Source Interlink Distribution Death

[R. Richard]

A national shortage of magazines could hit this summer after the nation’s No. 2 wholesaler abruptly shut down, leaving publishers scrambling to find a replacement to truck their magazines to stores.

The sudden demise of Source Interlink Distribution means that People, Us Weekly, In Touch, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and other favorite glossies may go missing at some retail outlets — at least in the short term.

 

[sr71plt]

The world of the Internet and e-booking probably doesn't care all that much.

 

[Swilly]

The world of the Internet and e-booking probably doesn't care all that much.

LC really is right about you, isn't he?

I'm sure anyone with internet access and a kindle never looks at a magazine.

 

[sr71plt]

That was unnecessarily nasty. You can't pass up any opportunity to be a harassing jerk, can you? LC junior? I would have guessed, though, that you read Cosmopolitan and Glamour in print. Let's see what others here have to say about the impact of such print glossies on their lives at this point (as such glossies die out in the face of reality).

 

[PennLady]

This has pretty much no impact on me, but that's because I don't read these magazines and never have, outside of waiting in a doctor's office. But it has nothing to do with the internet or e-books; I was not reading them long before that.

 

[Swilly]

That was unnecessarily nasty. You can't pass up any opportunity to be a harassing jerk, can you? LC junior? I would have guessed, though, that you read Cosmopolitan and Glamour in print. Let's see what others here have to say about the impact of such print glossies on their lives at this point (as such glossies die out in the face of reality).

My point has nothing to do with the magazine business, Pilot. It had everything to do with your response to the original poster. Nasty is spot on. You essentially called him an ass for making the post. You did it in an indirect manner, but that fools no one. At least JBJ is direct about giving people shit. You try to do it on the sly and then play the who...me? card. It's worse. I'm calling you out on it.

 

[sr71plt]

You read what you want to read in whatever I post just to feed your need to kiss LC's ass and join in harassing whatever I post, Swilly. I posted a straightforward response to the OP, taking into account where it was posted--on an Internet discussion board. Glossy print magazines have been dropping like flies for the last several years--because of e-publishing. But you weren't posting in recognition or even in disagreement with that. You were posting to be a pissy little backbiter.

 

[Swilly]

You read what you want to read in whatever I post just to feed your need to kiss LC's ass and join in harassing whatever I post, Swilly. I posted a straightforward response to the OP, taking into account where it was posted--on an Internet discussion board. Glossy print magazines have been dropping like flies for the last several years--because of e-publishing. But you weren't posting in recognition or even in disagreement with that. You were posting to be a pissy little backbiter.

I know you really believe that about yourself, which makes it so much worse. You're a sick little man. I make my own judgments about people. I've made mine about you by seeing how your know it all, snobbish behavior shows up in every post. You swiped at the OP and got called out for it.

And BTW, I've spent over twenty years in the magazine business. (For real, not some figment of my imagination). I've forgotten more than you'd ever know about it in a lifetime, so don't presume to give me lessons.

 

[sr71plt]

Staying on topic, here's a 2009 guide to a bunch of glossy print magazines that have bitten the dust specifically because of the digital revolution. That was five years ago. If anything, the closing have accelerated since then--because of the digital revolution. The trend has not exactly been kept a secret.

http://adage.com/article/media/a-guide-magazines-ceased-publication/132779/

 

[Aynmair]

switch

I have partially switched from print to electronic media, particularly for news (I read the NYTimes only on my iPad, even though I have to "get"a paper copy of at least one day, and very occasionally read the paper copy) and other news on paper only if I happen to find them lying around in coffee houses or doctor's offices. Magazines are nice to read in print - but based on the list attached to the link Pilot posted, what I see - and here I am expressing my personal judgment - is a bunch of largely forgettable mags. I've tried reading the New Yorker and a few other magazines on my iPad, and they're often not as nice as the print versions. Electronic media readers are pretty picky about the ease of browsing and skipping between articles, something easily done on the print copies. OTH, my partner reads a whole bunch of comics only in print, I'd guess because the quality of the illustrations can't be matched (?) in electronic format (conjecture, rather than expert opinion).

So overall I'd guess that there is pretty steep natural selection going on between electronic and print versions and magazines, and content and quality of delivery will win out. I'm not sure this is a bad thing.

Electronic media seems to permit, probably, more diversity of content and a shorter (and maybe cheaper ?) time to market. For those in the know, is this true, or am I blowing smoke?

One downside of e media mags - it's hard to rip out a page and tack it up on a fridge or bulletin board. I email myself a whole bunch of articles I like, then lose them in my email box. Of course, it does save on paper trash around the house and deforestation and all that...

 

[sr71plt]

There will always be interest in the print versions of the glossy magazines (waiting rooms, for instance). The reality of it, though, is that the demand for them is dwindling to the point that it's not cost-effective to produce and distribute them. That's the reality of why the distribution noted in the OP is shutting down.

In the United States, now the postal system is being discussed with the possibility of shutting the whole service down. It's because of the digital revolution.

 

[ishtat]

In the United States, now the postal system is being discussed with the possibility of shutting the whole service down. It's because of the digital revolution.

Hasn't Canada made that decision already or at least floated the idea?

 

[sr71plt]

Hasn't Canada made that decision already or at least floated the idea?

Beats me. A Canadian will need to comment on that. It would be a shame to happen in the near future, though. There are a lot of folks without computers--either because of age or poverty. A lot of people got cut out when telephones went to touch tone and demanded that you push buttons to navigate to specific offices or to answer other questions. And there are a lot of us, me included, who don't use cell phones at all, whether they are smart phones or not. But inevitably changes will happen.