Dear Reader:
Five years ago this month, the first issue of OFF DUTY appeared in Germany, with a circulation of 50,000 copies. It was a new kind of magazine, combining articles on travel and entertainment with authoritative guidance on selecting audio and photographic equipment at military discount prices.

That first issue, dated September 1970, had a total of 64 pages. This month's OFF DUTY has 100 pages, plus a 24-page "for her" supplement distributed to military families. Circulation in Europe grown to over 95,000 monthly. We have also established OFF DUTY in the Pacific with 90,000 circulation and have a third edition, off DUTY/West, with 35,000 circulation in Hawaii and Alaska.

In 1970, OFF DUTY was unique. Today there are imitators, probably the surest indication that we're doing something right. We think we've greatly improved OFF DUTY since its inception. For example, we have added OFF DUTY "for her", a special section for service wives, which appears every month and is expanded into a separately bound supplement three times a year. And we expect to keep right on improving OFF DUTY.

We're sometimes asked, "How can you afford to give the magazine away free?" It's true that OFF DUTY is expensive to produce and distribute. The actual cost-per-copy of this month's issue is $1.08. If we removed the advertising, printing cost would be somewhat lower, but the newsstand or subscription sales commission would have to be added, making the cover price of a single issue at least $1.50.

With few exceptions, magazines cover the major part of their cost with advertising — and still they must charge 75 cents or even $1.00 a copy at the newsstand. OFF DUTY chooses to cover all its costs with advertising in order to make the magazine widely available.

OFF DUTY is delivered door-to-door in nearly all government housing areas overseas, and to hundreds of clubs, exchanges, commissaries and recreation centers on military posts and bases, as well as to all ships of the U.S. Fleet. More than 44,OO0 copies of the European edition will be delivered direct to military families in government quarters this month, while another 53,OO0 copies are going to 634 drop-off points in Europe, to be picked up by single persons or families who live "on the economy"

OFF DUTY has the most thorough distribution of any military publication in the world. The advertisers pay the entire bill. But advertisers are not usually sentimental about magazines. They support OFF DUTY only because readers see the ads and buy their products. So, as we start OFF DUTY'S sixth year of publication, we toast the readers who make it all possible by responding to our advertisers. And, if we have an anniversary wish, it's that you'll continue to enjoy OFF DUTY. And that you'll tell us, and especially tell our advertisers.

sincerly
Walter M. Rios
Publisher
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