Thread: Subscribing to Fine Woodworking Magaizine

Hi Derek,
I took out a 3yr subscription a couple of years ago and in the end I phoned them up as at that stage I did not want to put my credit card details over the internet. They were quick and helpful.
The cost was much cheaper than buying locally. Speedwise it turns up in the post but I don't try and compare when it hits the newsagent.
The only problem I've had is that someone in the local post office has opened it 2 or 3 times, despite my complaints. It cannot happen by accident as they come in tough plastic bags.

Go for it!
Phil

My grandfather used to have a "proxy" subscribtion to Popular Mechanics with his local newsagent. He paid them in advance for the magazine, and they always had a copy for him.

Talk to a newsagent and see what they say. Someone will be happy to take your money!!

I have subscribed to Fine Woodworking for three and a bit years. Took out a three year subscription by credit card on the web site, and have recently renewed it.

I have bought other things throught Taunton press and found the service to be exemplary. When problems occurred with a delivery, they replaced the order by air mail, no questions asked.

Whenever I have emailed them I have had a machine answer immediately, and a human follow up within 24 hours.

I can't believe we are talking about the same company!

Surface mail still puts the magazine in your hands well before the newsagents, and I have had one not turn up, two back issues stolen from the package. All three were replaced as I said above, instantly with no questions asked.

Can't recommend them highly enough.

Cheers,

P

Just a comment for what its worth:

Even though I am yet to find a newsagent who gives reasonable service in the keep-it-aside-and-let-me-know-area, I now get This Old House Magazine locally each month as this particular magazine worked out cheaper than becoming an international subscriber.


All my others(5) I get direct, due to greatly reduced price for doing so - even with international mailing costs.


no help at all of course with respct of FWW, just though it might encourage you to explore all options



I just tried the site and was able to get through to the credit card info using my Aussie address

http://www.taunton.com/store/pages/s...m_fw_inter.asp

this was where I basically began from, if it helps.

good luck

apologies for not answering your shipping question:

I doubt that I get my magazines before the newsagents, but I have so many still to read through to catch up that I dont care.....I feel its fair to assume it takes longer though, seeing that they are sent direct from the primary US distributor via mail as opposed to G+G who get each issue Airfreighted in as it is available over there.

Steve

One of the factors that contributed to making my mind up to subscribe was the fact that the local delivery is just soooo slow. The workshop and tools edition has only just arrived in the local newsagents yet has been out for some time (months?) in the USA. Subscribers were discussing in on the forum here around Christmas. I thought that I might have missed it (since sometimes editions are not delivered at all to my newsagent), So I ordered it in from the local suppliers. 6 weeks later it had still not arrived and they could not guarrentee that it would ever do so. So I cancelled and ordered a copy from the USA via the internet. It arrived within 10 days. One week later the copy I had cancelled turned up in the newsagent (8 weeks after I originally ordered it). And two weeks later this edition was now in stock and on sale in all the newsagents! So you still that that ordering direct from the USA will be slower than local deliveries?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Make sure you are on the International subscriptions page.
Enter your name and address.
Ignore the State field.
Enter Province/region, Postcode, Country and email address.

Click Proceed.

Sprog

I tried again, and the form filled out correctly this time (no "Washington"). I'm not sure why - I did as you suggested, but I thought that I had done this before.

Reading the info on shipping for the umpteenth time, my impression is that they do not offer anything faster than "standard rates". So I just went this route.

We will see. At least I know that I will get the mag and no longer need to fear missing out.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Shortly after my last post here I received two emails from Taunton Press, the second of which I have reprinted below since it contains information regarding shipping costs.

"Thank you for your inquiry. We apologize for the delayed response. This is to confirm that we were having web site problems that have since been fixed. If you wish to resubmit your FWW order please try again; if you have more problems please let us know. Standard surface mail to Australia takes approximately 10-12 weeks top arrive.International Air Mail takes
approximately 3 to 4 weeks to arrive and the cost is $9.70 extra per issue.Please respond with email history (this email attached) if you have any further questions. Thank you for your interest in Taunton Press publications.
Sincerely,
Priscilla Hennessey
Customer Service"

Regards from Perth

Derek

then tell me why oh Taunton Press, that my books or DVDS from Amazon take less than 2 weeks to arrive via normal mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????


If I buy an item from the States or Canada via airmail it is here is 3 to 4 days!


it's a mystery

Derek

I subscribe to Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking and the Woodworkers Journal (all US-based). All three subscriptions placed directly with the US publishers.

I've had no problems with FWW or WJ. The only problem I've encountered is a spell with PW when two editions didn't arrive. The nuisance value of this was compounded by the fact that they sent me a couple of subscription renewal requests at about the same time and those got through OK.

(During the ensuing email exchanges with PW's staff, I was asked three times to check that my postal address details were correct: " . . . sometimes an apartment number can be transposed . . " Explaining to them carefully that the postal details for their subscription renewals were identical to those for the address labels on their magazine mailings, I was my usual (polite) self until the third time it happened. When I became less than polite, I finally got some action: duplicate copies of the missing editions).

To get back to your original question: Fine Woodworking normally arrives within 3/4 weeks of the US release date - by surface mail. If you allow another three weeks for the extra distance from Woodvale to Rossmoyne, you should be right - mate!

Regards

Col

Derek,

I have only just started subscribing to FWW, and received my second issue last Friday. This is the issue that is currently on sale in the US, and as Driver says, was issued there aout 3 weeks ago.

One thing that was annoying though was the amount of time that I had to wait for the first issue to arrive. It took over two months from the date of subsrciption.

Craig

Derek - I'm coming in late to this discussion, so what I have to say has mostly been said. I subscribed to FWW since soon after it began in 1976, and finally quit about a year ago. I quit because they were going round the mulberry bush for the third time, and I felt like I wasn't going to get a lot more out of it this time round - e.g. by the time you get to the forty-somethinked article on cutting dovetails, there isn't a lot left to say that hasn't ben said many times before. However, I am more than grateful for what I got out of FWW over the years I subscribed - it was largely responsible for taking me from 'handyman' woodbutcher to someone with much higher aspirations - still got a long way to go to be half as good as I'd like, but I can fool some of the people some of the time, now. Taunton were always good to deal with, and I only had one issue go astray in nearly 20 years, which was promptly replaced. Speed of delivery was NOT a feature, however, and unless they have altered their methods, you will get your issue a couple of days before they appear on the stands of (metropolitan Brisbane) newsagents. When I whinged about this many tears ago, a nice person at Taunton told me it was because they bulk-mail to Australia, and the delays were mostly after the magazines reach Aust. Take that FWIW. The undoubted advantage of subscribing was the BIG reduction in price - I gag when I see what one costs on the newsstands!
So the only WW mag I subscribe to now is Aust. Wood Rev. For a mag with a pretty tiny audience, they do a pretty good job. At least you get some local news. The construction articles are a cut above 'handyman' stuff, even if they aren't quite as ambitious as (some) FWW articles. They are perhaps a bit more relevant to our culture and lifestyle, and feature locally-available woods. I'd like to see more high-quality furniture and in-depth articles in AWR, and have promised myself to have a go at a few myself, once the necessity for holding down my day job diminishes a bit(in not so many years, now!).
Cheers,
IW

nice, balanced post about the magazines and a bloody good point about AWR at least having local relevance....for what it's worth, the attached pic was on the cover of a 1991(?) FWW and is why I picked up the tools - I will always be grateful for that.

- if you get a chance, put some of your work in the woodworking photos section so all can see...



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