Magazine News

@Dave Warburton posted:

Here’s another question: if it’s the cost of paper, printing and mailing hard copies that is causing CTT to cut back by two issues per year, why don’t they just stop publishing print versions altogether, go fully digital but still publish the current six issues per year that way?

Inquiring minds need to know!

Probably not to entirely tick off the people that like to walk with the paper magazine into the “reading room“.

@MartyE posted:

Probably not to entirely tick off the people that like to walk with the paper magazine into the “reading room“.

Once having a magazine to go into the bathroom with was a requirement. But with the invention of the iPad and rolled toilet paper, not so much anymore.

I'm a 68-year-old convert to digital. I stored ALL the issues of OGR in three copy paper boxes for years. Then I had an epiphany this past summer. OGR, from the very first edition is available to peruse in its entirety page by page digitally, ads included. Out they went on paper recycle day. Now I don't have to hump heavy boxes to look at an article from 1998, etc. With my aging I have begun to eliminate stuff hanging around that is surplus. Now I have accepted the digital format, and I like it because I still sit in front of a PC with a large flatscreen monitor. My CTT collection is still in boxes, but that may soon change too. No subscription there since 2003. So, thank you Rich and all the current OGR staff for keeping the flag alive! I know that times now are challenging, but I support your endeavors and will keep in contact digitally. (I do miss sitting in the head with the mag in hand...haha)

Disappointing but I haven't bought that magazine in years.  The sticker price coupler with thinner content made that an easy decision.  If they are having a revenue to cost issue one has to wonder if the advertisers will seek lower rates or pull out entirely given the reduction in exposure.  A slippery slope for sure.

Guys....I have been reading all of the responses since this thread first started.  Haven't said anything because I don't want to influence in any way the narrative.  But get ready because this is going to be a long read.

Rich Melvin as you may know "retired" from this business years ago (and quite wisely I might add) but he has agreed to help with IT and other things as we have needed them.  Rich and I work closely together on projects pertaining to OGR.  When I came aboard, my background in marketing and print media was useful in keeping the OGR print magazine in the hands of our subscribers but it has been increasingly difficult.  Just a few short years ago CTT had 9 issues per year.  Then it ticked down to lower numbers until now it is 4.  Page count went down to even less than OGR's.  OGR had even reduced our issues from 7 to 6 during that time and reduced our page count from 100 pages to 84.  All of this to reduce the cost and keep the print magazine coming to you.  You may not believe this but I honestly don't sleep well these days because I am always having to find ways to keep print going and for the reasons you have stated above.  I assure you it is not an easy task.

Regardless of the reasons of cost increases, lets be honest ... I can't remember a time that costs haven't increased year over year no matter what segment we are talking about.  Cost increases are a given even if there doesn't seem to be an underlying reason.  I have my strong opinions as to why this happens but if I were to state them here, it would be inappropriate to do so because I would be breaking the very rules we make everyone else abide by.  So ... let me just say that over the last 3 years our costs to print the magazine have gone up on average a total of 48%.  Yeah, I know you may not believe that but it is the truth.  During the last few years it was not unusual for me to receive from our printer notices that paper went up, ink went up, logistics went up, storage costs went up, postal rates went up, freight went up, and the list goes on and on.  What didn't go up was the number of print subscribers and advertisers!  Heck, folks in this hobby are willing to pay thousands of dollars on one locomotive yet get upset when a magazine subscription that they say they enjoy goes up in price.  It always amazes me when folks on the forum talk about how much they bought here and there and yet are not willing to buy a subscription to the magazine.  We have tens of thousands of members yet far less than a thousand supporting members.  Heck, a supporting membership is a buck a month yet folks refuse to pay for the forum which they think should be free.  A few months ago I had a couple of folks tell me that it should not cost OGR anything to have our website/forum.  I was told I was lying about the cost to run the forum because they had their own websites that cost nothing to them!  I assure you all that we pay Crowdstack thousands and thousands of dollars each year and to have this site.  Moderation of the forum costs money and all I can say is the forum is rapidly costing more and more and is now well into the 5 figure category budget wise.

I will share something with you all that normally I wouldn't but what the heck .... here goes.  Early last year I began looking for a new printer for the magazine.  Not because I was unhappy with their service but because we can't continue to afford the printing costs.  Each issue of the print magazine costs us more than we charge subscribers.  Hobby shops actually get the magazine even cheaper just so that we can "get the word out" yet many shops have quit handling it because they tell us that folks won't pay the cover price or subscription price.  How many of you would be willing to pay $50 to $60 for a 6 issue per year magazine?  Likely not many and that is about our break even price.  Actually $60.00 per year would make us a little money but WOW, I can just see the mass exodus and nasty emails / letters we would get!  Anyway ... so last year I found a printer that could save us several thousand dollars per issue over our current printer which is the same one that CTT uses.  A few months ago I entered into an agreement with them to begin printing the magazine starting with run 334.  I had been indicating to our current printer that I was unhappy with the pricing but to no avail so I said my goodbyes to them.  The following week out of the blue, they found that there was an auto-renew clause on our contract and they had auto-renewed us for two more years earlier in the year!  I did not know about the clause but I have no excuse ... I missed it seeing it.  The "new" printer let us off the hook but I was pretty upset because I was counting on the savings to allow us to not have to address more cost saving or revenue buildings options we had been discussing (you all know what that means!).  I had a "meeting" (more like I freaked out with the printer) and finally got to someone that was willing to see what they could do.  Lo and behold, while they didn't match the "new" printer's quote, they we able to save us money ... still not enough for the long term of the print product.

CTT, O Scale Trains, and others are doing what they have in order to survive.  It is not because they are greedy or are trying to fleece your pocket book but because some of these magazines are run by hobbyists that love trains just like you.  They are trying to continue to offer print however I am here to tell you that print in small niche hobbies like this one is not going to be around much longer.  You will note that OGR has been pushing digital through our specials we have and the perks we give digital subscribers.  We can't afford to do the same for print.  At this point, if it wasn't for our advertisers, supporting members, and digital subscribers ... the print magazine would have been gone by now.  PLEASE don't take this as we don't appreciate and value our print subscribers because we do and we need them but we have been subsidizing the print magazine for years now.  We honestly want to provide them with the print they love!

So ... what can you do to continue to have a print magazine?  Well ... we created a combo offering where you can buy the print magazine and add digital for only a buck more per month.  That dollar more gives you some perks not the least of which is more content, pictures, etc. but access to every issue ever published which is well over 300!!!  By doing this, it helps defer the cost of the print at least for now.  A Supporting Membership on the forum is the perfect add on for only a dollar per month.  Heck, the total between the digital add on combo and supporting membership is less than than buying the digital subscription by itself!

I am being frank with you when I say that I can see a time when we are going to have to do something to address our costs and it may involve including the forum in those decisions.  Hopefully you value the forum and the magazine enough to spend a little of your train budget on this side of the fence.  In addition, we now have a fine YouTube channel that needs your support and that costs you nothing other than a few clicks on the subscribe button, the like buttons, and the bell / notification button.  I appreciate as does the rest of our staff your understanding and support!

452 Card; I tossed almost all of my paper magazines years ago. Only two exceptions are Classic Trains and my PRRT&HS Keystones. I cannot talk myself into parting with these two.

I’ve maintained both a print and digital subscription to OGR for several subscription periods now. While I still prefer the print version I do enjoy looking at the additional layout photos available in the digital issue. And I also use the archives to look at past issues as well.

I really have no issue with what Kalmbach or any other magazine publisher pushing digital is trying to accomplish. I just don’t want it shoved down my throat in such a manner as to cause me to lose value.

Curt

PS: Having just read Alan’s comments above, I’ll note he shared this same discussion with me while standing in his driveway late one night last year. (I’m reasonably sure Lakeeta was hoping we’d both shut up so she could go back in the house and go to bed!)

Anyone using this forum who is not at least purchasing a digital or print subscription or paying to be a supporting member should be ashamed.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

I am being frank with you when I say that I can see a time when we are going to have to do something to address our costs and it may involve including the forum in those decisions.  Hopefully you value the forum and the magazine enough to spend a little of your train budget on this side of the fence.  In addition, we now have a fine YouTube channel that needs your support and that costs you nothing other than a few clicks on the subscribe button, the like buttons, and the bell / notification button.  I appreciate as does the rest of our staff your understanding and support!

Alan,

Thank you for your thoughtful explanation of the cost pressures facing OGR and the publishing industry.  I am a print and digital subscriber, and a supporting member.  I really appreciate this forum and I intend to continue with OGR as a subscriber.  I hope that other forum users will step up and and at least become supporting members.  It would be best if they subscribe to the magazine.

As I said in my previous post, I prefer the print addition.  I have been a digital subscriber for 2 years but I have looked only looked at a digital issue once.  I may have to change my reading habits.  

Thank you for supporting the hobby, continuing to publish OGR, and running this forum.  NH Joe

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

  It always amazes me when folks on the forum talk about how much they bought here and there and yet are not willing to buy a subscription to the magazine.  We have tens of thousands of members yet far less than a thousand supporting members.  Heck, a supporting membership is a buck a month yet folks refuse to pay for the forum which they think should be free.

Even before Alan posted this, I always was bewildered by the amount of money people spend on engines, and numbers of engines owned, or even one Lionel ZW-L transformer, yet were not subscribers or supporters of the forum.

As an another example of escalating printing costs in a somewhat niche hobby, the American Radio Relay League--after 100 years--have decided this month to stop including their monthly print magazine in the annual $50 membership.  The magazine is digital only unless you pay an additional $25/yr for the print version. Indeed, the writing is on the wall for the future of print.

Alan, and all others, thank you for your candid commentary, I too was disappointed by the CTT proposals.  I believe I have been a subscriber to the print CTT for about 25 years and still have just about all of them in boxes (minus one or two editions).  Ironically, I am not a print subscriber to OGR, but find myself visiting the OGR Forum almost daily, so for me, the OGR Forum is solid gold.  The Forum Team are the Super Bowl team, and all of the contributors simply continue to pile on value after value.  Gotta keep this train a rolling!  

I checked my profile and see that I am a digital subscriber but not a supporting member, time to change that I guess.

Chuck242

With all the screen time that our eyes endure everyday (even new car dash boards), I find it very refreshing to my eyes and more relaxing to my brain, to pick up a magazine and read. It's kind of like jumping into a swimming pool on a hot summer day.

Alan,

Thank you for the insight.  For me the issue from the other magazine was the arrogance with which it was done and communicated.  An advance notice that this might be happening in a few months would have been appreciated.  For those that had subscriptions or recently renewed, an extension would have been appreciated.  As one person here pointed out, the reply from the magazine was basically "tough cookies"- "Read the terms of service, we have the right to change the terms and the number of issues at any time we please." 

That is the attitude that made me decide to cancel my subscription immediately (for which I will get a refund).  I was a subscriber from Issue 1 #1.  As the saying goes: Actions have consequences and I let them know that.

LionelFlyer

@ByronB posted:

What I don’t like is that CTT isn’t extending the issue count for subscribers who already paid.   As I had just renewed last month, they saved themselves two issues of the magazine but lost my goodwill and future renewals.  While I was typing the above I got an email response from the editor of CTT.  It was a cut/paste reply that basically said “read the fine print, you paid for a year, not number of issue” so deal with it.

CTT/Kalmbach's chickens will come home to roost next year when the subscriptions for all of our final issue expire.

I've been a member of the ARRL for 54 years and I am dropping my membership because they are now charging an extra $25 a year to get print, leaving only the online option.  I loathe digital magazines and books and will never read them.  I am a digital subscriber to OGR but only to support this forum, I never look at the magazine. Thank God for ThriftBooks and ABE and places you can still buy an actual manuscript.   Any magazine that goes only digital will not be on my renewal list.   One has to question the printing excuse since, the NRA who publishes and mails over 6 million magazines a month, does it for less than $4 a year out of your annual membership.

I did not renew my digital ogr cause I never looked at it. I definitely prefer print however, as soon as print ends then I’ll certainly support ogr through the digital.

Reading the above comments about CTT, they should have offered very recent renewals and very recent new subscribers at least two free digital issues tacked onto their annual print subscription.  It might have saved them some money compared to refunds they'll need to make from cancelled subscriptions and provide them with some good will.

@CALNNC mentioned the apparent "cheap cost" for issuing NRA magazines.  Without seeing their books, I can think of at least 2 reasons their costs might be so low.  1. I believe they are an IRC 501 or 503 entity meaning they pay little or no tax on their income.  2. I would bet their "advertising" revenue stream is quite high given the current pricing of guns.  Neither of those options is available to publishers in our hobby!

Chuck

Seems a bunch of us hams are dealing with a similar ARRL print reduction. It doesn't bother me much, but for older folks in the hobby who have been ARRL members for 50+ years, it isn't as easy. My radio club members discussed not renewing their ARRL subscription, if they weren't lifetime members.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER - I have no issue adding being a supporting member, which I will now do, but I really (mis)understood that to be a "subscription" for someone that wanted to support the forum and wasn't a print or digital subscriber like I am.  I wonder how many others also have the same impression as I do? The forum popups from time to time I just took as the site didn't yet detect me as a logged in digital subscriber.

I was a print subscriber to OGR for many years, then dropped it when I concluded that my road-warrior job obstructed layout construction.  At retirement, I decided to resume as a digital subscriber, partly because of the pain of moving boxes of OGR and other magazines to our retirement home.  It gives me the flexibility of reading at my home office desk, breakfast table, workshop, or train room, often via tablet.  I can print out the articles that I want to have on paper.  Just much more flexibility, overall.  I appreciate that many folks prefer print, but given the choice of more content in digital versus less in print, I have to side with the former.  I see this trend in other organizations I belong to - base subscription is now digital and print is optional, at ever-increasing cost.

Like many here, I am a subscriber to CTT. And, like many here, I'm not happy with what they did - or how they did it - but I understand the economics behind it.

My subscription is up for renewal in April and it's unlikely I will do so. Over the past few years, the articles all have a certain sameness to them; I have not found many articles that either interested me or contained information that I could use. Now with the reduced number of issues, the higher price, and the lackluster content, the decision is easy. The juice, as they say, ain't worth the squeeze.

Alan,

Thank you for explaining your side.  If you need to raise the printed subscription rate – so be it.  I do read the Forum every day & I am a supporter, & if my paid supporter time has run out let me know & I will renew ASAP.  All that said, I spend too much necessary time in the “screen” as it is. Thus, the print magazine is very important to me.  Besides, ya just can’t take the digital version conveniently into the bathroom.  BTW, when the world goes 100% digital, I just can’t wait for ”digital toilet paper”.

@PRR1950 posted:

@CALNNC mentioned the apparent "cheap cost" for issuing NRA magazines.  Without seeing their books, I can think of at least 2 reasons their costs might be so low.  1. I believe they are an IRC 501 or 503 entity meaning they pay little or no tax on their income.  2. I would bet their "advertising" revenue stream is quite high given the current pricing of guns.  Neither of those options is available to publishers in our hobby!

Chuck

As far as I know, nothing from citizens or members to the NRA is tax deductible, but printing 6 million mags a month may come with a hefty discount from the printer compared to the paltry 100,000 or so from other hobbies. .

I too, very much appreciate Alan's comments.  I have been a lifelong subscriber to CTT, and that will not change.  I think their package deal of Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Trains, and Classic Toy Trains  (CTT) is a good deal, since you get access to the entire back history of all of their publications and the new issues for each.   It looks like they are pricing the hard copy as a premium service. I was disapointed that the new Winter edition, (which has a 2023 year on it?) was not  bagged, since there is nothing worse then a wet, soggy magazine.  We get a lot of rain in Tacoma.  At $12.99,  I don't think they will get many cauual buyers at retail outlets,  of which there are probably only  two or three in the Tacoma metro area, which has a population in the 200,000 range.

I do get tremendous enjoyment in OGR,  and appreciate the effort to produce the magazine.  I have spent a fair amount of time making PDFs of articles that I like and have organized them such that they are easy to find. Some are "how to" pieces, others are layouts that I think are special, like all  of Skip Natoli layouts.

I am running out of space storing stuff, so I am very likely moving to be an all digital reader at some point, but unlikely to get rid of my old magazines anytime soon,  since I enjoy reading them, especially in the winter.  Its not like you can find old Street and Smith Baseball Yearbooks  on line anywhere. You know, they were writing about pitch clocks in the 1960s.

I enjoy the Digital subscription as it has a hidden advantage that many are unaware of.  I download each edition and store them in a folder, as they are stored in searchable PDF documents I can now do a keyword search through almost all of the magazine runs to find information about a particular topic, person, subject, or just about anything.  For example, I did an exact word search for "Wolf" and yielded 78 matches in 38 runs of the magazine.  I can then click on any of the individually found results and Adobe will open the document to that page and highlight the match.

During the Pandemic and even now our paper supplier also increased our paper cost considerably, at first he told us it was due to a shortage but later relented that there really wasn't a shortage but rather increased costs to ship in raw materials, process & produce, print (if needed) and ship back out. He said the biggest factor that we could directly correlate the cost of paper (or any product) is with diesel fuel price & inflation. During the "shortage" we were easily able to get every paper stock our company needed without worry, the price simply went up.

I commend OGR for doing everything possible to maintain the print magazine but the writing is on the wall. Folks who like the print version can always print a copy of the digital magazine. Maybe not quite as easy to read but once they realize the printing costs at home of 80 to 90 pages in color they may change their tune a bit about adopting a digital format.

@CALNNC posted:

I've been a member of the ARRL for 54 years and I am dropping my membership because they are now charging an extra $25 a year to get print, leaving only the online option.  I loathe digital magazines and books and will never read them.  I am a digital subscriber to OGR but only to support this forum, I never look at the magazine. Thank God for ThriftBooks and ABE and places you can still buy an actual manuscript.   Any magazine that goes only digital will not be on my renewal list.   One has to question the printing excuse since, the NRA who publishes and mails over 6 million magazines a month, does it for less than $4 a year out of your annual membership.

Well my friend ... if we had 4 or 5 million members / subscribers, the "printing excuse" as you say above would be an entirely different story.  I can assure you that the NRA gets a nice BIG discount on a print order because of the numbers.

@CALNNC posted:

As far as I know, nothing from citizens or members to the NRA is tax deductible, but printing 6 million mags a month may come with a hefty discount from the printer compared to the paltry 100,000 or so from other hobbies. .

EXACTLY!

@PRR1950 posted:

@CALNNC mentioned the apparent "cheap cost" for issuing NRA magazines.  Without seeing their books, I can think of at least 2 reasons their costs might be so low.  1. I believe they are an IRC 501 or 503 entity meaning they pay little or no tax on their income.  2. I would bet their "advertising" revenue stream is quite high given the current pricing of guns.  Neither of those options is available to publishers in our hobby!

Chuck

Yes!!!

@romiller49 posted:

I did not renew my digital ogr cause I never looked at it. I definitely prefer print however, as soon as print ends then I’ll certainly support ogr through the digital.

Rod...you should have looked at the digital when you had it.  It offers much more content and all of the issues ever published.

I want to thank those of you that have responded to this thread in a positive way and those that have helped support OGR through your subscriptions and Supporting Memberships!

I'll give ya $12.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER,

Alan,

Considering the number of hours I spend each day reading the forum or preparing posts for my favorite threads, the cost of print and digital subscriptions and being a "Supporting Member" is miniscule - a few pennies per hour. It's pretty inexpensive entertainment. I don't often read the digital magazine and always read the print version, which is much better for my vision. For discussion and up-to-date information, I look at the OGR forum. I would like to see the print version continue even at increased cost but nothing compares with the forum. My total expenditure for OGR is worth every penny - no question about it.

MELGAR

@MELGAR posted:

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER,

Alan,

Considering the number of hours I spend each day reading the forum or preparing posts for my favorite threads, the cost of print and digital subscriptions and being a "Supporting Member" is miniscule - a few pennies per hour. It's pretty inexpensive entertainment. I don't often read the digital magazine and always read the print version, which is much better for my vision. For discussion and up-to-date information, I look at the OGR forum. I would like to see the print version continue even at increased cost but nothing compares with the forum. My total expenditure for OGR is worth every penny - no question about it.

MELGAR

Exactly. My opinion, too!  

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

I want to thank those of you that have responded to this thread in a positive way and those that have helped support OGR through your subscriptions and Supporting Memberships!

Thank YOU! Keep up the great work.

@DL Brunette posted:

Yes, they were huge well over 100 pages, maybe 120 to 150 pages for the annaversary editions, they really gave Modern Bride a run for the money on which magazine was the largest.    

When I worked for Fawcett Publications in the 1970s, Woman's Day was enormous, with all the regional advertising. The copies with all the regionals in them were the size of telephone books—we all remember those, right? something else that's long gone—but those days, and many of those magazines, are gone.

Even the magazines I edited/published are gone; I sold them in 2000.

I continue to read industry news about how once mighty publishing empires are gone, sold off, out of business. On line is the wave of the present.

Dead tree editions of everything are leaving. It’s nowhere near as expensive to pay for web hosting as to staff, supply and run a large print press and manage distribution.

Convenience is another matter. As recently as the first Ohio Central Railfest, ads had to be in for the major magazines about six months in advance. Now, events pop up like sneezes (rumors even faster) and it’s much quicker to reschedule or cancel if needed. Forget reading matter for dead time on a road trip? Fetch a digital magazine on your shirt-pocket computer that doubles as a phone.

It’s hard to explain to anyone born after the mid-1990s that at one time, we had to wait by the phone for important calls and send off catalog orders for what wasn’t available locally, then wait a few weeks to get the merchandise. There was no handy database of, say, 2056 parts or wiring diagrams; those needed a print catalog and hope one of the magazines would have hints next month or year. We mourn the speed of modern life, but at the same time take it for granted. Preferring one era over another isn’t wrong, just different. (Except when it comes to swatting flies with an iPad. That’s always going to be a bad idea.)

@Rich Melvin posted:

All publishers, including OGR, are slowly but surely moving away from print. The cost of paper has skyrocketed, making an OGR print subscription a “loss leader” at current prices. OGR does not make a profit on a print subscription any more. The economic inflation of recent years has only served to accelerate the change to digital, caused primarily by massive price increases for paper.

Print is slowly disappearing, and we will all have to learn to accept that. Whether we like it or not, the digital era is here.

When I was publishing my monthly news magazine, the post office cut out airmail printed matter for foreign subscriptions, and the cost of sending issues overseas made them no longer viable. ISAL—International Surface AirLift—worked for a while, but...

Nowadays, the cost of sending books from one side of the Atlantic to the other, either way, also makes selling books outside the USA a losing proposition.

Glad I'm retired. Though I still have occasional nightmares about magazine publishing, and it's been 20+ years!

It may be time to increase the cost of a supporting membership or provide for an additional voluntary contribution.

I, for one, will do what I can to further support the OGR Forum because it has been invaluable to me.

The Barnes and Nobles bookstore near me has moved to a temporary location while the original location is renovated. I noticed that at the temporary site the entire periodical section is missing. Based on this thread, I wonder if it will even make a return appearance when renovations are complete. Not happy!

Chris

LVHR

@lehighline posted:

The Barnes and Nobles bookstore near me has moved to a temporary location while the original location is renovated. I noticed that at the temporary site the entire periodical section is missing. Based on this thread, I wonder if it will even make a return appearance when renovations are complete.

Our local B&N just moved to a new location, opening Black Friday, and still has a good size magazine section. Hopefully yours will too.

My Digital Subscription just renewed about a week or so ago.  As I said earlier supporting the forum for the $30 a year and getting some great content is well worth it.  Getting all the back issues, extra content is a pretty exciting bonus.  I think one way of looking at it is if you asked a question and got an answer, found a tip or trick for doing something on your layout, got advice for fixing or upgrading and engine or even bought a hard to find item from the Buy/Sell board and it saved you $30 isn't that worth supporting the forum in this small way?

I also find just helping people gives me great satisfaction.  Very often if you help 1 person, you probably helped 10x as many with the same issue that when an internet search is done leads them to this forum.

If you like the paper then get that subscription.  As Alan said he's running a combo special so it maybe time to kick the tires on the Digital side.  You might just like it and again the extra content is a great value.

@David_NJ posted:

Our local B&N just moved to a new location, opening Black Friday, and still has a good size magazine section. Hopefully yours will too.

Our B&N located in the Lakewood, WA retail center, has a great magazine section.  The store is well-supported by the community. 

Music CD's and Video DVDs have gone by the wayside as well.   I find it interesting that vinyl records are making a comeback.  A few stores in Tacoma have expanded space over the last few years, one even sells vintage audio systems.  Its a younger demographic in those stores. I have hope that the simplicity of vintage Lionel trains will find its way to a younger generation.

The other paper item that I have a hard time not having are the tickets to sporting events.  I don't have a paper ticket for that great game between the university of oregon and the university of washington at Husky Stadium on October 14, 2023. I guess I will need to settle for great memories.