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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen How our magazine is distributed Editorial office: Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 194, Matraville, NSW 2036. Phone: (02) 9939 3295. ISSN: 1030-2662 Printing and Distribution: I thought it would be worthwhile to describe how Silicon Chip is distributed to clarify why the magazines don’t necessarily arrive or go on sale on exactly the same day each month. Newsagents require that the magazine goes on sale on either a Monday or a Thursday; thus, we can’t have the same on-sale date each month. We try to keep it between the 26th and the 29th of the month before the cover date, although public holidays sometimes stymie that. That is also our target date for deliveries to Australian subscribers via mail, but with the quantity we send, they are all prepared and handed over to Australia Post on the same day. That means subscribers who are further away from us will get their magazines later. Overseas subscription copies are a whole other kettle of fish that I won’t get into here. We mail subscription copies around the 15th of the previous month, expecting the average transit time within Australia to be around 10-14 days. Thus, most subscriber copies (but likely not all) should arrive by the time the magazines go on sale in newsagents. Then again, some newsagents may decide to put them on shelves early. The other main avenue by which Silicon Chip is sold is dealers like Jaycar, Altronics and Aztronics. They receive the magazines in bulk on the same day as the newsagent distributors, but we find they usually get them to their stores quickly. So those stores may be the first ones you notice a new issue of Silicon Chip on sale. After all, they have smaller networks than the newsagents and Australia Post. That leads me to the most common complaint we receive: that a subscriber’s magazine hasn’t arrived on time. The first question is usually, “Has there been some sort of a delay?” I don’t recall a time in the fifteen years I have been involved with Silicon Chip that we were late enough going to press that it affected the magazine’s distribution. There was one time I recall that the printers took longer than usual (due to equipment failure), and the newsagent on-sale date had to be pushed back a few days to the next opportunity, but that’s it. So if you usually get your magazine delivered around a certain point in the month and it hasn’t come, it has almost certainly been held up in the mail. That seems to happen pretty much randomly. A few people complain that their magazines arrive late each month, and a few more never get them (and we have to send another copy). We have never received a good explanation as to why this happens. Still, you have to expect the occasional mistake when delivering the volume of mail that Australia Post handles. By all means, let us know if your magazine hasn’t come on time, and definitely tell us if it was lost so that we can send a replacement. Still, I hope readers understand that we are at the mercy of the postal system for subscription deliveries. Occasionally, there have been times when many people have had their magazines delivered late or lost, but that’s pretty rare, and the remedy is the same regardless. The last time that happened was when the Trans-Australian railway line was damaged by flooding in February 2022. Finally, note that our newsagency distributors determine precisely which newsagents receive how many copies of the magazine. If your local newsagent has no copies (left), let us know their address so we can follow up with the distributors. 24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204 by Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke – B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Jim Rowe – B.A., B.Sc. Bao Smith – B.Sc. Tim Blythman – B.E., B.Sc. Advertising Enquiries (02) 9939 3295 adverts<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Allan Linton-Smith Dave Thompson David Maddison – B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Dr Hugo Holden – B.H.B, MB.ChB., FRANZCO Ian Batty – M.Ed. Phil Prosser – B.Sc., B.E.(Elec.) Cartoonist Louis Decrevel loueee.com Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson – B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (Australia only) 6 issues (6 months): $70 12 issues (1 year): $127.50 24 issues (2 years): $240 Online subscription (Worldwide) 6 issues (6 months): $52.50 12 issues (1 year): $100 24 issues (2 years): $190 For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au * recommended & maximum price only 2 Editorial Viewpoint Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au