We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.
I’ve never fully understood how the U.S. Postal Service works , beyond the fact that you put an envelope in a slot here and it arrives somewhere else. This week, I don’t expect any enlightenment on that mystery.
The Spring 2008 issue of Woodworking Magazine mailed out from St. Cloud, Minn., on March 17. I received my copy at my Kentucky home on Monday. Readers in New Mexico and Virginia have also gotten it, but readers in Indiana (and Australia) have not.
So the bottom line is that the magazine is still in transit to places both near and far. We’re grateful for your patience with our first issue; I think you’ll find it worth the wait. And if there turns out to be a problem with your subscription in the end, we’ll definitely make it right.
To that end, I spent this morning enhancing one of the articles in the Spring 2008 Issue called “Understanding Western Backsaws.” I converted it to a pdf and added some bookmarks and interesting external links to the story.
So to tide you over until your copy arrives in the mail, please click the link below to download the article.
Also, here is the publication schedule for the rest of 2008. After shifting around some dates, our manufacturing department has now cast these in stone (as opposed to Jell-O).
Summer 2008 issue: Starts mailing to subscribers the week of May 5.
Fall 2008 issue: Starts mailing to subscribers the week of July 14.
Winter 2008 issue: Starts mailing to subscribers the week of Nov. 24.
Kind regards,
Christopher Schwarz, editor
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Just arrived this morning, Monday April 07, 2008 issue #9.
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada.
3 weeks in the Mails – yours and ours.
Must be some kind of speed record.
Sarcasm intentional.
Aside from the box [that arrived on April Fool’s Day], I now have the Spring 2008 issue (here in North Carolina)
The essence of why I love Woodworking Magazine: Page 12, about cutting stretchers: "…but the band saw is easier (if easy is your thing)" – Chris Schwarz
No Spring 2008 Woodwork yet in coastal northern California. Perhaps it will arrive today.
Got it yesterday in San Diego…
Looks good! Thanks!
Hmm… Customer service said I’d have it by 4/1. Mailman just left, I’m still waiting. I figure there must be more woodworkers in my post office who need their own subscriptions.
Sweet! Apparently the label that was supposed to go on my copy of the magazine ended up on a box instead. Imagine my surprise when it arrived and I opened it to find a whole box full of sweet Lie Nielsen tools! Sweet! Please don’t say it’s a mistake and make me send it back.
There are too many tools here to describe, so I made a video of opening the box:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
Thank You Woodworking Magazine!
You can finally get some rest. My magazine showed up Friday in the mailbox…in pristine condition. I must commend you on your product. The paper seems more durable than some of the bigger runs. From someone once in the publishing industry, I can say you’re pushing your inks nicely. The pictures turned out really well, and that can sometimes be difficult with black and whites. Of course, most of the battle there is getting a good original, which you have no problem with.
I own the digital archive, so I’ve never seen your printed product before. Congratulations on your inaugural subscription offering. I’m happy to have been on the list, even if my local-ish Barnes & Noble had their copy before I did (curse them!).
(Gainesville – nearish Atlanta, GA)
Chris,
So. Calif. area and still no magazine, but then again, things are pretty laid back here so it could be anywhere!
John
South-east Michigan arrived Saturday, March 29.
Good news. The magazine arrived in Portland, OR today.
Chris,
Oklahoma checking in…didn’t mind the wait, much.
Enjoyed the "How to Saw" article, many things I was taught, but had forgotten over the years. Although some are unconcious habits now others I need to relearn.
Ah, that explains it. My copy must be on the barge with Jonathan’s. The tug boat will probably push it around the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Horn would be too easy – with the winds) all the way to Durham, right after Anchorage. I should buy some supplies and a good tent for camping in front of my mailbox for the rest of the year.
Well, look at it this way…if your magazine weren’t so d@mn good, then people wouldn’t be waiting by the mailbox in eager anticipation. FWIW, mine arrived on Tuesday.
Enjoyed my first read (of many) of my ad-free Issue #9 last night, Chris.
Thanks to you and the WWM staff for all the hard work you do.
Regards,
Ethan
Chris,
No problems here. Just received the magazine yesterday late. (Indiana for logistics) Nice work. I am enjoying in tremendously. The only problem is, I read the magazine and learned ALOT about woodworking, but wasn’t bombarded by ads. I don’t know how to read a woodworking magazine and not get ads jammed down my thoat! : )
Jeff
Actually, we did send the magazine first class.
As it’s a new magazine, we don’t yet have a bulk mailing permit yet. So what bemuses me is how it is slower than mailing a Popular Woodworking, which is sent via bulk rate….
Chris
Another happy upstate NY-er received his magazine today (3/27). But thanks for the PDF article also – much appreciated break at work!
Andy
silicon valley chiming in… received it today..
I’ll start off by saying that I don’t work for the Postal Service. I suspect the slow and erratic delivery of magazines is related to the type of mailing service the publisher pays for. The publisher doses not pay for first class mail service, so the method of delivery is commensurate with the cost of the service. I live in Alaska, I probably wont receive my copy for another 3-4 weeks. Hopefully it has made its way across the lower 48 by truck already, but I doubt it! It will then have to wait in Seattle for an entire shipping container to fill with parcel post and 4th class mail, then be loaded on a barge pulled by a very slow tug boat which will likely stop in several coastal communities in south east Alaska before crossing the stormy gulf and finally making its way to Anchorage. You all will have read, reread, forgotten about, and be looking forward to the next issue, before I even crack the cover!!
Keep up the good work Chris, I always enjoy your atticles.
Jonathan (who is enjoying the spring like weather today)
It arrived today! Woohoo! Congrats again to the whole team.
So, now we know St.Cloud,MN to Auburn,CA is 10 days via "PRSRT STD" 🙂
-Chris
Some in Indiana received the Magazine yesterday (and had a hard time putting it down).
Mike
The USPS is usually super reliable here, but I still don’t have my issue (on 3/27). Thanks for posting the article! That was exactly what I needed to tide me over.
Upstate NY… Woodworking Showed up today. Looks interesting but I did refrain from reading it while working today. ;~)
RE the USPS, since 12/05 mail delivery to my home has been a disaster. I’ve stopped using any account that I cannot manage on-line because I don’t reliably get my mail. The USPS allegedly investigated the issue several times and cannot find a problem. It’s got to be something in the automation and the way my address bangs up against the database. However, there is no problem… the uniformed government officials assure me they are here to help me. NOT!
My copy finally arrived in MD today! Keep up the great work Chris!
Hey, Brown’s bozos showed up at my door with all my tools and big, wide, sheepish smiles. One look at the box my bandsaw came in was all the reason we didn’t have to say one word. I know my brother-in-law and I packed that box extra-carefully before it was shipped from Michigan. So it was nice, neat, and well-packed when UPS received it.
The same box arrived in Florida looking like Brown drop-kicked it the whole 1500 miles from Michigan to Florida, if not "accidentally" dumped it on airport tarmacs in Teneessee, Georgia, and Jacksonville before being soccer-kicked onto the truck from J’ville to Cape Coral.
I just recieved mine in Reynoldburg Ohio. Woot, something to read tonight!
PS: My brother works for the post office. Trust me, you don’t want to know the mystery.
It’s not just USPS, UPS can have issues too. A package of mine being delivered by UPS has been "out for delivery" since March 24. UPS is keeping me from my new tool! I’m thinking they ran it over with one of their trucks and they don’t want to show up at my door!
Mike
PS: My magazine hasn’t shown up yet either. I guess I can wait a little longer.
Thanks for the follow-up, Chris. Yeah, who knows what really goes on behind the curtain (think Wizard of Oz)! I can put a standard letter/envelope in our mailbox here in N.CA addressed to my parents in Cleveland, OH, and they’ll get it in 3-4 days! Not bad for 41 cents, I say. But when it comes to something other than First Class, who knows?
Chris
Auburn, CA
Hi Chris…in my view, the problem with the USPS is: it is run by the government. Turn it over to private enterprise and it would be fine. I live in southern New Mexico and I’m still waiting for my copy of Woodworking…who knows, it may show up today!
Thanks and keep up your good work!
I, too, find the USPS mystifying. It seems nothing we do to cooperate makes the mail go any faster. In fact, it makes me wonder if the whole ZIP code system needs updating since I’m sure airlines routes have changed drastically since before 1965 (I think I remember staring at the handy little ZIP code directory when I was 10 or 12 years old).
I have had my clients’ copies of their tax returns sit around in the post office for two or three days before they arrive in the proper mailboxes. And we’re talking going across the Caloosahatchee River from Cape Coral to Fort Myers. And I know I have their correct ZIP codes. In fact, no amount of triple- and quadruple-checking (yeah, that’s right, I’m that tight-bunned obsesseive) seems to work to speed up the USPS. Out of the rain, hail, snow, and sleet the USPS is rumored to deliver mail through, we only get rain down here. A non-stopper (apparently a non-starter, too).
Best regards (… and no, I didn’t get my Issue #9, either … yet)