collect.com - be scared, be very scared.

[sports-rings]

Jim,

thanks for your comments. Maybe you are right, maybe I was too hard on the employees. I am not sure where to draw the line and how responsible they are. In fairness, If I don't really know, can you say for sure if you know? If the editor and Publisher are not responsible than who the heck is? Also, I am a business man, they are too; why would a company loose advertisers and subscribers to accomodate one advertiser? In my business, my biggest client is 20% of my entire sales. While I am greatful for their work, I would hate to be in a position where I loose other customers and then this client becomes 30-40% of my revenue. By increasing your largest client's share, you loose even more objectivity and if they leave you are truly screwed. There is something more going on with the SCD / CC relationship that we don't know about. It just does not make sense. I am sorry if I upset you I am sorry, but CC is just so wrong. The market is getting flooded with garbage and SCD is not doing anything about it.

[sports-rings]

sporttec,

I did not contact them, The quality of the ring they are auctioning shows that their auction team may not be as experienced and knowledeable as some of the other auction houses. Well, at least they are not going after the same type of garbage that SCD does.

Mike,

[Jim VB]

There is no connection between Coch's Corner and SCD, except...


Right now, like it or not, they need each other to survive. This is known in nature as a symbiotic relationship. These things usually start out as a parasite/host relationship, but progress to the point that killing (or removing) either party kills the other party.

That's what you have here.

CC gives SCD 60-80 pages (a guess, on my part, I didn't count) of advertising each month. Without that revenue the magazine would shut down. Back in the days when SCD had several hundred pages each week, they could live without this. Now they can't.


Writers and Editorial staff must hate this. Not only are they in the same magazine, but they are probably forced to write and comment on these "auctions" before and after, as part of CC's advertising committment.

Publishing any periodical isn't easy these days. Newspapers are dying off. Magazines are all struggling. Circulation is down. Ad revenue is in the tank. Electronic/on-line sites have sucked a huge hole in their revenue stream.

There is not a lot of long term hope for the industry. I can't get my kids (15 and 19) to read a paper, except for the comics. Yet they always know what is going on in all "sections" of the world. They get it online. To them, the paper is full of yesterday's news.

[sports-rings]

You make a lot of great points. Your theorey makes total sense, you may have hit the nail on the head with each company needing each other to survive. What a shame, SCD used to be such a great publication.