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REEL

PUBLISHED BY – MIKE TRICKETT 245 CHURCH ST. HERNE HILL 3218

Its getting close to that time of the year again!

Yes, by the time you read this, (depending of our miserable postal mail service) Christmas will
only be a week or two away.

It has been a strange year in many ways. The year started out normally, but within a few
months, we were hearing the first reports of a strange new virus in China. I think most of us at
that time, thought that it wouldn’t concern us here in Australia - how wrong we were.
Thankfully, our state governments acted swiftly to contain the virus, and now it is close to being
under control throughout the country. When we look at overseas countries and their massive
numbers of infections and deaths, we can see how fortunate we are.

I mentioned earlier our national postal “service”. What a joke it has become. I know some of
you were still waiting delivery of RD up to four weeks after it was posted. Then there was the
matter of parcels of films taking ages to arrive. I also note that some of the courier companies
which were a good alternative for heavy parcels have put their rates up over the past few
months - another form of price gouging!

Where do we go from here with RD? I know some of you would like it to be delivered via email.
I have resisted this, as it has been a printed magazine since its inception 25 years ago, I also
know that we have a number of long-time subscribers who do not have email.
The subscriber base has gone down over the years from around 300 to about 180. The viability
of the whole operation depends on numbers. As I see it, a digital version via email would see
the subscriber numbers reduce even further. The ease which which a digital copy could be
on-forwarded to others may mean a “why subscribe, when I can get my mate to forward it to
me” attitude. Maybe I am wrong, I hope I am.
On the other hand, the half a day enveloping and posting 180 copies could be spent more
productively. I’m not convinced it would be the way to go, but I would be most interested to
hear your thoughts, either as private correspondence or as a letter to the editor for publication.

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and the best of health for 2021.

Mike and Barb.

2 REEL DEALS December 2020