Passenger Trains > Amtrak gets a new national magazine

More good news today: Amtrak is expanding its regional magazine presence into a new, national magazine from a reputable publisher. It's a win for everyone.

http://ccrail.com/amtrak-to-launch-magazine-in-re-branding-effort/

 

For one thing, the new magazine's title, "The National" suggests a
nationwide scope, which has to be an improvement over the current
"Arrive" which is Northeast-only.

Amtrak has signed on the publisher of "American Way," the onboard magazine
of American Airlines. to produce "The National." That's good news.

If "The National" is as half good as "American Way," it will be a
huge leap above "Arrive" which has pitifully little interesting
content. Even the featured articles about celebrities in "Arrive"
are shallow...little more than regurgitated publicity material.

I have a free subscription to "Arrive." Nearly all the time, it
gets skimmed, but is otherwise unread.

But they can't publish a national timetable.

Arrangements with publishing companies such as this often are at no cost to the sponsoring airline/railroad. The publisher makes its money from the sale of advertising, and, sometimes pays a part of the advertising income to the sponsoring carrier. Typically, the sponsoring carrier is only responsible for distribution in seatbacks. In every contract there are lots more items to agree upon, but this is the basic arrangement.

The higher the passenger count which is exposed to the magazine, the higher the advertising rates which can be charged, allowing for a better editorial (written and photographic content) budget. That's why historically the airline magazine have been so fat - lots of passengers reading. The same magazine may be read by more than a dozen different passengers a day, depending on the route of the airplane and take-offs/landings.

In the United States and Canada, alas, timetables are paid for by the railroad, and very little effort has ever been made to make them pay for themselves through advertising and sponsorship. In Europe, you see huge timetables - almost books - with lots of paid advertising.


 

johnpage Wrote:
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> Arrangements with publishing companies such as
> this often are at no cost to the sponsoring
> airline/railroad....

 
Correct. In most of these onboard magazines, there is less direct
cost to the carrier than you might think. Given a sufficient
audience, the advertising pays for the magazine. That's a given for
American Way (American Airlines) but I would wonder if Amtrak has a
big enough audience. American Airlines carried 150 million
passengers in 2015; Amtrak, 31 million (which has declined for 2016).

The cost to the carrier is essentially the labor cost to put
magazines into seatback pockets and into display racks at airport
lounges. These processes are audited; by contract, if the auditors
find an insufficient percentage of seatback pockets with
magazines, the carrier is penalized under the terms of the contract.
So if Amtrak employees throw the magazines in the dumpster
instead of putting them into seatbacks, it will cost the company; but
you'd have to say that if that happens, it's Amtrak's fault for poor
management.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/16 21:14 by GenePoon.

Englewood Wrote:
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> But they can't publish a national timetable.

They have that thingy called a "website" which functions much better.

A website, if anyone goes to it, is a fleeting experience.
When someone gets a national timetable at an event such as
Franklin Park Railroad Days, they take it home and put it on the table.
It sits there,is a constant presence and presents a constant invitation
to page through. 

Why do companies flood you real mail box with junk mail?
They don't wait for you to click on their website.
Of course it they are taxpayer supported and don't really want to
expand business you will never hear from them.

ATSF3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Englewood Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > But they can't publish a national timetable.
>
> They have that thingy called a "website" which
> functions much better.

Too bad Amtrak was too cheap to do both. Both the website (PDFs) and the paper timetable contained the same information, so I don't see one as "better" than the other, just different medium. I actually prefer paper.

There's no sides to take here, really.