NUMISMATIC NEWSPAPERS AND THE U.S. POST OFFICE

I live in Chicago, and I wonder if any other members have as many problems with mail delivery as I do? I subscribe to a few numismatic publications, and I have a problem with delivery. Every so often, Coin World stops coming. I stopped getting Numismatic News because I had so many problems getting it on time.

I do as much online as I can, but the issues are difficult to read. I tried to get Numismatist online, and I got the odd-numbered pages only. I probably did something wrong! Today the local Post Office called and told me the problem is not with them - they said I should tell Coin World to mail the papers on time. According to Coin World, the paper is mailed every Monday. The nice man from the Post Office said, oh, they can say one thing and do another!

If I had to choose whom to believe, it would not be a post office official. There are simply too many steps and too many places where mail can be held up for me to believe problems with delivery are the fault of the publishers. They have large print runs and a regular weekly schedule. I don't know if some of the publications stagger their mailings to different parts of the country, but whatever their schedule I'm sure it's pretty much the same week in and week out.

I've had delivery problems of my own lately. For security I don't like to have coin newspapers mailed to my home. Instead, I get them at my office. The company I work for had two offices in the building I work in. One of the offices moved 20 miles away and mail was forwarded. The other office (where I work) never had mail delivered to it directly, and the post office doesn't seem to know we exist. For about a month I got none of my numismatic newspapers (Coin World, Numismatic News, Bank Note Reporter) because third-class mail doesn't get forwarded. I called to change my address to the other office, but now my issues land twenty miles away and I only occasionally get over there to pick them up.

I guess I could try the online route, too, but I agree with Ginger that the electronic versions are less convenient, particularly if one like to peruse a paper version at lunchtime. -Editor