I suspect they are making a point to RMC

RMC is running late due to cash flow issues with their printer.  If you pretend your only competition is other print media than you are ahead of your primary rival.

Magazines

...

In a digital age, the Date printed on the cover is the month it's supposed to appear...

Whatever it meant back in the paper age is no longer relevant...

What to expect

I do not care to much as long as a year of subscription gives me 12 issues...

But if I start receiving Christmas issues in mid summer, then something is wrong with my calendar. With MRH on the other hand it is a net only magazine, so the July issue should always be available from the first working day of that month.

Our layouts are mostly frozen at a chosen year, so I do not believe our layouts inhabitants care too much about the date of our magazines - more important is the quality of the content.

And just to state that: You are not ridiculous!!

Best regards from a wonderful summer mid-day here in sunny Norway!

The Fix

Deliver each magazine issue slightly later than the previous issue - a week or two weeks.  So instead of recieving the October issue on the second week of August, I receive it on the third or fourth week of August, and then the November issue in the first week of October, the December Issue the third or second week of November.  January 1, 2014 would then line up with January 1.

And this would be well for them, giving them more time to get things moving to the door for the rest of this year.

It works

I don't see a problem here.

MR has been on this kind of a schedule for decades.  It works and everyone understands it.  My print copy usually comes the first week of the preceding month.  But I have lived places where it came a week earlier.

Some of the smaller magazines I get sometimes get behind and have dates that are as much as a year old just so they can stay on "schedule".  Doesn't matter as long as I get the number of issues I paid for.

Digital only magazines can do it differently.  MRH's dating is different, but I am not aware of anyone who has been confused by it.

Enjoy

Paul

No.

  I gave up my long standing subscription over a year ago. It is something I do not miss at all. It had turned into a monthly Walthers catalog and the articles are not what they used to be. A five page article on modeling discarded ties? Really? How to paint wheels? Really? I don't need to pay for information like that. I can wait for my RMC and MRH every month.

            Pete

Eric.  I noticed years ago

Eric.

I noticed years ago that I started getting them nearly 2 months ahead of the cover date. When that started happening is when I started to notice the quality and quantity of articles was lacking and the adds were getting more plentiful. I gave them more than forty years of subscriptions and found other uses for my limited modeling dollar. If you feel that is bashing then that is your problem. I just said that they are not what they used to be. Maybe the early dates is so they can say we brought it to you first? I don't know what the reason is, but it seems important to them. Don't get me wrong, They did have a very good product and staying with them for more than forty years was satisfying me immensely. I still have stacks as tall as my three year old grand daughter, but Like Henry Fords model T I think that they have run their course and time for a change.  

Pete

It is like buying a 2014 model year car...

...... deep in the middle of 2013. I personally find it (insert bleep). I'm not in a big rush to live in the future (and get older faster). Living today's date today suits me perfectly fine. Jose.

I'd much rather ...

Magazine Dates

Every magazine I receive is dated for at least a month in advance.  I guess it is an industry standard.  Of the 5 or so magazines I get, I have received 12 issues a year.

I'm amazed at what people

Re: amazed

Well, I'm sympathetic with you.  Riding a geared loco about 100 years ago will take you a while to catch the wave of the future.....Jose (living in the past, darkly!).