That’s a Wrap! No More Regular Latz Report Newsletters

Wollongong NSW

It’s with mixed emotions that I share the news with you that this will be the final regular edition of The Latz Report newsletter.

I’m writing this on Monday 2nd December as we finalise the December Latz Report newsletter, which will go out to our Premium Subscribers on Friday 6th December and to all other subscribers on Friday 20th December.

As I announced a couple of months ago, we put our media business on the market. We had several interested parties but as things dragged on, I set a deadline of 5pm Friday 29th November and we did not receive a firm offer by that date.

Therefore, I am going to discontinue publishing both the regular editions of the Latz Report newsletter, the Micromobility Report newsletter and all related social media posts, plus the Micromobility Report Yearbook.

The Latz Report Yearbook Will Continue… and More!

The good news is that we will continue to publish the very popular Latz Report Yearbook trade directory, in both print and online flipbook formats.

The key dates for 2025 will be:

Advertising Booking	Friday 2nd May
Advertising Material	Friday 9th May
Flipbook Live	Friday 30th May
Print Edition Mailed	Friday 13th June

I’ve also been doing a series of freelance bicycle trade related articles such as this one for Flow Mountain Bike. As long as publisher Mick Ross kindly agrees to keep accepting my work, these will resume in 2025. I’ve already accepted an invitation to attend Taipei Cycle in March 2025 and will submit a report to Flow for publication. Plus, I’ll be heading to the Tour Down Under in January to attend all the industry events and visit the expo booths.

I’m also going to continue recording the monthly Micromobility Report Podcast, which I’m co-presenting with Irene McAleese from See.Sense

I’ll be continuing my Latz Business Coaching business, which involves working one-on-one with mainly bicycle industry clients and I’m planning to get more involved in bicycle advocacy.

Finally, you’ll see that I’ve used the word “Regular” in the headline. That’s to leave me with a bit of “politician’s wriggle room”! For example if there is any interest from an advertiser, we may on occasion send a sponsored EDM (electronic direct mail) to you and I may also do the occasional ad hoc post on a major topic (such as a trade show). But all of this remains to be seen, so no guarantees. Related to this, we’ll keep both The Latz Report and the Micromobility Report websites live, so that all of their hundreds of articles including the sponsored Product Features and Company Features, will remain live and accessible for years into the future. We know that many of our more timeless features get a steady flow of reads years after they’re first posted.

In summary, as you can see, even though I’m ‘semi-retiring’ I won’t be sitting on a deckchair or playing golf…

Time for Some Thanks

I’d like to finish this article by thanking several groups of people.

Firstly to our team:
Marli Older has done a great job compiling and posting every newsletter plus all other graphic art related tasks and everything else we throw in her direction – always with a smile and great professionalism.

Ed Price has handled the challenging Media Sales role – always with total credibility – valuing the long term brand and business relationships over a short term quick sale.

Gary Wells has been our capable and reliable Admin Manager, chasing artwork, maintaining our Yearbook databases, and of course, invoicing.

Our son in law Tim Nightingale has continued to layout every Yearbook with meticulous attention to detail, which is vital for this important industry resource.

Mark Evans came in as a contractor to build a completely new Yearbook Portal, which is far more reliable and most importantly, more user friendly than the previous one.

Blaise Spennato rebuilt both of our websites last year and keeps a watchful eye on any potential risks due to software changes etc.

Secondly to our advertisers:
We’re blessed to have very strong long-term relationships with most members of the Australian bicycle trade. It has certainly been a challenging few years, but most have stuck with us, particularly in relation to The Latz Report Yearbook where some companies have taken the same preferred position page for 20 years or more.

Thirdly to our readers:
Even in the past week, I’ve received positive comments from several of our subscribers about how much they value the newsletter, which is one of the hardest factors in the decision to close it down, considering that there is no directly alternative media source. We’ve also been receiving regular new subscriptions, right up until now.

Our newsletters have often had open rates in the 40% to 50% range, compared to 18% being the average open rate for established industry newsletters. I’m glad you’ve found at least some of the information we’ve published to be useful.

Finally to my family:
In particular my wife Catie, who has lived with a deadline driven partner for most of our 40 years of marriage. There are now about 18 fewer deadlines per year in my life, which will be a welcome change.

Of course, there’s one other thing I’m planning to do, which is to keep riding my bike(s)! Hopefully I’ll see some of you on the road!

Phil Latz