Art & Inspiration What's up with The Rodders Journal?

I figure that they will go back to offering air mail or expedited mail if you don't want it to go by snail mail. Most on here are probably too young to remember when it was a big deal if we got a letter in an airmail envelope.

 

I have every issue of RJ, but the lack of any communication from them on here tells me that I will never have another.

 

If they had shipped the catalogs before Thanksgiving and the USPS wasn't getting them delivered, the very LEAST they could do would be to get that information out to their subscribers. Email, Facebook, Instagram, The Hamb, ect, etc. "Mail service is very slow, we apologize for the delay, we appreciate your patience and your business".

Sounds like most people would be understanding of that. Instead, Rodder's Journal goes totally silent. Which leads to speculation, anger and resentment. I understand that life can get in the way sometimes and I hope all is well with them, but how difficult is it to send out just one message to your customers?

 

Amen!

 

Just to put it in perspective. We have been getting between 1 and 5 USPS packages a day, for months. Many from overseas and delivered within 2 weeks.

 

I am with Tman, I get a lot of packages a few late but that's par for the course. I cant see that many catalogs bulk mailed getting lost. Juts curious whats the post mark on the Christmas catalog?

 

I will sell mine for copy price, first 10 are sold, many left, up to #80 I think.
some duplicates...
plus postage, all read once, perfect shape.

 

Not a bad deal. I believe it was #7 I once bought for $140 and then did a HAMB auction and sold it for about the same?

 

There is no conventional postmark on bulk mail, being sent in large bundles and pre-sorted by zones the postmark is unnecessary, there is no stamp to cancel.

 

Just got my Christmas catalog last Friday in MD... about 1.5 hr drive from the Philly mail facility.
I saw that someone posted earlier in the thread that the catalogs were delivered to the PO in Nov 2020. I am assuming they where shipped bulk rate or book rate...probably not a high priority for the PO. But seeing them arrive all over the country at around the same time suggest they may have been buried in the "get to it someday" room.
I really hope TRJ makes it...
I need to get 4 or 5 more issues to break even on my lifetime membership...lol
Chappy

 

To put this postal thing in perspective I belong to the Early Ford V8 Club. They have a bi-monthly magazine. The November/December issue was mailed from the Midwest last Fall sometime. I did not receive my copy here in Virginia until the end of February. Obviously this magazine and the RJ catalog are very low priority mail.

 

Too bad--was/is a great magazine. Sold all mine last year. Regarding the mail-my taxes were mailed 1st class back to me on 2/26 and postmarked the same from 120 miles away. Received them on 3/23!

 

Junk mail is shipped bulk rate. My daily haul from the mailbox is about 60% junkmail including weekly sales fliers and monthly mailings so I call BS on the USPS. They may suck but not as bad as some are saying.

 

I don't know Ryan, in order to ship Media Mail there can be no advertising content, as would be typical in a magazine. Books, manuscripts, technical manuals and even DVD's can ship MM, probably even some other items too. I think magazines or some other mass mailings like catalogs would go Pre-sorted, bundled or boxed by region and then later broken down by individual zip codes when they arrive at a region.

 

What is considered bulk mail?
Bulk mail broadly refers to mail that is mailed and processed in bulk at reduced rates. ... The United States Postal Service (USPS) defines bulk mail broadly as "quantities of mail prepared for mailing at reduced postage rates." The preparation includes presorting and placing into containers by ZIP code.

Bulk mail - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Bulk_mail

How long does bulk mail take to be delivered?
10-14 days

U.S. Standard Rate, known sometimes as Bulk Mail, offers lower postage rates but has a longer delivery time. Typically you can expect delivery in 10-14 days nationally and 4-6 days in California and the Southwest U.S. The USPS will not forward or return mail if the mailing address is incorrect.

Postage Types | Modern Postcard
www.modernpostcard.com › preparing-materia

 

If anything I learned a ton about mailing. This one is interesting

https://www.biz2credit.com/blog/2019/09/23/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-bulk-mailing-in-2019/

 

I was actually looking for a media rate the other day for something I shipped. Ended up UPS instead due to logistics.

 

I too consider what might happen without the USPS, but only being an occasional user as an eBay seller it still concerns me as I prefer the USPS. An online search shows that legislation was passed in 2006 requiring the USPS to pre-fund employee health benefits 75 years into the future, putting an extra burden on the system. Their $9B loss last year would have only (!) been $3B without that requirement.
I understand that $3 billion is not small change but the USPS was never set up as a business enterprise, it is a service for all citizens, just like having a federal highway system or air traffic controllers at airports.
So the big question is this- was the pre-funding requirement put on them to make them fail? Is the ultimate plan to privatize the system? Looking at the numbers they handle 173M items per day on average, UPS posts their count as 16M and FedEx does only 6M all of which make me wonder what privatization would cost us in fees? The privateers would either need to enhance their infrastructure or in the case of newcomers start from scratch, and would only one enterprize handle the business country-wide or would multiple concerns step in creating one huge cluster f!*k?

 

I looked at the stamp on 3 catalogs. They all said presorted standard mail. All with a permit issued to the shipper in their location.

 

A year ago this spring the gentleman I work for received a large plastic bundle full of Rodders Journal. He came to me and asked if I had ordered some extra issues. I said no I hadn't. I went to his office and there were 10 current issues. One had my name and address on it and I live 30 miles away. I knew every subscriber and delivered them to each one. Someone at the PO didn't open the bulk package. They just saw the name through the plastic and delivered it from Kansas City to Warsaw MO. Luckily we were able to get everyone their issues. How many others did this happen too?

 

Hi guys. We really appreciate those who have voiced their support, and we completely understand those who are upset with us for the lack of communication and for merchandise orders they're still waiting on. We have faced some challenges over the last 12 months that have overwhelmed us, but we are still here—still in business—and still trying to navigate those challenges.

We know it's already been far too long since you've heard from us, but if you'll give us a couple of days, we plan to post more detailed information later this week via our email list and here on the HAMB that will explain what's gone on up to this point, and more importantly what we're doing to get back on track, ship the last of our backlog of orders/magazines, and get on with the business of producing The Rodder's Journal.

 

ordered a calendar in late January,after a month its a no show,sent an e mail to them,no response,called today,mail box is full and cant leave message,sent another e mail today,see what happens !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

sounds good,make sure it happens !!!

 

Good for you

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