RV Magazines

[traveldawg]

I was reading my latest issue of RV Magazine the other nite and it got me thinking. This is the only other print magazine related to RVing that I get anymore. My other print magazine is from FMCA (Family RVing Magazine). I still enjoy picking up a magazine and leafing through it; usually multiple times before I recycle it or pass it on. So I kind of miss that printed content is getting less and less. For me digital content just isn't the same, no matter how much they make it look like a printed magazine.

But as much as I like picking up a magazine about RVs (I get other mags too on different topics) this is likely my last issue of RV Magazine. Now they want $20/yr for 12 issues; it use to be free. I'm really not seeing the value in it; it's grown thinner and thinner. And, while I think it might be changing, I think it is too close to a CampingWorld advertisement.

For those that don't remember: at one time being a GoodSam member meant getting the monthly HiWays magazine - as part of your membership. Now that's gone. And then there was Motorhome Magazine and Trailer Life magazines. Now both of those are gone. All via the courtesy of Marcus Lemonis - chief man in charge of all things Camping World and Goodsam. Over the years he has managed to stop printing HiWays, Motorhome Magazine, and Trailer Life; they are now all condensed into one, thin magazine - RV Magazine. And it only contains a fraction of the information and articles of the other 3 magazines provided. I have no doubt it is a business decision; I just sort of don't like it. So maybe it is my passive aggressiveness that is driving me to revolt and not renew RV Magazine.

Out of curiosity I checked to see what regularly published RV related magazines exist. Note - RV related, not travel. This is what I found:

Mag Name RV Magazine Family RVing Magazine Rootless Living RV Today I Heart RVing RV Business RV News RV Enthusiast --------------- RV Lifestyle RV Camping Magazine RV Life Magazine

ISSUES/YR 12 12 6 8 4 0 0 12 ---------------- 7

PRINT $$ 20 30 30 8 12 12 12 0 ----------------- 35

DIGITAL $$ 15 Inc w/print 10 8 Inc w/print 12 12 9 ------------------- Free Free Free

WEB SITE https://www.rv.com https://familyrvingmag.com https://rootlessliving.com https://rvtoday.com/magazine/ https://iheartrving.com https://rvbusiness.com https://www.rvnews.com https://www.rventhusiast.com ------------------ https://www.rvlifemag.com https://rvblogger.com/rv-camping-magazine/ https://rvlife.com/magazine/

I think I'll check further into the Rootless Living and RV Today print issues. And I should reconsider my position on digital mags.

[sande005]

Ditto - used to get Trailer Life, and although I hate the Good Sam world, it was a pretty reasonable mag to get. My wife wanted to continue with RV Magazine, so we did...but I ignore it for the reasons you noted, and she has found it less appealing. So we just received what I think is our last issue.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

It seems the same with all subjects of mags. I used to get car, gun, and fitness mags. At some point I realized I was buying a lot of advertising and very few engaging articles. So now I don't get any mags.

[Corky2]

I won't pay for a magazine that is mainly advertisement to sell you products. I would not pay to attend a RV or Boat show for the same reasons. Heck, I won't pay to attend a local home show. If I'm interested in a product I research it myself and tend to over-research due to my background.

On a side note, I was paying for delivery of my local small town newspaper but it kept getting more expensive and the paper got smaller and the number of papers per week kept reducing. My wife mainly wanted it for the Sunday coupons and even the number of coupons kept reducing so I ended subscription. The paper also had a digital version that came with the subscription and I could keep that going at a lower cost but I decided not too. I can get local news from other sources for free and I do.

[Riverbug]

Agree. Used to get Motorhome Life when we had motorhomes, then Trailer Life when we downsized to trailers, now nothing. I also don't find online magazines very good but mainly because they sprinkle ads everywhere. I find it hard to read when in the middle of the article you have ads popping up. It used to be relaxing to read a good magazine, but online there's so much visual noise that it's not relaxing to me.

[AZMike]

I agree with the assessment of RV magazine. It is a constant recommendation for Good Sam and Camping World (to be expected, I guess, since the publisher is Marcus Lemonis). I used to receive Trailer Life, but when that was discontinued that filled the rest of my subscription with RV. I will not be renewing.

[JKJavelin]

ALL printed media is dying.
When in high school (now, this was around 1970), I had a paper route, Milwaukee Journal. Customers paid $.80/week when I started, $.95/week when I quit. My wife still insists on subscribing to it (she's very low maintenance) but they bill me $75/month, and it's extremely thin. It probably won't be long before they stop printing it.
JK

[ajg617]

ALL printed media is dying.
When in high school (now, this was around 1970), I had a paper route, Milwaukee Journal. Customers paid $.80/week when I started, $.95/week when I quit. My wife still insists on subscribing to it (she's very low maintenance) but they bill me $75/month, and it's extremely thin. It probably won't be long before they stop printing it.
JK

Sad in a way. We delivered newspapers for years. Went from running our route in a truck to hold all the Sunday papers to fitting the same number on the front seat of the car. Quality of news stories and editing has gone down drastically, both in print and on-line. On-line is not the same for me.

The only magazines I used to subscribe to were Flying, Boating, and Air Progress. Flying became nothing more than ads and sales pitch articles. Only things I ever read later on were Aftermath and I Learned About Flying From That.

DW used to get all kinds of magazines - used to be quite a chore taking all the recycled paper to the dump on weekends. Now everything pops up on her phone randomly whether of interest or not or factual or not. If I search for LiFePO4 on my computer, she'll get a pop-up review of them on her phone. And we thought we were cutting the cord.

[traveldawg]

Wow. The comments reminded me....
I had a paper route when growing up - yuk! delivering in snow!!!!
I have a digital subscription to our home town newspaper - DW likes it, I use it for the daily puzzles.
I get my wife a yearly subscription to People Magazine - she likes that and there is actually content in it with some ads (can I call that "stuff" content?")

".... If I search for LiFePO4 on my computer, she'll get a pop-up review of them on her phone. And we thought we were cutting the cord...." to use an overused saying - clear your cache...

[Gronk1]

Previously we received Trailer Life & Motorhome. When they were folded into RV Mag, we ended up with a couple or three year subscription. When that runs out, we will not renew. I don't drink beer anymore, Don't make fancy dinners when we're camping & I already have a trailer, know how to clean the roof, fill my fresh water tank, & dump my black tank.

We only receive Outdoors-DW likes it, seems to me they're trying to sell you a $40 T-shirt. Also get Time, Road Bike Action, and Bicycling, DW gets a gardening mag. Bicycling is going away when it runs out.
We will always subscribe to some mag or other, especially as our interests change. There is something about holding one & reading it on a cold night sitting in my Barcalounger that staring at my 'puter doesn't do for me.