Australian Newsagency Blog

Some newsagents meet in an ANF organised meeting in Adelaide today to discuss plans by Advertiser Newspapers to take over collection of payment for all News Limited product home deliveries in South Australia - subscription as well as direct to newsagent accounts.
While the meeting appears set to attract between 60 and 80 newsagents, I am […]

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South Australian newsagents concerned about the moves by Advertiser Newspapers to take over collection of payment for all home deliveries of News Ltd product need to organise themselves.  With the ANF currently only focusing on its 100 or so SA members (down from 400+ in late 2004), many newsagents are unrepresented on this issue of […]

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Many distribution newsagents in South Australia have benefited from a long-standing 2.5% 2% settlement discount arrangement with News Ltd’s Advertiser Newspapers.  With Advertiser taking home delivery account collection, newsagents stand to could lose access to this 2.5% 2% if the newsagent is no longer required to pay for the newspapers and are just paid for […]

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I have received more calls from South Australian newsagents concerned about the risk to retail traffic as a result of the decision by News Ltd owned Advertiser Newspapers to take over control and management of home deliveries.  More than half heard about the move for the first time through this blog.  As I outlined in […]

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Advertiser Newspapers announced to South Australian newsagents Monday their plan to take over managing home delivery accounts for Advertiser products. They will gradually assume control for starting new home delivery accounts, collecting payment, managing stops and starts, handling holiday redirections and handling queries.
This significant and unexpected move by the publisher has been pitched to […]

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The Age has pitched an exclusive subscription offer to participants in Run Melbourne, a half marathon (and other distances) event on June 28.  They are offering 20 weeks of Monday to Friday home delivery of The Age for $70, less than half price.  I don’t mind this offer since they are not using retail sales […]

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A newsagent in rural Australia reached agreement with a newspaper publisher around six months ago to hand back their newspaper home delivery run.  The publisher was unable to find anyone prepared to take on the run and has demanded the newsagent continue with the financially unviable run.  The newsagent feels helpless in the face of […]

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I was talking with a distribution newsagent yesterday who said the problem of overweight newspapers was fading.  He reminded me of a blog post I published in November 2006 about a study into OH&S issues surrouning heavy newspapers.  The Nery Report, named after its author, David Nery, raised a range of concerns about the weight […]

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VANA (an association representing Victorian newsagents) sent out the following correspondence from News Ltd yesterday in relation to the speculation this week about free newspapers.  It is in the form of a letter to Peter Cowley, VANA CEO.
Dear Peter,
Thank you for sharing the concerns of VANA members about the recent online article “Could News Ltd […]

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Crikey.com runs the story today asking whether News Ltd is considering a free newspaper model.  While I don’t know whether this is under serious consideration within News, I do understand that they considering many changes as they assess their newspaper distribution model.

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News Ltd is surveying newsagents, in some states at least, on home delivery costs including distance covered in delivering newspapers, time spent delivering newspapers, time spent wrapping newspapers, number of vehicles used and a bunch of other data about home delivery. This data has been gathered many times over recent years by newspaper publishers […]

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is developing Kindle 3, a larger (A4) screen version of the popular Kindle reader.  This would appeal to newspaper publishers looking for ways to move beyond paper as a platform.  The talk is that the Kindle 3 will be released before the end of the year.
Newspapers like the […]

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News and Fairfax are said to being close to putting new distribution contracts to newsagents for their consideration. The current contracts were negotiated in 1999 as part of the process of deregulation of newspaper and magazine distribution in Australia.
While newsagents and those who represent them will focus on the terms of the proposed contracts, […]

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Robbie McGregor has delivered newspapers to homes on the same route in Pakenham for fifty years.  He is featured in Century of Faces, a 44 page special report in a recent edition of the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette to commemorate the centenary of this wonderful local newspaper.
Robbie has worked for seven owners of Pakenham Newsagency - one […]

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Thanks to the efforts on the QNF, the ACCC has announced that it proposes to grant authorisation to collective bargaining arrangements designed to give newsagents a greater voice in the terms and conditions we receive from publishers and distributors of newspapers and magazines. The ACCC announcement quotes ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel:
“The ACCC accepts that newsagents […]

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The Hearst Corporation has announced that the last edition of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be published today (Tuesday) US time.  Read how the newspaper is covering the closure of its print edition here.  They are maintaining the online brand - the closure is of the print edition only.  Seattle is another major US city to […]

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I understand that newspaper publishers want to educate university students to read newspapers.  They also want to drive circulation.  $20 for a year’s subscription for a university student - including home delivery on weekends - is an amazing deal.  These offers are from publishers who refuse small business newsagents even the smallest cost of living […]

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MediaNews Group in the US is planning on releasing a print at home personalised newspaper offer according to a report yesterday at PaidContent.  Apparently, the company plans to sell or rent special printers with which customers would print personalised copies of the newspaper.  The project focuses on cutting the most expensive costs from the current […]

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The newspaper home delivery model in Australia is in crisis as more newsagents hand back home delivery runs to the publishers.  Crisis is not my word, it is what some publisher insiders call it along with many newsagents.
While publishers are responding by increasing internal services for managing these handed back home delivery rounds in-house, there […]

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I received an email over the weekend from Jennifer Round of Gerroa Newsagency, Post Office and General Store – a coastal town located around 90 minutes from Sydney. The local council says it will fine them $10,000 every time there is a complaint about the noise associated with wrapping newspapers early in the morning.  […]

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Robyn Ritchie from newsXpress Whittlesea this morning delivered the newspapers for the first time.  Their regular driver has relocated following the loss of his home in the bushfires.  Robyn and one of her girlfriends hit the road early and tried their hand at the whole newspaper throwing thing.  She said the only complaint they are […]

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This is a story you will not read in your newspaper.  It is about how some newpspaper publishers treat small family businesses.
Years ago, when a publisher ran a home delivery deal, they would pay newsagents what the margin would if the paper was sold at full price. As I wrote here last year, I […]

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Nicholas Carlson writing at Silicon Alley Insider asks whether the New York Times would be better off giving all subscribers an Amazon Kindle to receive the newspaper electronically rather than a print edition.  Fast Company picked up the story and summarised the numbers:
And then there’s the math: From the NYT’s financial report, production costs in […]

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I’m told that there is a post-it ad stuck on the front cover of the Illawarra Mercury today promoting a home delivery offer. Pay $4.00 a week for six days of the newspaper. The usual price for six days is $7.50 plus a delivery fee. On top of the massive discount, which […]

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While on the Gold Coast yesterday, I saw the coupon being used in the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper to attract consumers to the half-price offer. Prominent in their pitch is a drive for subscription sales. Given the retail only status of some newsagents involved in the campaign, this ultimate goal of taking sales […]

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