John,
I agree that switching from media mail to Priority Mail is not a viable solution. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment.
The Club has had extensive experience with using media mail for its magazines, rosters, and book sales. It uses that USPS option in order to minimize the cost to the recipient of the publication. That experience has been all over the map in terms of USPS performance ranging from excellent to lost-forever shipments. (The shipments to Canada and other countries are exposed to the vagaries of two different postal systems and inbound customs clearance, which compound the delays as well as the added transit time.)
The magazines and rosters are all printed and sent (all delivered to USPS within a day or two) from the same place as I indicated earlier, which is pretty much consistent with the practices of other producers of magazines, be they hobby oriented or otherwise. While I have not been a print subscriber of Hemmings Motor News or Old Cars Weekly for many years, I clearly recall the same kind of out-loud wondering why the latest issue hadn't arrived in Laramie when it had arrived in Portland, etc., etc.
I personally have a high regard for the USPS and nearly all of the many of its employees I have encountered over the years, but as with all large organizations, it is contrary to human nature that all processes and employee abilities and attitudes are uniform throughout the organization. And then there is the not-so-minor-matter of all of the non-employee contractors and sub-contractors that move the mail back and forth between the individual post offices and the nearest USPS regional distribution center and those who move it between those distribution centers across the country.
Throughout your thinking about what I wrote above, please remember that media mail has a very low priority in the USPS system. Please also log on to Amazon.com and note their statements about how long delivery is likely to take for media products (notwithstanding that Amazon demands that its sellers ship within two business days).
So, with all due respect, I believe (actually kind of know) that the Club's magazine printer/mailer is pretty good at doing its job once it has been given the green light to roll the presses and neither the printer/distributor nor the Club has any control nor can have any control once the magazines enter the USPS system.
If you want instant uniform delivery, perhaps the better question is: When is the Club going to offer a internet version of the magazine?