New magazine, no calendar

Another non-insiginificant cost is packaging and mailing. You'd be shocked how much it adds to the cost of sorting and mailing to make anything but tiny changes to the magazine each issue. Like, for the cost of mailing alone we could almost hire a temp to just call everyone and tell them what day it is.

In reply to Woody :

We could always send you guys our calendar of bus drivers.

Wow. 35k. That is a no brainer decision.  Sad to see it go but with that much coin involved you have to let it go.  

Wally said:

In reply to Woody :

We could always send you guys our calendar of bus drivers.

We’ve done a bunch of medical calls on buses lately. I’m pretty sure that your job is a lot more dangerous than mine. 

minivan_racer said:

Daylan C said:

In reply to Woody :

We're almost 6 years late for 2012 by this point and frankly I'm upset about being lied to. 

But has anything since then felt real?

Sadly, yes, most of it.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

I know very little about magazines. But I am pretty knowledgeable about television. 

My cousin is the President of FX network. They spend about $4-5 million per hour for production and marketing of product. Over $1 billion annually. 

Regionalization is the ONLY way they can make profits. 

I'm not suggesting it would work for print publications.  I really don't know. But I do know print publications are struggling, and the old methods don't seem to work anymore. Seems creative approaches are the only option, and perhaps regionalization is worth considering. 

Maybe the calendar needs 12 sponsors instead of 1.  $5000 to get in front of 60,000 pairs of eyeballs for a month doesn't sound terrible.

I know the calendars are expensive, but so is the magazine. If sponsors were to say, "Gee, nobody reads magazines anymore", I'll bet you wouldn't go down without a fight. 

I am in supply houses and parts vendors every single day, and they ALL have calendars on the wall.  Perhaps these things are not profitable any more, or perhaps they just need a different creative approach.  I am just trying to give you guys some creative ideas.

I am sorry you guys have to struggle with things like this. I hope you find some great solutions. 

You have some good points, but there’s a difference: we’re just not structured to be the best calendar company in the world. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, just that it’s a different business model than we’re built for.

We are structured to be the best sports car media company in the world, though, which is why we’ve been doing well with our websites, magazines and GRM LIVE!. 

We really, really appreciate the support in those areas, and to say we’re struggling isn’t really a correct statement because of you, our awesome readers. Things are going well, and the calendar decision is just a sign of changing times. Nothing more, nothing less. 

In reply to Tom Suddard :

That's fair.  

Long term subscriber of both magazines (but rare poster).  Outside of flipping through the calendar initially to look at the pretty pictures, I never used it.  Haven't written an appointment in a calendar, since I carried those Franklin Covey binders around, that's been a "few" years.  

Keep up the great work!

I was going to suggest a GoFundMe page for calendars, but $35K might be a hard number to generate.

My company used to produce a simple "year at a glance" calendar every year. About 18 x 12. Then without warning, they stopped for 2014. So I quickly created one in ACAD and inserted some pictures. It was meant for personal use, so I just used pictures of my own cars. Then a few people saw it in my cubicle and asked for their own versions. I've continued this ever since. After a few years, it became something people started asking for (especially our field guys).  I just finished the one for 2018 last week.  The whole thing takes me maybe 30 min to create, so I never understood why HR stopped making them 5 years ago.

Whoever says nobody uses calendars anymore obviously doesn't work in a cubicle farm... 

What about a poster calendar that has all the months on it?  I have a large format color printer/plotter. I could easily print it. I could easily make one up in cad as I already have one made up for 2018. I could just scale it and add the GRM logo and maybe some challenge car photos around the perimeter.  

Hummmmm.  I think I have a project to try out.  

I always wondered what the calendars and special packaging cost.

I don’t think I’ve hung a calendar up, GRM or otherwise, in over a decade. I’m sorry to see it go more as nostalgia than anything I used but honestly it’s one less thing for the landfill in the end. 

Call me overly analog, but for years and years I've kept the GRM calendar on my garage wall and use it to plan for and around track days and vacations.  This despite running every aspect of my work life through Outlook on multiple devices.  There was something about the calendar on the wall in the garage.  I understand the business decision but I'm still bummed they are no more    

I always put it up in my office but I agree that it doesn't make sense financially. I would be on board with a community driven effort. I don't have anything to add other than saying I would be happy to pick in on it if the price is reasonable.

I got my 2018 GRM calendar. I don't know what you guys are belly aching about.

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Starting to miss it.  Guess I'll have to go out and buy a Corvette calendar.   I'll check my P.O. Box first one of the think tanks I used to frequent might have one in there. 

Man, the NAPA calender I got instead doesn't have girls in bikinis anymore.

In reply to singleslammer :

Mine hangs right next to my monitor in my office. I'll be sad not have a GRM calendar on my wall. 

Yes. I agree. Let's make our own!

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Okay, I guess food and power bills DO take precedence.  But, whatever WILL I do with the spot on my refrigerator reserved for the GRM calendar???

I had to settle for a Porsche Club calendar this year. For some reason, the first box on the left is Monday. Sunday is all the way to the right, and it keeps screwing me up.

Stupid rich people and their fancy ass calendars.

I settled for calendars of CH-47 Chinook Helicopters. One from the manufacturer on one side of my cube and one from a civilian company flying Chinooks on the other side. Of course it's my job and I work with Chinooks. Been around them for 40+ years now. Used to GRM on one side and CM on the other side.

I guess it's a "thing" now.  Looking for a substitute, I looked into picking up a copy of DSport for their calendar, but they don't include them anymore either.  But, they do have them for sale for $5.  So, if I get asked why I have a calendar up with scantily-clad models, I can say it's all GRM's fault. 

Not geting a "free" calendar from anyone this year has presented a real problem for me.  It's February and I still have December 2017 hanging in my workspace.  People have been talking about it.  I feel lost.  :(

Woody said:

I had to settle for a Porsche Club calendar this year. For some reason, the first box on the left is Monday. Sunday is all the way to the right, and it keeps screwing me up.

Stupid rich people and their fancy ass calendars.

 

 

Weird, my PCA Calendar is configured normally.  Must be a region thing.

I miss the GRM Calendar.  I guess I could make my own, especially now that most of the local series have announced their schedules.

In reply to WilD :

It's FEBRUARY???  Oh, CRAP!!!