I mentioned in a post from earlier this year about my problems with receiving my issues of Games World of Puzzles magazine. Actually, the problems started last year when I accidentally sent out my renewal slip just after the deadline, and I had to order the missing back issue directly from the publisher. Then, starting this January, my issues kept getting late due to a new fulfillment department for subscriptions. I bought issues on newsstands, purchased digital copies that I couldn't print, and downloaded pages for free. Things reached a head this past June when the publisher announced that subscriptions were going to be sent out in late June for the August issue, which was supposed to have been mailed out in early June. I bought the June issue on at the newsstand while on a trip on the absolute last day it was supposed to be out. If I had been later, maybe even by a few hours, I might have missed out on that issue. As it was, the fulfillment center messed up, and the August issue was not mailed out at that time. The September issue also wasn't mailed out on time either, although newsstands still got their copies. The magazine wasn't even updated their website or social media pages to promote the September issue. The editor wasn't even mentioning the ongoing problems in her message in the magazine for those who pick it off the newsstand. Subscribers were complaining every few days about the missing issues. Finally, the problems got resolved and the missing issues were finally being mailed out. I got my August issue by the twenty-fourth or so. I don't always pick up the mail every day, so I could be a little off. I was supposed to get the August issue in early June. On the thirtieth, I got the September issue, which was supposed to have been delivered in mid July. This past Friday, I picked up the October issue, about a week or two later than expected. Now, I am working through three issues of a magazine at the same time. I've already read all of the article, and I have started working the puzzles in the August issue. I don't do every puzzle, just the ones that I find interesting and not overly complex. There's also the contests. I got the August issue just in time to still enter that contest, but I couldn't work out the final answer in time to enter. I have a month to work out the September contest, and two months for the October one. This is the two, soon to be three, other puzzle magazines that I frequently get. I usually try to work only one page in Games per day, although I've been trying to do two per day so I get through them faster. This is being hampered by the inclusion of special puzzle section based either of a certain type or a shared theme. The magazine used to do this monthly in one of their spin-off magazines, but they just started back with doing them on a regular basis this year. The September issue also added another wrinkle in the form of the return of puzzles on the front cover. This had been a hallmark of the magazine for decades, only to be retired a few years ago. The October cover featured the latest variant of their emoji puzzles, this time focusing on television programs. Huh. Well, I did my own version of that theme and puzzles in this very blog a while back. Here's the link for it. One show is even repeated between the two. Now, if you please excuse me. I have dozens of puzzles to do, and I have very little time to do them before I get even more.
No comments:
Post a Comment