Funny thing, after I posted a similar comment on the Contest reflector, I got four different sets of responses:

A lot of the hard core contesters all told me, in essence, "quit being a cheap ham, next time, pay for first class mail delivery". On the reflector.

Many casual contesters, and some of the hard core ones as well, told me that the same thing had happened to them, and that they were disappointed to some degree. Off the reflector.

One of the higher-ups in organizing the WRTC said it was his fault, that he'd delayed some of the articles for refinement/review to make the WRTC-oriented issue just peachy, so as a result, it was shipped out 2 weeks late. On the reflector.

And one of the NCJ staff people told me, off the reflector, Tough $h!t.

I don't plan on renewing my subscription.