Before I go to the post office and bang my head there, I wanted to check with others.
Just how long does it take for your Chess Life to arrive, worst case and average? I haven’t received the Nov CL issue yet. Heard it shipped late Oct. I hear the Dec CL issue has been mailed, but with the holidays, I don’t know when to expect it. Do many people get their mag this late, or completely miss it? Do I really need to allow “4 to 6 weeks” for delivery? And this isn’t the first time its (possibly) gone completely missing.
Of course, just received the Dec. ‘Chess Life for Kids’ today, so I know faster is possible. Is it just my post office? Maybe a new potential member working there.
Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids are mailed on different dates from different locations by two different printers.
We’ve talked about having some kind of website/map where people can indicate when they got their magazines, but I’m sure that’s very low on the web team’s schedule.
I’m still waiting for Dec issue and since I hit the road tonight, I won’t see it til I return next year. At least sooner or later I’ll be on-line and get to read the whole thing there. (Still don’t think that’s a good idea though. The whole issue on-line that is.)
The WHOLE issue is not online, though presumably all the articles are. (Not the display ads, classified ads or even the TLA pages in their original form, though.)
Early returns say I’ve got a problem not having the November issue yet, if people are getting their December issues already. Is there anyone I can check with on the printer/mailing side of the process?
Delivery time is a function of both distance from where the issue is mailed (Chess Life is mailed from St. Cloud MN, CL4K is mailed from Crossville TN) as well as how many subscribers there are in your zip code. (If there are 10 or more subscribers, you will probably get it several days earlier than if there are fewer than 10 subscribers because of how the bagging and mail handling regulations work for periodical rate mail.)
That means it is possible for two people living within a few blocks of each other, but in different zip codes, to get their magazines several days apart. If you don’t like this, complain to your Congressman about the Postal Service, directly or indirectly they still control the purse strings. BTW, don’t be surprised if the USPS stops offering Saturday mail deliveries in a year or two, they’ve been trying to discontinue them for most of the last decade.
Living in Columbus, Ohio, I usually have my CL in hand by the 8th of each month. This being December, however, I’m prepared for it to be a bit late. I’ve never really had a problem with delivery (one missed issue and one mangled by the USPS).
Well, my Dec. CL arrived Friday, so I guess my Nov. issue is MIA. I’ll stop by the post office tomorrow, not that I expect them to tell me anything other than ‘sorry’. I’ll check with the USCF office about a replacement.
At least one other (EEShelton) mentioned missing an issue, so maybe this is within the post office’s normal operating percentages. I just checked. This is my second lost issue in the last 6 months.
Contact the office (jmisner@uschess.org) about a replacement copy for November. You could try filing a tracer form with the USPS, but that may not accomplish much.
BTW, the December issue has arrived here (Lincoln NE) but I don’t know if it came today or Saturday.
Okay Okay … 