We have an update for our subscribers regarding delayed issues of “The People’s Friend”.
In recent weeks, we have experienced a number of delays with the delivery of magazines.
More than one issue has been affected, which is frustrating and disappointing for all concerned.
Lots of people have contacted us via email and social media, and our sales team have been fielding a high volume of calls and queries.
We understand and sympathise with your concerns, and apologise sincerely for the inconvenience. But the editorial team are not directly involved in the supply and distribution chain. We don’t always have the answers to your questions at our fingertips.
What’s going wrong
So, to find out what’s been going wrong, I spoke to Iain McKenzie, Circulation Manager at DC Thomson Media.
“As you will have seen in the news recently, there is a driver shortage which has been impacting on a number of industries in the UK, including petrol and some supermarket supplies,” Iain explained.
“This has unfortunately impacted on magazines, too, including ‘The People’s Friend’, in recent weeks.”
Some readers have queried why copies are arriving in the shops on time, but not through subscribers’ letter-boxes.
“The printing of ‘The People’s Friend’ has not been affected at all and each issue is produced and printed to our normal schedule,” Iain assured me.
“Whilst the driver shortage is undoubtedly putting pressure on our retail supply chain, thankfully we have been able to get ‘The People’s Friend’ delivered into the shops on time every Wednesday.
“However, we are experiencing some significant delays with our postal providers, primarily due to the driver shortage crisis.
“Our subscription copies are being picked up every Thursday as normal. However the copies are taking longer to feed through the postal supply chain as a consequence of these shortages.
“We are working closely with our postal services providers to try and resolve these issues as quickly as possible.”
Angela Gilchrist I am the former Editor-in-Chief of “The People’s Friend” magazine. My passions include cats, Highland ponies, good books, vegetarian food and long walks in the Scottish countryside. My favourite place to get away from it all is the magical Isle of Skye.
