W&S 2022 Issue 2 - Anyone?

[lwilliams]

Has anyone received the new issue yet?    Of course, I referring the the printed version. 

Maybe I am expecting too soon. 

[splendora]

I'm not positive, but I think when they have a webpage-only version of the magazine, they don't send out a printed copy.  If I recall right, I couldn't download this most recent mag, so I think it's web-only. (sad face...)

[ClassicRock]

ESOP at work. Can you imagine what it cost to publish and mail that thing?

[Edward]

ESOP at work. Can you imagine what it cost to publish and mail that thing?

I've been thinking that for yeeeears, esp as more and more media has pulled out of print and mail!!

Which is yet another reason I love Taylor: they make monetary decision where it seems to make the most sense for the benefit of the consumer and company together, cutting cost where it makes sense and produces a better outcome, yet expending sums where it yields benefit.  Think of the vast cost expended in customer service alone: people to interface with the public, techs to address those issues, then company expenditures to please the customer.  Yes, please the customer as Taylor has an impeccable reputation of going above-and-beyond owners' expectations.  This is Bob and Kurt's work ethic --or so is evident to me over the decades I've owned these puppies-- and it clearly resonates with players across the world. 

So while I wouldn't begrudge Taylor for ending W&S in print format, I most certainly love it, and have huge respect for them for catering to their customers in every way that they do!

Sorry, that was a huge diversion from the original topic ...nah, haven't gotten mine yet

Edward

[ClassicRock]

Well said.  W&S was physically the highest quality periodical I receive. The content was also good even though promotional. Where else can you read about Koa and Ebony reforestation? Where else can you get a good question in front of the CEO? There is no doubt the hard copy generates a feeling of goodwill from the reader.  It keeps the product line fully in front of existing Taylor customers. We all know in the world of marketing, it is much easier to generate a repeat purchase from an existing customer than finding and persuading a new customer to get on board. But the effect of the hard copy is very difficult to measure. As the need to justify the ever growing cost rises, so does the need for data to prove its worth. And that is hard to extract.

I don’t mind reading it online but there is no question that the impact is greatly reduced and I will inevitably miss some articles and perhaps some entire issues. Taylor knows this and has decided, at this time, that they can live with a lessened impact. They are currently flush with business. That is going to change over the next year and perhaps the value of the hard copy will once again become important.

[Toucan256]

Was there an announcement by Taylor that they were going to suspend the hard version? One would think if they had decided to do away with it, something would have been said so us in the community could resign ourselves to it rather than everyone looking for to something that's no longer going to happen.

[SDTaylorman]

Not really an "announcement" per se. They just put "older" editions up on the site and the ones that were sent out by mail have the "download PDF" option. They still apparently send out some editions but not all (not yet anyway though I suspect that will eventually come).

Personally I prefer the hard copies and almost never remember to check for digital releases. Even when I do I tend not to read them (or read them as thoroughly) as reading on a screen just stinks.

[Earl]

IIRC, for a couple of years now they have skipped the Summer print issue in favor of the PDF or the    web version.   

I expect that they will always produce their annual Guitar Guide / winter (?) issue as hard copy, since it is something educational that dealers can hand out to help buyers.  But it would not surprise me if that became the only print version going forward and that other mailed hard copies cease.  I too prefer the high-quality magazine format over reading on my computer.  (I still work at a computer several hours per day and the last thing I want is more "recreational" reading on my screen.  Even my forum participation is way down, being optional screen time).

[KM Frye]

As someone who almost became a journeyman printer just after high school, and who has spent countless hours in the printing house atmosphere helping relatives who do/did have their own print shop , to me there is absolutely nothing like the smell of fresh ink when you open a newly-printed magazine.  I also spend much more time absorbing and re-reading hard copies than i do so-called "soft" ones..   Like most of the posters here, I really prefer the feel,  look and tactile stimulation of a hard copy magazine.. PDFs, I scan quickly and file....  totally different to me.