Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 8687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137 of 824

imagine what--

So, postwar, the system was changed?

Postwar we begged IBM to get cracking on better methods. The first method which alleviated things a little bit was the punch card and then finally they came through with tapes. Then the tapes were computerized and within five years we were able to handle three or four times as many names with about half the number of people.

But at the time that it was such a problem, how serious a problem was it?

It was a very serious problem because you just couldn't get the magazine distributed.

So it was loss of control--

It was nearly catastrophic. People would complain. We would receive tens of thousands of complaints every week about nonreceipt of the magazine. And there wasn't very much we could do about it. In fact, the complaints were so numerous that we couldn't even answer the complaints. That doesn't make you very popular.

[laughs] It was terrible!

What about from the publishing side? What did you have to cope with in terms of the business environment postwar, initially the