The death of my mother and the resulting lack of manpower had a serious impact. There was a growing lack of orders and many regular customers did their own printing or decided to switch to cheaper online printing companies. Sales steadily declined.
The GS:MotorradMagazin naturally suffered from a lack of liquidity. The circulation of 2,500 printed copies only covered the printing costs, shipping and logistics. There was still no money for authors' fees.
The last step was to close the shop as a copy shop and publishing house. In September 2017, I moved into our house and used two children's rooms as offices. All machines had to be housed in the double garage.
The Xerox 700 digital printing machine, which was only used for reprinting missing GS:MotorradMagazin issues, still had an 18-month leasing contract to complete. I began negotiations with Xerox Leasing to release me from the current contract as a goodwill gesture. I trusted in the good working relationship that had lasted for almost 10 years. Unfortunately, Xerox Leasing would not budge and insisted on payment of the remaining amount of 8,800 euros.
Due to this high demand, the publication of the GS:MotorradMagazin was delayed. There was also not enough free content to finish at least the last issue of this year on time.