toward newer cars and self-promotion present in HMN. Part of the issue is that, and another is results. I had a car advertised for sale in Hemmings a couple years ago and didn't get a single response from the ad. Years back, one would at least get a couple snarky, "you're asking too much" or dreamer calls. This time,  nothing.  The car finally sold on eBay. I suspect that I am not alone,  thus the decrease in HMN advertising volume, and revenue, as many probably concur that it's a waste of money. 

[AL1630]

7 minutes ago, ericmac said:

I have noticed there is a distinct push toward newer cars and self-promotion present in HMN. Part of the issue is that, and another is results. I had a car advertised for sale in Hemmings a couple years ago and didn't get a single response from the ad. Years back, one would at least get a couple snarky, "you're asking too much" or dreamer calls. This time,  nothing.  The car finally sold on eBay. I suspect that I am not alone,  thus the decrease in HMN advertising volume, and revenue, as many probably concur that it's a waste of money. 

I wonder how well listing an ad does in the magazine vs their website. The site has a wide range of cars listed, the market may have moved there.

[Peter S]

Digital publication has a great advantage in that digitized text can be word-searched. It's so easy to look up past content. You can blow up diagrams and other images on a big screen or even yout TV by plugging in a cable or by wireless connection. Plus, who has the shelf space for more print?

[John_S_in_Penna]

Preferring digital images doesn't mean you're young;

nor does preferring a book or magazine mean you're old.

 

While Hemmings' digital content has advantages,

so does the printed magazine.  For example, I can

look back several months, or a year, in a printed magazine.

I found, for example, one car still available after a year--

and prices become more realistic after time.

 

There's no way to do that with Hemmings' digital ads.

 

[Captain Harley]

On 2/8/2021 at 6:27 PM, joe_padavano said:

- no one builds their own car anymore

The same thing happened to custom Harley's too.  When I became a biker after I got out of the military.  Just about everybody was building their own bikes.  Very few shop built scooters.  It was a real brotherhood of helping your bud's keep their Harley's on the road.  I quit the biker world after about 25 years (I do still have my custom Panhead)

and went back to antique cars.🙂

 

Capt. Harley😉

[TAKerry]

Having just turned 57 a couple days ago, I guess I am on the younger edge of HMN average. However, my biggest complaint with the car ads is I CANT READ THEM!! The print is entirely too small. I started wearing glasses when I hit the ripe age of 50 and magazine print seems to be the biggest hurdle I have. I need them to read anything, but the size of the print in HMN is just ridiculous. I suppose if it was bigger they would need more pages but if one cant read whats there how effective is it anyway. Thats one big reason I prefer HMN online. I think the disadvantage is the car ads are behind the printed version, but how fast do these cars sell anyway.

[John_S_in_Penna]

17 hours ago, MochetVelo said:

Know the average age of a Hemmings reader?  We were told a couple years ago... It's 68.

 

Hemmings must have taken a small sample

and extrapolated the results, forming a conclusion

for their entire readership.  That's typical of surveys:

Asking 1000 people and declaring their conclusions

to be the desires of an entire country!  No one at

Hemmings ever asked me.

[joe_padavano]

41 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Having just turned 57 a couple days ago, I guess I am on the younger edge of HMN average. However, my biggest complaint with the car ads is I CANT READ THEM!!

 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

TAKerry,

 

Happy birthday, at 3 mos. Your senior I am not sure where we fall on the HMN demographic  scale these days.  As has been said, it's tough to be all things to all people.  I will likely re-up as renewal reminder #3 hit the house this week, and I have subscribed since 14 or 15 years old.  It would seem odd without it, but features, auction reports (I am not convinced writers have expertise based on ratings, comments) interest me much less than ads.  Losing ad content monthly.  But that one key ad could still show up... 🤔😁

[TAKerry]

Thanks Steve, yours are the primary reasons why I did subscribe. I am not interested in purchasing a car, but I do like to look and see what is for sale and for how much. As far as the articles, auction reports and such, I have found that it seems the same stuff is in their classic car and muscle machine issues of which I get both. 

 

Yes Joe, I have one of those also...........

[SC38dls]

John, owning a magazine circulation fulfillment company for years and processing thousands of returns for surveys I know that’s how a survey works. Plus it’s an average not a number of the exact readers age. The only reason to do a survey for most consumer magazines is to show the average demographic so they get advertising. A magazine like Hemmings wants an older age as most younger people (the demographic general advertisers want) don’t have disposable dollars for collector cars. They also know the age demographic is not the only important one they collect. That is why the survey has multiple questions and a good survey ask the same information in multiple ways. The critical part is the analysis and reporting  of that data. To publish one answer is usually very misleading and should never be done. Your point of them not asking you personally is not intentional it’s just the way surveys are done and I would bet will continue to be done forever as it’s cost effective. We all  know cost is the driving ( my way of tying in a car related term into my ramblings) factor for most of what companies do. A magazine survey is very similar to how tv shows get ratings. Did the last show that you really liked but was canceled ask you if it should stay on the air? I think not. 
Have fun 

dave s 

[TerryB]

HCC has given me more info on some foreign makes that I didn’t know much about.  Some of the cars covered get into the 1970s which might be an attempt to showcase cars that are off the radar and affordable.  There does seem to be an absence of pre 1930 cars shown anymore.  At almost 69 I find I like stories about mid 1930s cars to mid 1970s cars best with a mix of light duty trucks too.  Restoration stories are always welcome too especially how all the fitment of the parts has to be done.  Since I’m out of the active hobby HMN has no appeal any more.  

[95Cardinal]

On 2/8/2021 at 6:27 PM, joe_padavano said:

 

Frankly, I'm surprised the HMN mothership has hung on this long. They really missed the boat by not becoming "ebay motors". Sadly, it seems that every automotive print magazine is just fading away. The latest issue of Hot Rod is a whopping 84 pages, and most of them have a single full page photo with very little editorial content. My 1960s issues were typically over 200 pages each. The digital media that was supposed to make up for this lack of printed content is actually recycled articles from the print magazine from 5-6 years ago. What's even worse, is the there is nearly no technical content in HRM anymore, just glossy photos of pro-built cars. I guess that also reflects the changing demographics of the hobby - no one builds their own car anymore. Frankly, I'm REALLY tired of "barn find" articles, especially when the rusty turd still has the bird droppings on it.

 

Road and Track (which I got by default to ride out my subscription when Autoweek ceased printing) has now gone to the "half the issues, twice the content" model. When Autoweek did that some years ago, the thicker issues lasted about three months, then content dwindled to less than it was before. I expect R&T to do the same.

I have an acquaintance who owns an Automotive Book & Hobby shop. He told me that Hemmings was continuing to print and ship to subscribers but stopped all deliveries to retail distributors early in the pandemic. He expected they would resume retail shipments at some future date.

I don't believe there have been any Hemmings publications on store shelves since March or April.

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, 95Cardinal said:

I have an acquaintance who owns an Automotive Book & Hobby shop. He told me that Hemmings was continuing to print and ship to subscribers but stopped all deliveries to retail distributors early in the pandemic. He expected they would resume retail shipments at some future date.

I don't believe there have been any Hemmings publications on store shelves since March or April.

 

Interesting. I guess they assumed that COVID lockdown would drive newsstand sales to below the profitability point. Not sure that was a wise decision, but I can understand it.

[ericmac]

10 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

Hemmings must have taken a small sample

and extrapolated the results, forming a conclusion

for their entire readership.  That's typical of surveys:

Asking 1000 people and declaring their conclusions

to be the desires of an entire country!  No one at

Hemmings ever asked me.

But this is how ALL statistics are derived.  One takes samples,  ideally,  randomly drawn,  and applies the conclusions from the sample to the entire population of interest. While an imperfect system,  it saves time and resources.