I actually have/had concerns about this also. This being my first venture into self-published subscriptions, I decided to checkout 2 different publications. Surprisingly, the second publisher gave me a TN.
But I honestly have no idea what to expect. It's kind of one of those things, you don't want to look like an idiot and come off cool, but you have so many unanswered questions. I've also worked in retail and know how damn aggravating it can be to get the same questions over and over again.
But half of these post half me wondering if the actual magazine is consumed in some parts of the world.
In the end I decided to just play it out and wait. If I can't figure it out, I'll break down and ask one of the vendors. That was before the TN obviously.
Both vendors were nice to deal with and I felt comfortable ordering from them. Only one vendor rubbed me the wrong way so far and I chose not to order their reading materials.
I know it’s been awhile since you posted this, but I hope you got your reading materials!
My general rule of thumb for subscribing is something like this..
1) If I place a subscription and I need to receive the address to send payment… I take whenever I sent the email, fast forward to tomorrow, and wait for another business day before following up. If I don’t hear back in 2 days after, I give up. Bad first impression.
2) If I made the subscription, paid and all… Domestic, I take date of subscription paid, fast forward to tomorrow, then take 8 business days. Ex: subscription on Weds night (4/15), fast forward to tomorrow (4/16), 8 business days would be that Friday, Mon - Friday, and Monday/Tuesday, and if by Tuesday evening (4/28) I don’t have my mags, or a tracking number, I follow up. Int’l gets an extra week.
I know those dates seem… long. But honestly, for 0p$ec and just giving the publisher a break if something is up with them, it’s reasonable. I always like to remind myself that readers expect good publishers, so publishers should expect our best as well. Hope this answers your question!
PS, wonder if I have the vendor who rubbed you the wrong way in mind, haha. I can think of one or 2