Since 2010 I've received a free magazine from a large, national charity. The magazine itself has been going since the early 1990s. It was announced a few months ago that they are going to stop the free edition because "its too expensive", and they are now going to charge for subscriptions.
I can't help but think their prices are a bit dubious. They state that it costs the charity £40000 per year to print and post it. Staff costs are probably minimal as the bulk of the content is reader-submitted. As far as I can tell, there are about 9700 sent out each quarter. That's 38800 magazines per year. That's about £1 per magazine.
The new paid-subscription prices have an option of either a reduced-rate (for unwaged etc) of £1.75 per magazine, a standard-rate of £4 per magazine, or a donation-rate where you pay too much to help subsidise the reduced-rate.
Can anyone think where they get the price of £4 from for the standard rate? I can only assume that they are either overcharging because they can, or that prices will go up due to significantly reduced volume. I'm doubtful that many people will take out a paid subscription.
How much do you think it should cost to print and post a small magazine?
When I first got the magazine, it was printed on regular paper (A3 sheets folded in half to make an A4 booklet), and printed in monochrome. About a year later, it started to be printed on thicker paper, with bi-colour printing and a full colour (thicker still) cover. Does anyone know how much extra things like this cost? Or is colour printing virtually the same price as monochrome printing these days?
I'm interested to hear people's opinions.
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