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How we handled running out of The Age

We ran out of The Age (again!) before lunch on Saturday. Our supplying newsagent, also a retailer in the shopping centre, refused us extra stock so we purchased most of what they had left, at retail. They were itching for a fight but our team member making the purchase stood their ground.

Given either their inability to ensure they can meet demand or a failure of Fairfax to ensure reasonable supply to the area, we will continue to do this – buy stock from our supplying newsagent leaving them with nothing if necessary. Eventually the message will get through.

We refuse to be without newspapers at lunchtime on a busy Saturday.

Our preparedness to take this action shows that we see newspapers as playing an important role, still, in today’s retail newsagency publisher disinterest notwithstanding.

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  1. Natalie

    Same up here in Sydney, Mark. Saturday Telegraph out by 1 pm… And we are the distributing agent – so none to subbies either.

    Silly way to do business.

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  2. Dennis Robertson

    As has been discussed before by Mark and others, any Distribution Model that has a Newsagent retailer as the supplier to another Newsagent retailer in the same shopping centre is just wrong by it’s very nature, even though I’m sure there are some suppliers who do a very good job of it.

    If this situation occurred here in SA, the Distribution Newsagent would clearly be ear-marked as a leading cause of the problem, because, simply put – I have access to the Fairfax Connect site which allows me to amend supply.

    In a situation of multiple sell-outs why on earth would a Publisher not wish to supply? The only reason I can think of is if the supplying Newsagent is either not allocating correctly to other Sub-agents or is holding onto stock unnecessarily, meaning his return levels are too high.

    Therefore the supplier is either incompetent, or not trying hard enough, or something worse.

    Faced with a similar situation, I would take the same approach as the Team Member making the purchase. Strategically it’s a good move if other approaches to the Supplier and Publisher have led to nothing but a lack of co-operation.

    This situation is almost bordering on the incredulous.

    Dennis

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  3. Amanda

    Recently we stopped being a direct agent.

    We did what Mark has done on a day-to-day basis when our new distribution agent would not supply us with the stock we requested.

    That outlet reported this to Fairfax, and unfortunately Fairfax reps informed the outlet it was a breach of contract to “re-sell commercial quantities of newspapers” and instructed him to put up a sign saying limit of 6copies per customer.

    It’s crazy, but We now just buy our newspapers from Coles…who amazingly do not have the same restrictions placed on them.

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  4. Jenny

    It’s a shame to see so much division within the channel, newsagents complaining about publishers, associations and now each other.
    Surely newsagents/distributors would all benefit in the long run by working together rather than against each other.

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  5. June

    I don’t mean to be a nay-sayer but tell me how buying papers from Coles/Woolies can possibly help our channel. It just makes the figures look better for the duopoly and we newsagents look like the second cousins.
    We need to shout from the rooftops to the publishers that we are being undersupplied.

    I think my business could have sold hundreds more papers over Xmas but we
    couldn’t get any more and I now believe that the publishers are deliberately keeping us short supplied to reduce their
    returns and their print runs (to save money).
    In the past 35 years I have just about crawled across a road to sell a paper to someone but today I put it where it belongs. It is only a very small part of
    my business and I am concentrating on much larger % profit margins than 12.5%
    for papers.
    I am also removing the word newsagency
    from my shop when we shift next month and just calling it Browns of Burnside.
    I think the word newsagency is now defunct.

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  6. Jenny

    June, don’t you think the word newsagency as part of your business name brings customers to you, whether or not you sell a lot of newspapers you still sell magazines and maybe lotto and give great customer service, which is what makes us stand out over other retailers?

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  7. June

    I’m changing tack Jenny – after 35 years
    my customers all know me so I’m only concerned about the new ones with this
    change of name thing.
    I think the Lotto and the mags will still let
    new customers know I am a newsagent per se but I want to be a retailer now.
    I really think we have been screwed long enough as “agents” e.g. lotto, bus tickets, ticketek, WU and Bill Express etc
    etc. and I want to fight back.
    Our retail space is far too expensive for us
    to continue to do things like sell the News
    Ltd books for $2 and make 10c – it is obscene

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  8. Amanda

    I’m not implying purchasing papers from Coles helps the channel at all.

    My family have been in the industry for over 20 years and we have owned several stores. We have fought the battle for Newsagents, tried to stand up to publisher’s and tried working with them. It is merely the arrogance and craziness of the publisher’s who have put us in a position where the only outlet “permitted” to supply us with the quantities we want is Coles…..

    What you should be asking is why can’t I get the products as a direct retail outlet like Coles or Woolworths and select my own quantities?
    Why will the publishers change quantities below what was requested by the distribution agent?

    It is a pity that people get distracted by T2020 and other smoke screens. T2020 is not for newsagents or distributors. It is another way of publisher’s getting away with ripping off Newsagents and distributors.

    Publisher’s are going to continue to screw newsagents until the day the last newspaper is sold.

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  9. shauns

    June just curious as to what you would have your shop listed as in the local phone book . I mean do they look up gift shops , newsagencys , lotto ,newspapers, books etc .
    We have ours listed as newsagencys and also printing services .

    Newsagencys is a name that a lot of my customers understand to be the place to buy lotto , papers ,mags , gifts drinks, smokes(recently got out of them)books stationary etc a one stop shop really .I am not to sure how much i would be wanting to distance myself from the name .

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  10. Jeff

    June you’ve got to put your business first otherwise you could lose a customer forever. I hate buying papers from Coles sometimes but I’ll do that before I send a customer there.

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  11. June

    Jeff, I’ve been where you are and it is a double edged sword – you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
    If you lose a paper customer you have only lost 15cents here in SA.
    I am prepared to do that rather than buy from the duopoly.
    Shaun I am distancing myself from the word newsagency because I consider it to
    be dinosaurial and we need to be entrepreneurial (I’m a poet and don’t know it)
    Amanda I agree with you entirely – I can think of no other industry where we cannot order what we want for our businesses.
    THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE HAVE AGREEMENTS WITH THESE COMPANIES THAT ARE OUTDATED AND OUTMODED AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HANDLED YEARS AGO AT ASSOCIATION LEVEL (NATIONALLY) AND IT NEVER WAS BECAUSE THE PEOPLE AT THAT LEVEL DIDN’T FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE THERE FOR ???????????????
    THE CURRENT CROP HAVEN’T DONE ANY
    BETTER AND WE CAN’T DO IT ALONE.
    I will become a member of the ANF (again)
    when this issue is resolved because it is the single most important issue for us to resolve as an industry.

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  12. June

    Jeff, FB has outmoded the phone book but
    I am presently still listed as a newsagency.

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  13. Peter

    I’ve got a fair bit of experience in newsagencies, having worked in 4 very different outlets over the best part of 20 odd years.
    I’ve never seen the distribution model so poor as it is now. The recent consolidation of distribution here in a large regional Victorian city is nothing short of an utter disaster. Newsagents and well established subs are under supplied on nearly all titles, while under performing outlets still have stock at midnight and the local ‘paper is being crucified by shocking delivery standards and account management.
    The new distribution company is still sending subscription customers monthly accounts, other customers didn’t get billed for weeks, statements are being sent out that contain a credit balance, but the bottom line of the bill looks like an amount outstanding.
    Long term account customers are cancelling deliveries in big numbers. There is no level of customer service, complaints and account queries are usually greeted by an answering machine. Irate customers of course then return to complain to the agent event though all of these issues are out of his/her hands. If newspapers want a business model to drive them into an even earlier grave, then this is a case study in excellence.
    The most glaringly obvious part?; The people who promoted themselves as experts in this field, and were given the contract to consolidate the distribution network are in fact a series of newsagents with no experience in logistics, no systematic approach to the workload, and , to be honest, it looks like a bunch of small business people pretending they know how a much bigger operation than they ever conceived works.
    Local newsagents and both local and metro publishers have taken a massive blow in goodwill.
    If this is modernising the industry then good luck for the future. The new local distribution company have even handed back magazine distribution to the individual newsagents because it was all too hard. Pretty much signed their own death warrant before they’ve even got 6 months into operation.
    I’m sure consolidation has worked in other places, in fact I’m aware of several operations which have revitalised their market.
    But this here is nothing short of total disaster. Just goes to show that if the people running your distribution network are not up to the job, the effects will reach far into your own businesses, and there’s little you can do about it.
    Get used to running out of ‘papers early, perhaps you should consider yourselves lucky if you make it to lunchtime. I know of agents here who are out by 10.30 am.

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  14. Mark Fletcher

    Yes, I’d prefer my supplying newsagent to supply stock.

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  15. Gary

    Peter can I contact you privately?

    I represent a group of newsagents who wish to consolidate prior to T2020. Very eager to learn from and avoid the disaster as based from your experience.

    I have a fair idea of who the distributor is as mentioned in your post, and have similarly heard anecdotal reports from various sources of their poor customer service and treatment of sub agents. And yet despite the deluge of complaints News Limited are reluctant to take action and shockingly enough happily signing off on their additional acquisitions of territories making them very dangerous when the time comes to tender during t2020 and they are now big enough to start dictating their terms to News Limited.

    Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

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  16. Peter

    Gary, I’m happy for you to contact me, and I’ll try to provide you with whatever information I can. I have always enjoyed my participation in the businesses I have worked in and have a passionate stance that these things can be done well to provide an improvement in conditions for all involved.
    I’m happy for Mark to provide you with my email address, I’d rather not broadcast it here to keep the trolls at bay. Or if you like, leave your address here.

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  17. Dennis Robertson

    Amanda @post3,

    Quite right about the re-selling of commercial quantities Amanda, I just didn’t want to say that out loud in case it mucked up Mark’s tactic.

    I still remain of the view that T2020 is a good move by News Ltd. Of course how it is implemented is critical to outcomes.

    For instance, if News Ltd do not conduct a sound review of what happens South Side Brisbane, before any ad-hoc roll-outs by their various state administrations, then it’s highly likely that any flaws in implementing T2020 will more than likely be repeated again and again.

    If the situation in post #13 Peter is an accurate description of what has happened in a Regional Victorian town, then it is a screaming disaster.

    Peter raises some important points in a very clear manner. None the least is that Publishers hold their fate in their own hands when making a decision about who to trust when giving the nod to tenderers charged with owning distribution of the last 10 yards of their product in a vastly expanded area and all that entails.

    Here in SA, all HD subscribers have been migrated from Newsagent based accounts to accounts solely administered by ANPL, so that is one less complex aspect for Newsagents and HD subscribers to contend with and it means a more seamless transition for HD customers when small rounds are amalgamated into much larger ones.

    Dennis

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  18. Jenny

    Dennis, do you do distribution only, if so may I have your email address so I can ask you a few questions. We are currently in the process of seperating our distribution and retail and want to set it up to run smoothly from the start. Thanks, Jenny

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  19. Dennis Robertson

    Jenny,

    Yes and yes. I have requested Mark on-forward my details to you.

    Dennis

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  20. Jenny

    Thanks Dennis

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  21. James

    Dennis, how does the customer pay their account in SA. Do they still come in and pay at newsagents or does the publisher handle invoicing and payment collection?

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  22. KMc

    Gary: As well as talking to Peter about his understanding of the situation you should also talk to one or more of the newsagents who are actually involved in the new arrangements in the 2 Victorian regional cities that have recently amalgamated distribution. You will encounter a more rational and objective assessment of the situation. This was an undertaking of a massive scale, especially considering the change in behaviour and attitude required from operators, suppliers, customers and staff after doing things in a certain way for so many years. The newsagents actively leading this process can only be described as determined and committed to building a strong business with the highest possible customer satisfaction levels. They quite sensibly entered into a partnership with another group that have been successfully operating amalgated distribution for over 3 years. It’s true that there were, and still are, teething problems. It’s also true that there has been improvement every day since it started. Customer service levels (determined by closely measuring delivery performance and accuracy) are already well on their way back at pre merger levels (ie over 99%). The key challenges have been; the limitations of the legacy IT system, the capability of suppliers to adapt to the new scale, and most critically the customers’ willingness to pay in advance (instead of in arrears) . Actually the preparation and physical organisation of the daily delivery operations by the “small business” newsagents has been a standout success.
    This new business direction for newspaper distribution is not a mess. For all involved parties it is a bold new direction that has already overcome many challenges. It is well on the way to a bright future and taking many satisfied customers with it. With the service levels , that can now be offered, those few customers who were frustrated with the early hiccups will experience an exemplary level of service when they inevitably return.

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  23. basil

    A rational and professionally structured business plan of any new or merged business is theoretically straight forward. It is the variables or the unknowns, significantly the reliability of your principle suppliers / producers is where any start-up / long term business operation intent and organisation can be tested and strained. This is markedly magnified if a business operation hasn’t changed and has been operating the same way for 50+ years. Change is everywhere in society, reluctantly accepted if at all by consumers or the like as it is different to the norm or the status quo. Until such time passes and menial history becomes a distant memory.
    Peter your newsagent experience is noted in your thread, but a distributor you’re not. I am a Victorian distributor handling daily newspapers of a reasonable volume among owning newsagents. The challenges are significant, imposed by suppliers / producers, substandard delivery remuneration, inconsistent supply, tiny margins all of which makes for an unsatisfactory foundation to operate a business! This has become the systemic issue in our industry.
    I applaud those newsagents who are boldly moving to consolidated arrangements to secure their own hard worked and eroded good will as distributors to at least retain some portion of their business.
    Gary, I suggest you seek advice from a distributor of similar size to what your group is embarking on; the reality of your undertaking will be frightening in the unknown world to many, of distribution.
    Experience is everything, good luck to those who treed alternatively.

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  24. Dean

    Basil, I think agree with everything you wrote except I would make 1 suggestion. Your advice to Gary, don’t ask 1 distributor for advice, ask as many as you can.

    I am distribution only receiving about 5-6,000 Sun’s and Age’s combined per day. My experience is different to my neighbouring distribution only newsagent who is a little bigger than me. The neighbouring distributiuon only newsagent I have on my other side who is half my size is different again.

    Being a larger distributor brings economies of scale into your operation, but it also brings problems which are very different to those of a newsagent who receives 500 or 1,000 papers per day. These differences in experience are due to such diverse reasons as the time you receive the papers, the quality of customer service provided by your payment points, the mix of full freight customers compared to subscribers, as well as many others.

    As to the large opertion which recently merged in country VIC. My understanding of the cause of the problems they had is that due to various reasons such as Christmas and availability of key people, etc, they had to do the amalgamation on 1 day. (note – I have no involvement or contact with this operation and this is what I have heard from people who have more contact than me but again are not directly involved with it)

    This is not ideal and a merger of this size involving the number of territories involved was always bound to have a high chance of massive problems.

    It is far preferable to stage the amalgamations on a much longer time frame, incorporating 1 territory at a time and once everything is running smoothly then bringing in the next territory. As somone who has purchased several territories over the last few years, I can guarantee that there are always problems when acquiring a new territory, the goal is to learn from past experience so the next one has less problems.

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  25. Jenny

    Dean, Peter, Basil,KMc or any of the above doing distribution only, do any of you use tablets for your runs and if yes do you use Tower software? Have been communicating with Dennis and looking for more ideas.Thanks, Jenny

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  26. Retailer&Distributor

    Dean agreed on all of your points. My experience of territory procurement is that the scale in which some newsagents are wishing to consolidate would make the intent of a staged roll out more complex, not unachievable but a more lengthy process. By complex I mean, time is now against any newsagent wishing to consolidate (Save their territory), due to the required planning and diligence required, more so the capital expenditure needed being so close to T2020.
    I have no association with the regionally merged group/s, however I do know that one of them (I won’t reveal which) undertook at least 18 months or so I think of fact finding, interviewing and probing distributors and in particular a detailed financial feasibility assessment. I was all too happy to answer the questions.
    From my experience, the merging of any newsagent will always have issues and troubles regardless of your preparation. The strength of a business is how quickly these issues can be resolved, the group we speak of, nailed it within 4 weeks, huge effort, and kudos to them!
    That said, these guys are well planned, structured and have significant non newsagent business professionals as drivers. They are the leaders!
    If these guys didn’t have publisher confidence, they certainly wouldn’t have approved the acquisition of another territory.
    The complexity of newspaper distribution should not be underestimated, if it was easy, we’d all would have done it years before and News Ltd T2020 roll out would have occurred years ago too. Hasn’t happened!

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  27. Mark Fletcher

    The challenge is that there are various amalgamated models and providers of services to these are having to navigate the various models. I suspect that by mid 2014 we will see a more consistent approach.

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  28. Peter

    Not particularly interested in getting involved in a name calling affair instigated by trolling behaviour, however if it’s rational analysis of the success of a consolidation that is the object then let’s evaluate some of the performance to this date.
    Would any of the experienced distributors in this forum consider a Day 1 loss of 25% of the data a success? Would a person with an understanding of business practice not have planned and made allowance to have tested the data before?
    Would any Publisher, distributor or Agent consider a 10% loss of customers due to dissatisfaction to be best practice, or a satisfactory result?
    I witness at least 1 irate customer cancellation a day, 16 year old shop assistants have been abused by customers so frustrated because not only do they have issues with delivery, but are totally unable to communicate their dissatisfaction to the distributor, so bring it in to the previous point of contact.
    Lets consider the recruitment process; Existing agency staff were told there were jobs available, but then kept completely in the dark about possible roles, hours required, and amount of remuneration until 4 days before the change over. Even though the process had been in planning for months. Some of these loyal staff had provided decades of service. They were then handed 7 day contracts to deliver, with a flat figure that worked out, after fuel and tax etc is deducted to be earning about $300 for 7 days. BYO vehicle, no recognition of experience held, arrange your own insurance, tax, super etc and told flatly that that was the arrangement. After 2 days of staff refusing the jobs, the distributor magically found cash incentives of $200 and adjusted the amounts to be paid for delivery runs upwards by about 20%
    Result? Three months in many are still working 7 days, with promises constantly being tossed around about how there’s work being done to arrange for days off. Work safe practice? Proper human resource management?
    Many of the pre-existing staff with experience simply walked away, or have since left. Others are actively seeking other employment. Best practice for staff retention? Morale?
    At 9 am this morning, (Weds) a 24 hour service station had sold out of the local ‘paper, which would outsell other ‘papers by 4 to 1. High levels of customer service? He was told “bad luck, can’t do anything about it.” By the look of him, its pretty close to the last straw.
    I declare here and now, I was offered, but did not take one of the jobs at this new entity, because I’ve been around for a while, and I could see the omens a mile off. I refused to be taken advantage of to make someone else’s margin look a bit better, and I had no desire to be involved in the cheap as chips business model that had been developed. I understand that there is low margins in ‘papers, I understand that the task was a large undertaking, but I will not lower my professional standards to the point where dissatisfied customers could point at me for being involved. I wanted nothing to do with the shoddy, half-baked approach, and the arrogant management style that showed utterly no respect for staff or customers alike.
    The staff I know still currently working in the center tell me that the style of procedural management amounts to something along the lines of “every man for himself.” The pressure is intense, and staff with a problem or complaint are stood over and brow beaten. Industry exemplary management skills?
    If any of the esteemed members of this forum would like to write this all off because I’m bitter and irrational and don’t really know any better, then go right ahead. You’re right. I’m bitter because good customers, long standing customers who Agents and staff like myself worked hard to develop and maintain excellent relations with are being poorly served and treated with disdain. I’m bitter because so much of what had been done to provide excellent customer service and satisfaction has been destroyed in the blink of an eye. I’m bitter because I can see the good name of long established businesses being trashed, and the people of my town being treated like uneducated, backwater swamp dwellers by people who think the world ends at Sunshine.
    I took a decision that has caused me some level of hardship, because that’s not the way I was taught by 3 generations of retailers in my family to do business. But its an Industry I still care about, I have friends working in both Metro and regional ‘papers, and over the years, newspapers have at various times provided for my family.
    So, you can call me irrational, you can even sue me if you can find something slanderous in here. I don’t care.
    I also stand by everything I’ve written, and have witnessed enough, first hand, to know that in no way could any business person consider that this has been a success.
    PS. Teething problems? My mother has been a subscription customer for years. We as a family pay every 12 months to ensure she gets her daily ‘paper, which at 87 and with failing capacities is a simple joy in her day, and a connection to her cherished past, as her memory slowly fails her. Since amalgamation she has started to receive monthly accounts, mailed to an incorrect address, with daily delivery charges, and a fee for sending the account. The distributor has been informed twice by ‘phone and once in writing that she is a SUBSCRIPTION customer and owes them nothing. They keep sending them. I expect the next bill any day now. The family is considering our next step. I wonder how many others.
    But then, its all roses and sweet smells really, isn’t it?
    Excuse me. I’ve got better things to do.

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  29. Robert

    Mark, is that a world record for comment length??

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  30. Alex

    On the subject of being under supplied, I just can’t fathom why our sub agent under supplies us each week, even though we call them each Wednesday morning requesting more magazines and also send notes with our returns. We’ve realised (for a long time) that customers like to buy Take 5 and That’s Life together and yet were constantly supplied with 16 Take 5 (would could sell upwards of 30) and more than 30 That’s Life. We sell out of Take 5 before Thursday lunch time (lately by Wednesday lunchtime) and when customers realise we don’t have any Take 5, they put That’s Life back down and just go up to the local newsagency instead. Therefore, we usually send about 10 That’s Life back.
    I really believe that our supplier could focus his efforts into supplying magazines that we know we can sell rather than give us these outrageously priced mags about pics of the ocean that sit on the shelf for 3 months without a sale.
    Needless to say, we received 2 BHG last week (just enough for firm order customers) even though we can sell 15-20 (solution was getting the bosses wife to use her woolies workers discount card and getting some copies from woolies).
    Rant over 🙂

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  31. Mark Fletcher

    Robert its up there and clearly an emotive issue.

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  32. jessie

    Alex, I am a distribution agent and had had sub agents with similar requests but the unfortunate thing is that if I do not have the magazines myself I cannot supply them to my subagents. I am in the same situation you are except that I am making phone calls and emailing the network call centre and getting no response except it will take 3 weeks for the change to come into effect and the change never comes.
    On Monday I sold out of Telegraphs at 2, so when an irate subagent rang at 4 that they had just sold out of papers and their order must be increased my response again was I cannot give you what I dont have.

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  33. Dean

    Jenny, we don’t use tablets for our runs, I believe they are not very common in Melbourne but are widely used in Adelaide.

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  34. Jenny

    Thanks Dean, I’ve only heard of newsagents using then recently and thinking about it they would be easier for drivers to read, would work out cheaper than paper and cartridges over time, and would save me having to make a trip to our shed to print runs each day.
    Mark, do any Tower newsagents use these?
    Back on topic it’s obvious that we are not the only ones having newspaper supply issues, it”s even harder at the moment as February is such a difficult month for retail as we are busy one day and dead the next, causing sales and returns to be very inconsistent.

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  35. Ken Wilson

    Folks, I am one of the Operating Directors of The ADA Group. If you click onto http://www.titandist.com.au you will see the scale of our business today. When changing industry processes that have been stagnant for decades it is no wonder our changes are emotive for all involved.
    We have 3 years experience in consolidation and we get smarter every day we wake up.
    There’s no manual for what we are doing because it hasn’t been done before on this scale. In some cases were building the plane as we fly it. What’s the alternative…do nothing..I’m not sure that’s any less emotive!

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  36. Paul

    From what I’ve seen in regard to preparation for T2020 and having handed my run back early in one of the areas currently about to be amalgamted I would actually have to agree with Peters assessment. I’m actually glad I’ve gone early rather than wait until 57 newsagents hand back at one time as if current experiences are any indication it will be an absolute dogs breakfast !

    Luckily I nor my staff haven’t had any abusive customers to deal with as I made it pretty clear in my final accounts who was now responsible for deliveries but I’m seeing alot of agitated people who will drop from the distribution model.

    On the plus side it’s great to not to have to worry about something that will in all likelihood be all but dead (suburban retail paper distribution) in 4 to 7 years anyhow.

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  37. James

    Here is some food for thought.

    The remuneration for delivering a paper 7 days is $1.17 per week, call it $5 per month or $60 per year.

    If you print, fold, envelope, and mail a statement once a month, lets call that $1 a month or $12 per year…goorrrne.

    If it takes someone a couple of minutes to process that payment and bank it (one way or another), lets call that another 50 cents a month, $6 per year……gorne.

    If you are really good at home delivery and average 99.75% success (think of it as 2 missed papers in a round of 800) you will on average redeliver a paper to every customer, once a year. Cost of redelivery – lets call it 15 minutes (say $6) plus the cost of a paper (lets call it $1) for a total of $7 per customer per year……gorne.

    So, the cost for an efficient newsagent to maintain a traditional home delivery account is $25 per annum. (I understand that there are lots of more efficient electronic alternatives) or 40% of the delivery remuneration.

    So for the first 12 days of every month, a newsagent essentially delivers the paper for free, simply for the pleasure of maintaining a home delivery account on behalf of the customer. On the 13th day, he can begin to think about the costs of putting in the stops and starts and all of the new promotional offer starts.

    The agent hasnt even printed out the run cards yet. Believe me, the commission on the sale of the paper wont even begin to cover the shortfall by the time the paper lands on the driveway.

    Lets face it, its a (another) free service funded by newsagents.

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  38. Dennis Robertson

    James @ post#21

    Publisher maintains accounts for and invoices all (see clarifying comment below) Metro HD customers. Generally speaking, there would be some exceptions to this in Regional areas. Also where some Newsagents have chosen to retain say Aged Care/Nursing Homes on their books. I went with 100% migration.

    It’s my understanding payment of accounts may be made direct with the Publisher, using the usual variety of methods, or via certain retail outlets.

    Dennis

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  39. Paul

    In relation to the above in Qld:

    The initial advice from News Qld reps regarding accepting customer payments via retail only newsagencies is that it will probably occur but just not at the time of initial handover with T2020 and possibly 12 or more months down the track.

    They seem to be offering only direct debit or cheque/money order payment a month in advance as the only payment option for subscribers at this time.

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  40. Gary

    Mark,

    Can you please put me in touch with Peter’s email. I have many questions to ask.

    thank you

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  41. peter stewart

    jenny,
    tower supports putting your delivery run/s onto a PSP (playstation Portable) which is what we do. no printing run sheets, scrolling makes it easier to read than a paper list, and the screen means you dont need an interior light on in the car.

    the only advantage i could see that a tablet would have over a PSP is the touch screen scrolling. mounting a tablet would be harder, more outlay $$ in a tablet, larger screen means you would have too much info in front of you when all a driver has time to do is glance quickly.

    i recomend the tower/psp combo for run sheets.
    to keep the set up costs down check out psp units 2nd hand.

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  42. Mark Fletcher

    Yes Jenny – devices like the Sony PSP, tablet computers etc have been in use for ten years and more. It’s easy to do.

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  43. Jenny

    Thanks Peter, sounds much better than run sheets. Am guessing you have run sheets as backup or spare PSP’s.
    Mark, I”ve had a look on Tower website to see what’s available.

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  44. Ricky

    We are successfully using. We trialled with one for several weeks and then made the leap. Now we have 6 uin operation, Among tablets the 7 inch models work best. You can buy them for around $120,00. The drivers love them (even the low tech savvy blokes) They save paper, are easy to use and have lots of practical advantages, You dont need to print back up runs but any time you want to use a paper run list it’s still possible.

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  45. Dennis Robertson

    Apart from all the benefits 7″ tablets bring to drivers, there are a few things that I most love about using them.

    1. the ease and low cost of setting up in vans. Velcro on the dash and velcro on the back of the tablet. Sits very flat and hardly intrudes into space outwards from the dash. Or you could move to having a holding device. I prefer the velcro, because I need a bit of room for LH window throws. We throw flat papers in SA not the rolled variety.

    2. The time savings from an Admin point of view. You can just email the run file in html format to drivers at their homes who then load the file wirelessly into one of the good Android mobile suitable browsers on the tablet. I think you can cable link them to PC’s as well to transfer the file. We currently use Firefox and BoatBrowser. It’s just a couple of mouse clicks and a few finger taps on the tablet and all ready.

    3. Each browser has it own unique means of getting around the run if needs be. Search function can bring up a keyboard that will shoot you straight to a different street or section. Some use gestures on the screen, or will move up a full page with the click of a side button, so if a driver is uncomfortable with scrolling there is no need for it.

    4. Or if when you have amalgamated a few adjoining rounds, but not yet fully integrated the run sheets into one yet, you can just tab between the various but separate runs. All open and available at the same time of course.

    5. The font size is easily varied with the touch screen to suit individual drivers.

    6. Never any need to turn off the tablets at all. Just leave on all the time. Just put into sleep mode to open up immediately into the run sheet at the same spot if your interrupted.

    7. The tablets we currently use are good for (battery wise) 3 nights depending on throw numbers, before having to recharge.

    Gotta love technology.

    Dennis

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  46. CHRIS

    Dennis,

    We have trialed all forms of hardware of PSP & Tablet 7″. The 7″ gives the large readability and simply scrolling functions, but more so battery life among other key advantages.

    My questions are about access to the electronic runs and downloading to the units.

    We have trialed ‘Dropbox’ App and has worked well, however I would be interested in your findings and implemented processes…

    Thanks

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  47. Dennis Robertson

    Hi Chris,

    That’s a great innovation and smart thinking to use dropbox that way. I’ve seen the app in market place and I do use dropbox as one line of back-up for excel and word docs for my main office pc, but haven’t used it for accessing the run on tablets.

    I am happy to discuss in detail the downloading and accessing of electronic runs. I will ask Mark to send you my email address.

    Just for interest I also load the run onto a fairly big screen smart phone as another emergency back-up.

    Dennis

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