Magazine publishing in the United States is an old and honorable business, for the most part. Among other printed products, Benjamin Franklin also printed up magazines. In the business, magazines are called “periodicals” because that’s how they are published — periodically. There have always been defined limits to what can be mailed as a periodical and still receive the special Post Office “periodical rate.” The United States Postal Service (USPS) places limits on the size of the product; it can’t be too narrow or too wide, too short or too tall, nor can it be too thick. To prevent catalogues from moving as magazines, there is also a limit as to how much advertising can still qualify for the periodical rate.

As a general rule, the USPS has maintained a fairly even hand on the tiller. Every rate increase has a magnified impact upon subscriptions. If the rate goes up a nickel, subscriptions will need to go up perhaps twenty cents to break even, a four-fold increase. As a result, most postal increases are only a couple of pennies at one time, not terribly unreasonable. At times, we can even absorb small increases until the end of the publishing year. However, when the Postal Commission recently approved a plan to invoke huge rate increases on what it considered to be non-standard sized publications, it had a far-reaching impact upon Model Railroad News.

Why? We are a tabloid-sized publication, 11 inches wide and 14 inches tall. Starting in the middle of July, we will no longer fit into the form size that will receive the base periodical rate. We have three basic choices and don’t have any others: we can shrink the magazine to a standard 8.5 x 11 inch “page” size; we can pay the much higher rates and increase our cover, subscription, and ad prices accordingly; or we can simply close our doors.

There is no reason for using this space to point fingers at Time-Warner who lobbied for these changes or to curse the Postal Service for violating our First Amendment right to Freedom of the Press. None of that will change anything before that fateful date in July. We aren’t going out of business, so there will continue to be a Model Railroad News in your mailbox. What size will it be? Think about what we pondered a moment, and then we’ll tell you our decision.

Along with this change in size problem is also a mailing issue, which our current mail service cannot provide. The mail service is part of our printer, and they also cannot print our magazine in a standard page size for various technical reasons. That means we will be changing printers and mailing systems. Changing print and mail won’t increase your newsstand or subscription price, and it will introduce our mailing into the center of the nation as opposed to on the West Coast.

So if we stay with the tabloid format, this boils down to a monumental increase of our cover price, perhaps double what it is now. Our research tells us that we would lose upwards of 70 percent of our subscribers, a fatal blow. On the other hand, if we change to a page-size magazine, we won’t have to increase the cover price at all. That said, sometimes you make decisions and sometimes decisions make themselves.

The Model Railroad News that appears in your mailbox for the September issue will be 8.5 x 11 inches. Our old 64-page size will turn into around 108 pages while the larger 72-page tabloid will become 120 pages. Yes, there will be more page turning, but we will still continue to print the big pictures and the same high quality writing you have come to expect from us. Most importantly, you won’t be getting less magazine; it’ll just be shaped differently.

Look, I’ll make it plain. I planned to run this tabloid forever. When I became the editor in February 2002, I liked the tab size and worked to use it to our advantage. Now I’ve got two choices: adapt to the smaller size or quit, and there ain’t no quit in me. If we must become a page-size mag, then I intend to take advantage of that size in order to make it the best read in the model railroad marketplace. Change just for the sake of change isn’t always good, but there’s no point in making a change and not taking advantage of it. The change to the logo banner on our cover is an example; that’s something that’s needed a facelift for a while now.

When our size shrinks, we will fit into standard-sized binders. We can fit into standard-sized magazine racks at hobby shops, libraries, and newsstands. That means we plan to be found in a whole lot more places. Some issues involving the mailing of our tabloid magazine and the damage it sometimes suffers will become mostly a thing of the past. Those of you on the East Coast may be getting it four days sooner than our current schedule.

All of our writers and editors understand the economic forces that prevail at this time, so they are on board. We won’t be shortening reviews, and the only change in the pictures will be the centerspread. Instead of 22 inches wide, it will now be 17 inches, still a large photograph in a magazine. Our type size will NOT shrink; in fact, our art director is going to “air it out” a little, to make it easier to read. Our goal has always been to give great readability for our readers, and we aren’t backing off on that even a little. Readability remains our prime directive.

Now you should know that we appreciate your letters and wouldn’t dream of telling you not to write to us and share your feelings. However, please understand that we have no choice about this. Our attitude is to go forth in a positive way. Our griping and complaining about the USPS isn’t going to make us more readable or a penny cheaper. At some point, we may bundle up all of the letters complaining about the change and send them to our U.S. Senators, but I wouldn’t expect that to have a measurable effect. If they rolled up their sleeves and pushed through a bill, it could take years, by which time I doubt that we’d change back.

So we’d like to ask you a favor. When the smaller-thicker sized MRN arrives in your mailbox, please give it a chance. Don’t just fire off a cancellation; let us earn your business. Give us a few months and see if it’s worth it to you. Let us work out the wrinkles in the new format. It has been my job to make our magazine the best model railroad magazine on the market, and I’m bound to keep it that way through the size change. We’ve got an entire team working for you. Keep looking for the bright side of this change, and I think you’ll find it in some abundance. Write us and tell us what you find that’s positive and a good change. Most of all, when you write to us, please include your CITY and STATE with your full name at the end of your letter. Then we can publish your letter in the Letters to the RPO Car section.