scaniaireland:
I have been reading T&D and Trucking for years,and living in Ireland means quiet a bit dearer I’m afraid to say Trucking is streets ahead of T&D,If there was descent content I would be prepared to pay more would you?
Who was the editor of Trucking and where is he now? He’d could probably turn T&D into a decent mag. The current editor would be better off doing children’s colouring books from what I’ve seen.
That would be Richard Simpson who is now a freelancer and works for amongst others T&D
How many parts of T&D blatanly use quotes from people who post on this forum?? To make up part of a page, and do they get any ££ from T&D for using thier material (as in post?)
No I thought not.
Funny how T&D is still the best selling mag, as Trucking seems to fly of the shelves faster.
Rikki-UK:
If you can produce legible a monthly LDD with images suitable for print and are willing to do it for £25 per page. then I am sure Will will take your hand off ( and probably have your babies)
Do you want me to write an article from driving on Hebrides? I did it for the Polish trucker’s online mag for much less than 25… And I got load of good quality pictures…
Only problem will be that it will be nearly 3 years old
The Poles would probably be the ones who’ll bite T and D’s hand off at £25 per page each month as that’s probably more than the profit margin that they’re making for a month of international running. .
Rikki-UK:
If you can produce legible a monthly LDD with images suitable for print and are willing to do it for £25 per page. then I am sure Will will take your hand off ( and probably have your babies)
Here is a start for your long distance diaries, follow my September, October and November issues of T@D. I am an overseas subscriber and have not seen sight of them. They are on the road somewhere!
When I call Reed business they say SORRY we will extend your subscription. It is costing me as much in phone calls as my annual fee.
On the advise of our fellow member Mark Lee (newmercman), I called Sandra Graves and she kindly supplied my Sept edition, do I need to do this every month? The subscriptions dept will not put a trace on the Mag unless you are missing 3 months, and frankly they are costing the magazine customers.
Tomorrow, I will be caling again to follow up on Oct and Nov, any offer of an extension will be followed with yet another call to Sandra explaining I want a refund on my pre- paid subscription, and will no longer be a customer.
As it happens I enjoy T@D, as the U.S. mags are in my opinion crap. I have been buying Truck, T@D and Commercial Motor for the best part of 33 years. All the hard work has been done, and those contributors and advertisers expect the magazine to reach their customers.
If your customer base or readership goes down, how will you cover your costs, up the price and loose more readers. Please take care of the ones you have.
We all understand business is tough, I just want what I have paid for, and expect some sort of customer service.
Rob K:
Are there some digits missing here? If not, then you should be ashamed of yourself. You can get £25 for sending in a 2 line joke to one of the weekly womens mags like Chat or Take-A-Break.
Funny, it was only last month you were on bragging about how good the T&D sales figures actually are and the vast amounts of profit it was making. But yet here you are basically telling us it’s on its last legs and you can only afford to pay pennies for content.
Rob, T&D is still the best selling magazine, and the Road Transport Group does make a profit in what is very difficult times, but lets not be niave here or try to make petty points.
Times are hard, advertising revenues are well down, fact of life, another fact of life is that costs have risen, print costs alone have risen far beyond inflation. Now you tell us your a business man, how do you control those rising costs, and declining advertising subsidies when you know there is a ceiling on what what the customers will pay for the product. If you have any understanding about how business works you will understand that in tough times you try to innovative. Only time will tell wether the 3D issue on over the counter sales works, but I am sure you will see that the advertisers have taken the concept on board and gone with it. and as thet subsidise the cover price, the price you pay is that a bad thing.
I did not bring up the £25 thing… someone else did… and that is very long way below what any freelancer would expect, which is why i said if anyone is seriously prepared to do a four page article with print grade photos we would take their hand off… for me as a freelancer for various magazines £25 would not get you a paragraph and certainly not an image.
In the same way that poeple here drive trucks to pay their bills, we produce magazines and websites , we do that because we also have families and mortagages to pay… yes we do have a passion for the industry as most here do. but we dont decry anyone makng a living driving a truck and dont see why we should have to defend having a job writing about the industry or running a website
You get up off your arse and you do something constructive about it. What you don’t do is buy in a few boxes of novelty 3D gigs and expect that to magically increase your sales. I mean, seriously… who tf dreamed that one up?
Your declining ad business goes hand in hand with the declining sales of the mag for the most part. Advertisers don’t want to pay if they haven’t got a big audience otherwise what is the point?
The problem you’ve got with the mag is two fold:
you are trying to cater to too many different audiences. You need to find out exactly who is buying the mag and focus of them, and I fear that that is more likely to be truckers than little kids.
you are not doing enough to source fresh content. Instead of sitting in the pub all day (or whatever you do for the 23hrs a day you are not here) you could be contacting members on here asking if they’d be interested in writing content for the mag and offer some sensible financial incentive in exchange. The trouble is none of you can be arsed to ask and it’s easier just to carry on as normal doing as little as possible while the bosses are still happy to line your pockets without question.
I mean, how many opportunities have you had over the years to do this? Hundreds, that’s how many. Even my mundane “Rob K’s week at work” thread from 2007 has had some obscene number of views and that’s just some random bloke talking about driving a DAF CF artic round the UK and throwing in a few funnies here and there. Then there’s all the diaries by the other members such as Neil, Graham (8wheels) and many others than slip my mind at the mo. Graham, especially, has an interesting job and if enough £££ was waved under his nose I reckon he put some content together on interesting stuff he’s moved, problems he’s faced and maybe some tutorials on how to load and secure the various different types of plant properly (something I struggled with when doing low-loaders, personally). Again, you missed a great opportunity from the kid in S. Africa hauling those gennies on the girders. That could’ve easily been a 2-parter. Same with all the stories from Idlewild (remember him??).
There is so much talent on this site that with the right approach you could have enough content to fill the mag for the next 20 years. You’ve just got to get up off your collective arses and make it happen.
Scrap the kids drawings page, I’m going to be a father in the new year so I’ll get to see scrawled drawings over the next few years for free (not in a mag I sometimes buy)…
I agree with the post about van reviews-couldn’t give a toss how much loadspace it’s got…
Do T&D do the truck on trial type tests that Trucking do? If not, they should do…
The CD reviews I always skip…
How about features on dodgy operators? (Obviously those who’ve been convicted)
What about contacting some of the Trucknet members and doing a day in the life of…?
Rob K:
Are there some digits missing here? If not, then you should be ashamed of yourself. You can get £25 for sending in a 2 line joke to one of the weekly womens mags like Chat or Take-A-Break.
Funny, it was only last month you were on bragging about how good the T&D sales figures actually are and the vast amounts of profit it was making. But yet here you are basically telling us it’s on its last legs and you can only afford to pay pennies for content.
Rob, T&D is still the best selling magazine, and the Road Transport Group does make a profit in what is very difficult times, but lets not be niave here or try to make petty points.
Times are hard, advertising revenues are well down, fact of life, another fact of life is that costs have risen, print costs alone have risen far beyond inflation. Now you tell us your a business man, how do you control those rising costs, and declining advertising subsidies when you know there is a ceiling on what what the customers will pay for the product. If you have any understanding about how business works you will understand that in tough times you try to innovative. Only time will tell wether the 3D issue on over the counter sales works, but I am sure you will see that the advertisers have taken the concept on board and gone with it. and as thet subsidise the cover price, the price you pay is that a bad thing.
I did not bring up the £25 thing… someone else did… and that is very long way below what any freelancer would expect, which is why i said if anyone is seriously prepared to do a four page article with print grade photos we would take their hand off… for me as a freelancer for various magazines £25 would not get you a paragraph and certainly not an image.
In the same way that poeple here drive trucks to pay their bills, we produce magazines and websites , we do that because we also have families and mortagages to pay… yes we do have a passion for the industry as most here do. but we dont decry anyone makng a living driving a truck and dont see why we should have to defend having a job writing about the industry or running a website
You get up off your arse and you do something constructive about it. What you don’t do is buy in a few boxes of novelty 3D gigs and expect that to magically increase your sales. I mean, seriously… who tf dreamed that one up?
Your declining ad business goes hand in hand with the declining sales of the mag for the most part. Advertisers don’t want to pay if they haven’t got a big audience otherwise what is the point?
The problem you’ve got with the mag is two fold:
you are trying to cater to too many different audiences. You need to find out exactly who is buying the mag and focus of them, and I fear that that is more likely to be truckers than little kids.
you are not doing enough to source fresh content. Instead of sitting in the pub all day (or whatever you do for the 23hrs a day you are not here) you could be contacting members on here asking if they’d be interested in writing content for the mag and offer some sensible financial incentive in exchange. The trouble is none of you can be arsed to ask and it’s easier just to carry on as normal doing as little as possible while the bosses are still happy to line your pockets without question.
I mean, how many opportunities have you had over the years to do this? Hundreds, that’s how many. Even my mundane “Rob K’s week at work” thread from 2007 has had some obscene number of views and that’s just some random bloke talking about driving a DAF CF artic round the UK and throwing in a few funnies here and there. Then there’s all the diaries by the other members such as Neil, Graham (8wheels) and many others than slip my mind at the mo. Graham, especially, has an interesting job and if enough £££ was waved under his nose I reckon he put some content together on interesting stuff he’s moved, problems he’s faced and maybe some tutorials on how to load and secure the various different types of plant properly (something I struggled with when doing low-loaders, personally). Again, you missed a great opportunity from the kid in S. Africa hauling those gennies on the girders. That could’ve easily been a 2-parter. Same with all the stories from Idlewild (remember him??).
There is so much talent on this site that with the right approach you could have enough content to fill the mag for the next 20 years. You’ve just got to get up off your collective arses and make it happen.
Ouch Rob… get if off your chest anything else you want to tell us?
now befrore we go down the doom and gloom scenerio lets take a few facts on board
al the trucking magazines are partners in ABC , which records sales. it is independant and an industry funded organisation they place T&D as the best selling magazine for drivers
As for decining sales… register at ABC and read the sales for T&D , before you look any more daft
Its ok to rant , its also ok to make to make colourful statements, makes an internet poster look good… however if you cant cant back those statements up with fact then you remain nothing more than an internet warrior.
The facts are quite simply
T&D is the best selling monthly magazine for drivers
TruckNet UK is the most used website for drivers in the UK
While we will admit neither is perfect and we will continue to adapt… both are doing something right and no-one yet despite trying trying has come along with anything better.
Robs post has hit the nail on the head again, never a truer word etc.
A magazine with simply news and adverts is both out of date and boring. By the time T&D is published the innovative company has started up, bought a few more trucks and gone into pre pack admin again.
News that is important when it is released is not quite so important in a month or 6 weeks time. News in the media today about our industry includes: City Link opens new sorting centre in Coventry.
Asda has leased the former DHL ambient warehouse on Dallam Lane in Warrington.
Norbert Dentressangle has retained its contract with British Airways World Cargo. ND have operated the chilled DEFRA border inspection facility since 1998.
Many of the stories in T&D, Trucking and Commercial Motor are also replicated in Les Routiers, France Routes. Fernfahrer and TNN. especially the roadtests
Rikki-UK:
Ouch Rob… get if off your chest anything else you want to tell us?
now befrore we go down the doom and gloom scenerio lets take a few facts on board
al the trucking magazines are partners in ABC , which records sales. it is independant and an industry funded organisation they place T&D as the best selling magazine for drivers
As for decining sales… register at ABC and read the sales for T&D , before you look any more daft
Its ok to rant , its also ok to make to make colourful statements, makes an internet poster look good… however if you cant cant back those statements up with fact then you remain nothing more than an internet warrior.
The facts are quite simply
T&D is the best selling monthly magazine for drivers
TruckNet UK is the most used website for drivers in the UK
While we will admit neither is perfect and we will continue to adapt… both are doing something right and no-one yet despite trying trying has come along with anything better.
My post was a bit strong and apologies if you felt it was a direct “attack” at you - it wasn’t, it was just me speaking my mind about how I see it, which, after 7 years here, you will undoubtably be well accustomed to by now.
Regarding your “facts”, I’m struggling to see how exactly they are making me “look any more daft”. If, as you state, the sales of the magazine are so astoundingly good, then there will be enough money in the pot to send the editors to wherever they need to be to source the juicy content. However, it was only a few posts earlier you were stating the funds pot was empty and this was not possible. If that is the case then something is very wrong at the management end and you need to increase the price of the mag. After all, if it’s selling so well then losing a few customers who take umbrage at the price hike is not going to make any significant difference to the bottom line.
I suspect, however, that the sales figures aren’t quite as big as you infer in your post but as I have nothing to prove this, I will leave it there…
As an ex staff member of TRUCK I always used to view T&D as a bit of a comic, but which magazine is still in circulation? The TRUCK style of magazine had more news, interviews with prominent industry people, road tests etc, it was a very good method of staying in touch with things, it answered most of the criticisms that many of you have about T&D, but nobody was buying it, so it was canned, T&D on the other hand continues to make money for RBI in it’s current format, so why would they change a winning formula just to appease people that didn’t buy the magazine that they would find interesting? For every Rob K or Harry Monk there’s a few thousand people like Paul John (non delivery of his magazines aside) who actually enjoy the magazine
Having worked for RBI and alongside the T&D team, I have to tell you that you have no idea of the work involved in getting a magazine out, it’s not exactly like working for VdB, but it comes close The current Editor is, in my opinion, doing a good job with the magazine, he’s introduced a few things, my column being one, it may not appeal to everyone, but some people like it, it’s the same with other things, they won’t appeal to everyone, yet in it’s current format T&D is the best selling magazine in the trucking world, so there’s only so much he can do without breaking the winning formula
As for LDDs, they’re very difficult to do these days, nobody goes anywhere anymore, a recent issue had a LDD that I did, it was also well recieved if the feedback is to be believed, but if I do another one in the near future it’s soon going to become very boring, so here’s an idea Harry, put your money where your mouth is, you reckon you’re a bit handy on the typewriter, get busy and write about your old Russian exploits, you’ve got pictures, I’m pretty sure it’ll be snapped up by the Editor
bn buying it since i was a kid but over the last couple of years iv not enjoyed the mag,this 3d one is the worst ever i understand they have tried something different but i simply cant read it with out my eyes hurting,
i also opened it up to see yet another photo of “the stobart group” for god sake aint we had enough of this over the last month or so i see the bloody things on road all week dont really want to read about them aswell,
i think the mag should stand as more of a voice of our industry,
yorkshire terrier:
bn buying it since i was a kid but over the last couple of years iv not enjoyed the mag,**this 3d one is the worst ever i understand they have tried something different but i simply cant read it with out my eyes hurting,**i also opened it up to see yet another photo of “the stobart group” for god sake aint we had enough of this over the last month or so i see the bloody things on road all week dont really want to read about them aswell,
i think the mag should stand as more of a voice of our industry,
Completely agree with you. I have been a subscriber to T&D for a few years now and i have enjoyed reading it. I am not too impressed with this current 3D issue though. Having not fully read it yet i cannot comment on the content, which in my opinion isnt too bad normally, but the pictures are doing my head in. I understand that you need to find innovative ways to attract advertising etc but i personally think that its spoiled the magazine. The main feature about Andrew Bilton’s Magnum has some very smart photos of what is a quality looking truck. But the whole feature has been spoilt by putting it in ‘3D’.
Like some has said eariler on in this thread, live 3D to sky tv!
newmercman:
As an ex staff member of TRUCK I always used to view T&D as a bit of a comic, but which magazine is still in circulation? The TRUCK style of magazine had more news, interviews with prominent industry people, road tests etc, it was a very good method of staying in touch with things, it answered most of the criticisms that many of you have about T&D, but nobody was buying it, so it was canned, T&D on the other hand continues to make money for RBI in it’s current format, so why would they change a winning formula just to appease people that didn’t buy the magazine that they would find interesting? For every Rob K or Harry Monk there’s a few thousand people like Paul John (non delivery of his magazines aside) who actually enjoy the magazine
Having worked for RBI and alongside the T&D team, I have to tell you that you have no idea of the work involved in getting a magazine out, it’s not exactly like working for VdB, but it comes close The current Editor is, in my opinion, doing a good job with the magazine, he’s introduced a few things, my column being one, it may not appeal to everyone, but some people like it, it’s the same with other things, they won’t appeal to everyone, yet in it’s current format T&D is the best selling magazine in the trucking world, so there’s only so much he can do without breaking the winning formula
As for LDDs, they’re very difficult to do these days, nobody goes anywhere anymore, a recent issue had a LDD that I did, it was also well recieved if the feedback is to be believed, but if I do another one in the near future it’s soon going to become very boring, so here’s an idea Harry, put your money where your mouth is, you reckon you’re a bit handy on the typewriter, get busy and write about your old Russian exploits, you’ve got pictures, I’m pretty sure it’ll be snapped up by the Editor
What about a day in the life of Zetorpilot driving that Scandinavian wagon and drag which might help to educate everyone who thinks that a euro type artic,or even worse an 18 metre euro type artic,is better and easier to drive.
As a long term reader of T&D ( i have every issue ) i would have to say that i agree with a lot of the critisism of it. In fact the only reason i continue to buy it is to keep the collection going. My main beef is that the articles are far too brief, there never seems to be enough meat in it. Let me put it another way…When i buy Trucking magazine, it usually lasts me a week or so, reading bits & pieces here & there, but if i buy T&D in the morning ive usually read it all by the evening!!. Trucking magazine seems far more substantial ( the Truck on Trial features by Bob Beach are exceptional in my view), and in many ways reminds me of the old Truck magazine. Im not saying T&D is bad, its not, i just think it needs beefing up a bit, and if that makes it more expensive then so be it.
Carryfast:
The Poles would probably be the ones who’ll bite T and D’s hand off at £25 per page each month as that’s probably more than the profit margin that they’re making for a month of international running. .
I would do it for free myself, as I am free-lance journalist, but published only in Polish language media, and first publication in English will come handy…
As for Polish companies… Don’t worry about them… Thanks to your goverment attitude to your own haulage industry they have much wider profit margins than their British counterparts…
Just an update. Spoke to Reed business subscription dept today, no answer as to why T@D is not being delivered. Requested replacements for Oct and Nov to be told none available, they could not confirm if Dec has been shipped yet. Once again offered extension on renewal date, but what is the point. I will not get credit for the non delivered editions, so made a hard decession to cancel subscription from Jan 2011.
Customer no service is the order of the day.
As newmercman said, I did enjoy the magazine and looked forward to it arriving in the mail. Yes a few improvements are due as previously stated, and I hope the staff will listen to tn/uk members and T@D readers.
If the magazine could be tracked, I would renew my subscription.
I’m afraid to say Trucking is streets ahead of T&D,If there was descent content I would be prepared to pay more would you?
If, as you state, the sales of the magazine are so astoundingly good, then there will be enough money in the pot to send the editors to wherever they need to be to source the juicy content. However, it was only a few posts earlier you were stating the funds pot was empty and this was not possible. If that is the case then something is very wrong at the management end and you need to increase the price of the mag. After all, if it’s selling so well then losing a few customers who take umbrage at the price hike is not going to make any significant difference to the bottom line. 