Car Magazines banned / sensored

[magic Monkey Dust]

Generally while my wife is squeezing tomatoes in the vegetable section of Waitrose I slope off to read headlines in the car magazines and occasionally buy a copy of EVO, 911 & Porsche world, Classic car etc. I'm usually with other like minded types and often see somebody buying Auto express or Scootering magazine Etc.
The other week after a reorganisation of the section there were 2 motoring magazine's , 1 motorbike magazine and 7 cycling magazines.
I usually treat myself to a motorbike magazine for the weekend and was a bit mystified about their disappearance. Having complained to the staff i was lucky/ unlucky enough to get an area manager. She told me that they had decided unofficially as a company to stop promoting the sale of magazines with pollution as their core value. Nothing to do with sales, indeed car magazines were one of the biggest selling segments. Ahead of crochet and fell running! Which were still on display.
I noticed that the offering in Tesco has also shrunk to a third its 2022 size. Worrying. Could this be social engineering at work?.

[the-norseman]

To be honest cant think of the last time I went out to buy a magazine, probably around 2005ish.

[Jazoli]

I've not bought a magazine since getting a readly subscription, almost every magazine you could ever want for a tenner a month.

[Geoffcapes]

I only ever buy a magazine when getting on a plane.

But with kids, I rarely get to read it.

[Bobupndown]

Used to have subscriptions to 2 landrover and 2 caravan magazines. Stopped about 5 years ago, they became too repetitive and filled with ads. Get most content I need on forums like this now.

[ZedLeg]

Yes, people not buying obsolete media is social engineering

[vaud]

My guess

• People subscribe more if they have an interest in the magazine
• My guess is margins are tight, Waitrose can probably make more money selling something else in that space

[KAgantua]

I wonder if thats official Tesco policy or some jumped up AM having a little sport with you?

[shtu]

ZedLeg said:

Yes, people not buying obsolete media is social engineering

They must still be selling Tinfoil Hat Monthly.

Forget the environment twaddle - that's just the current catch-all to deflect complaints. They'll have worked out that other than a handful of top selllers, magazines aren't worth the shelf space. Like many, many others, physical magazines and newspapers are just not something I buy regularly anymore.

Many years ago I worked on store planning for one of the big chains - every millimetre was precious. I can't imagine providing a largely-free reading llibrary for bored blokes is high up their list.

[Fusion777]

Can't believe they gave pollution as an excuse (well, I can actually). Guess they're going to stop importing produce from New Zealand, South America, Africa and Asia then, due to air/shipping miles?

Thought not.

[Sheepshanks]

We work with a few very large companies and their "do no harm" corporate principle seems to be really getting embedded into staffs' mindset.

[magic Monkey Dust]

She did seem to believe the here say.
Maybe it was her agenda, i guess I'm in a minority when it comes to magazines. i like to support the interests i have by putting money into good journalism.

I don't buy anything on line so i guess as a dinosaur i will be swept away on the winds of change along with Moto Guzzi tuners quarterly.😊😊
Having seen the price of a new electric Fiat I'm sure i wont be able to afford magazines / waitrose anymore when i have to trade my Guzzi in for a green version with a battery.

[MrBig]

magic Monkey Dust said:

She told me that they had decided unofficially as a company to stop promoting the sale of magazines with pollution as their core value.

Whilst it wouldn't surprise me, I'd love to see the response if you called this out on twitter or similar! "Pollution as a core value" what a load of utter horsest

[donkmeister]

Supermarkets have a lot of investment in ensuring they don't stock things that don't sell. For instance, if I go to the Tesco in a nearby big town that has large Asian and Eastern European populations I can buy specifically Asian and Polish stuff alongside "normal" 21st century British food. But, go to Tesco in another nearby town where ethnic minorities are the people you see on Pathe newsreels then they don't stock anything that could come under the umbrella of "foreign muck" but have liver and fresh fish for days.

So, whilst we're not buying car mags, they don't sell em..

I have a stack of Classic Car from when I subscribed, and never read it. But Viz is alive and well in the donkmeister dumpatorioum, again it's a subscription.

[DaveTheRave87]

donkmeister said:

Supermarkets have a lot of investment in ensuring they don't stock things that don't sell. For instance, if I go to the Tesco in a nearby big town that has large Asian and Eastern European populations I can buy specifically Asian and Polish stuff alongside "normal" 21st century British food. But, go to Tesco in another nearby town where ethnic minorities are the people you see on Pathe newsreels then they don't stock anything that could come under the umbrella of "foreign muck" but have liver and fresh fish for days.

So, whilst we're not buying car mags, they don't sell em..

I have a stack of Classic Car from when I subscribed, and never read it. But Viz is alive and well in the donkmeister dumpatorioum, again it's a subscription.

In that case, why didn't the shop assistant say that?

[ZedLeg]

Maybe wanted to sound more knowledgeable than they are, I've found that a lot of people will make stuff up instead of saying "I don't know".

[Randy Winkman]

When I go to the WH Smith in London Victoria Station I'm amazed by the number of different car magazines there are. As someone who has been buying a few and flicking through loads more since 1976, there seem to be as many titles as ever.

[MitchT]

The irony of them not selling car magazines on pollution grounds while the majority of their core demographic, while not remotely interested in cars, rock up in colossal wkpanzers.

[ZedLeg]

Randy Winkman said:

When I go to the WH Smith in London Victoria Station I'm amazed by the number of different car magazines there are. As someone who has been buying a few and flicking through loads more since 1976, there seem to be as many titles as ever.

Aye, the only time I ever buy magazines now is if I forget a book for a train, never have trouble finding something interesting.

[Ziplobb]

its happened with Porno mags and Shooting mags - cant get either in the supermarkets but our local newsagent just up the road normally carries 25/30 pornos and around a dozen shooting titles