WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

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  • Bob Cleek
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2000
    • 11970

    WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

    As most know, I'm generally a staunch defender of all things WoodenBoat, but this time they've really gone off the deep end and need to make a serious course correction.

    I sent the below to the publisher just now. If you agree, speak up or forever hold your... whatever.

    TO: '[email protected]'

    Dear Mr. Breece:

    I’ve just received my subscription copy of the January/February edition of WoodenBoat with the tear-off “false cover,” as you call it, which you explain protects the magazine in the mail, rather than the plastic bag in which it was previously mailed. You explain on the front of this sacrificial page that you have done away with the plastic mailing bags because “…
    numerous subscribers have expressed environmental concerns over the plastic bags in which their copies of WoodenBoat were delivered.” You’ve asked for feedback about the condition in which our copies have been received. By some miracle from the hand of the Almighty, my copy arrived undamaged. Lucky you. This time around.

    I’ve been subscribing to Wooden Boat since the early 1980’s, as I recall. I bought it at my local newsstand before then. I have a complete set of mint condition issues in WoodenBoat slipcovers. (The slipcovers being outrageously expensive at ten bucks each for what is essentially a cardboard box, but I digress.) I realize I may have been a subscriber longer than you’ve been wearing long pants. Obviously, you don’t remember the last time WoodenBoat stopped mailing copies in plastic bags, that being something your mailing contractor tried to foist off on us. You had subscribers surrounding your offices with pitchforks and torches that time and the problem was immediately rectified to everyone’s relief and satisfaction.

    Make no mistake about it. A cheesy tear-off cover is not acceptable. Nobody wants a copy that looks like the cover has been torn off, which is exactly what it is. More importantly, if you think for a moment that mailing a magazine in the US Mail isn’t going to result in a high number of copies ending up torn, dog-eared, scuffed, folded, wet, and otherwise trashed, I’d like a hit of what you’re smokin’. I guess you don’t have a lot of experience with the mail. Are you going to guarantee that anybody who gets a trashed copy will get another one promptly sent to them upon demand? I don’t think you want to go there. I guess since you are the publisher, you must not have a boss, because I can’t imagine anybody who had a boss and did something like you’ve done not being told to start looking for another job.

    I strongly suggest you “grow a pair” and tell the “numerous subscribers (who) have expressed environmental concerns over the plastic bags” to get over it. There are a lot more important environmental concerns than mailing a magazine in a plastic bag. Tell them if they’ve got their panties in a bunch all that much they can try one of the following alternatives:

    1. Buy their copy at their local newsstand.

    2. Subscribe to the on-line digital edition.

    3. Recycle the plastic bags their print copy was mailed in. (As I do myself.)

    4. Burn the plastic bags, which will result in a slight bit of air pollution, but will reduce the bag to a microscopic bit of ash and thereby eliminate any risk of a sea turtle ingesting it, should it ever end up in the ocean in the first place.

    5. Drop dead immediately. I realize this last option may be considered a bit extreme, and it really does boil down to how serious they really are about preserving the environment. No matter how you cut it, suicide totally eliminates one’s personal carbon footprint which, if they continue living, will only continue to contribute to the degradation of the environment for as long as they live. This is truly the most effective thing any one person can do for the environment, but, unfortunately, all too many are content to wring their hands over “their concerns” and propose what others should be made to endure, rather than doing something truly effective themselves.

    All kidding aside, your tear-off cover does nothing effective to protect your product. It was a really stupid idea the last time it was tried. It still is. You need to “man up” and admit you made a mistake trying to cater to a few fringe nut cases. If you really think you must mollify them, then mail the magazine in a non-plastic cardboard mailing envelope such as those the USPS gives away free for such use, or something similar.

    Bob Cleek
    Petaluma, CA
    Last edited by Bob Cleek; 12-22-2019, 03:08 AM.
  • StevenBauer
    LPBC member
    • Jan 2000
    • 23277

    #2
    Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

    #5 might be a bit severe. But besides that I’m with you, Bob.

    Comment

    • amish rob
      Emperor For Life
      • Mar 2010
      • 24273

      #3
      Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

      Did you also write the letter in 1980?

      Macho crap is so stupid.

      Peace,
      Robert

      Comment

      • Paul Pless
        pinko commie tree hugger
        • Oct 2003
        • 124805

        #4
        Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

        So Bob, you gonna give up your subscription over this. Personally I’ve had enough, the stack of Woodenboat Magazines that I have in ‘near mint condition’ were not packed for the move to Phoenix, and will not be packed for the next round of moving. I’m moving on to digital editions. . .

        If anybody wants my collection dating back to 1980 or thereabouts let me know when you’ll next be in Hell and you can have them. . .

        sign me, in full on decluttering mode. . .
        Simpler is better, except when complicated looks really cool.

        Comment

        • Paul Pless
          pinko commie tree hugger
          • Oct 2003
          • 124805

          #5
          Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

          Originally posted by amish rob
          Did you also write the letter in 1980?
          lol
          Simpler is better, except when complicated looks really cool.

          Comment

          • J.Madison
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2011
            • 3976

            #6
            Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

            Who knew Bob was such a fan of plastic....


            Back in my day, they only bound manuscripts in lambskin!

            We want leather!
            We want leather!

            Comment

            • wizbang 13
              Senior Member
              • Oct 2009
              • 24799

              #7
              Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

              Maybe I should buy a magazine or book someday?
              How do they hold up?

              Comment

              • oldcodger
                Senior Member
                • May 2017
                • 426

                #8
                Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                Two of the magazines I receive through the mail come in wrappings made using potato starch and are claimed to be 100% compostable.

                Comment

                • Bob Cleek
                  Senior Member
                  • Feb 2000
                  • 11970

                  #9
                  Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                  Originally posted by Paul Pless
                  So Bob, you gonna give up your subscription over this. Personally I’ve had enough, the stack of Woodenboat Magazines that I have in ‘near mint condition’ were not packed for the move to Phoenix, and will not be packed for the next round of moving. I’m moving on to digital editions. . .

                  If anybody wants my collection dating back to 1980 or thereabouts let me know when you’ll next be in Hell and you can have them. . .

                  sign me, in full on decluttering mode. . .
                  Yeah, I've had the same thought. Maybe in a few years. At the moment, I'm about to build a large office, drafting room and library onto my shop, so room isn't going to be an issue immediately.

                  Comment

                  • Bob Cleek
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2000
                    • 11970

                    #10
                    Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                    Originally posted by J.Madison
                    Who knew Bob was such a fan of plastic....


                    Back in my day, they only bound manuscripts in lambskin!

                    We want leather!
                    We want leather!
                    Good point! Bind a year's worth in leather hardcovers.

                    Comment

                    • Bob Cleek
                      Senior Member
                      • Feb 2000
                      • 11970

                      #11
                      Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                      Originally posted by oldcodger
                      Two of the magazines I receive through the mail come in wrappings made using potato starch and are claimed to be 100% compostable.
                      That works for me! There are all sorts of environmentally friendly solutions besides putting a "tear off cover" on the thing.

                      Comment

                      • Concordia...41
                        Grateful Member
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 6404

                        #12
                        Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                        Classic Cleek

                        But I think it and Paul's post above point to the fact that environmentally adverse or not, paper copies mailed out should be in the plastic covers for as long as there is a demand for mail subscriptions. And I would be surprised if there is a need for mail subscriptions a decade from now.

                        I passed along my full collection years ago, and while I have kept my mail subscription as a way of supporting WoodenBoat, I haven't read one in years. I give away my copies as they come in and/or leave them in waiting rooms or airplane seat backs for the next person.

                        When this renewal comes up, I'll be going digital.

                        Comment

                        • Gold Rock
                          Senior Member
                          • Jun 2004
                          • 1015

                          #13
                          Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                          I disagree Mr. Cleek, my copy arrived fine and I endorse the solution. That is,... if a "solution" is even necessary. I've been subscribing to one print periodical or another for over 50 years and the great majority of those publications came with no extra coverings at all. I didn't then, nor would I now again, find the product diminished to such a degree that I would reject it. I'll forward the suggestion that we simply return to no additional coverings at all. But as I said, and as it stands, the extra paper cover works fine for me.
                          Last edited by Gold Rock; 12-22-2019, 08:32 AM.
                          Chuck Hancock

                          Comment

                          • David G
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2003
                            • 89688

                            #14
                            Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                            And Get Off Of My Dadblamed LAWN!!!
                            David G
                            Harbor Woodworks
                            https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                            "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

                            Comment

                            • Sea Smoke
                              Rapscallion
                              • Aug 2001
                              • 198

                              #15
                              Re: WoodenBoat's really, really hare-brained "false cover" idea

                              I received my copy with the tear off cover, and tore it off. Now it looks tattered, the 1/2" remainder detracts from the lovely picture on the cover, and will need to get glued down before I'm happy with it. The back cover didn't leave the loose piece, to me, this isn't a good solution.
                              O
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                              Comment

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