Mediaweek yesterday published a report about the impact of Australia Post price rises on magazine publishers and subscriptions fulfilled through Australia Post.
Publishers have been reacting angrily to notification from Australia Post this week about price increases which will affect the cost of filling subscriptions. One of Australia’s largest subscription fulfillment houses, D&D Mailing Services, has circulated a letter from director David Docherty it sent to Australia Post. One of D&D’s customers has subsequently forwarded it to Mediaweek. It reads in part:
This Increase is 3.9% for Parcels, 3.6% for PrintPost and a further increase to Line haul rates of 3.1% which ultimately increases PrintPost to a weighted average increase of 4.6% in most cases.
I received notice of these increases in my Sydney office from Australia Post dated 1 June 2009. The notice indicates that the increases are effective from Monday 6 July 2009 (1 months notice).
This increase is only 9 months from the last increase. Therefore the increase at this time (3 months earlier) means a further 33% increase to Australia Post profits and an unbudgeted and unplanned impost to customers as it hits one financial quarter earlier than previous years which effectively has an underlying annual increase of a further 1% increase than advised.
This is from the same Australia Post which aggressively targets small business newsagencies with its 865 government owned corporate stores.
The federal government needs to rein in this business it wholly owns.
In the meantime, newsagents ought to work closely with publishers on selling a new type of subscription – a customer pick up. Lock in the traffic and have an opportunity to sell a year of copies and get the money, albeit a smaller amount, up front. I know there are some challenges in this proposal, at least we ought to be at the table discussing them. The Australia Post price rise presents an opportunity to do this.
Mark,
How about promoting the Top 100 on a subscription basis via Ezipass system.
Publishers can also monitor them via our new XchangeIT link and we can do the putaways for the customers.
I actually like the system they use at Borders. They present 12 month subscriptions in plasic boxes about A6 in size showing the magazine cover. A fantastic gift.
I think I mentioned before I worked with a small distributor in Canada for a few years. We sold monthly/bimonthly/quarterly mags and comics. But not as returnables but as direct sales. That also meant that we as a wholesaler got a larger discount which was passed on. Now this is a way from general newsagents. But if you know that some mag’s you have are ‘standing orders’ then maybe a different disc structure could be created.
A bit off topic, but close enough I suppose.
We get a trading post – type paper that covers half the eastern seaboard.
Unfortunately, last week’s (off-sale today) arrived yesterday. The supply is posted to us.
In the few weeks we’ve been handling this publication, there has not been one week where the issue was not less than four days late. One was even past its off-sale date.
This week we don’t have it out at all, because what arrived yesterday expired today. God knows where this week’s issue is, but you can be sure I can’t display what I haven’t got!
I’ve fed this back to the publisher, but I suppose it’s their call as to whether to keep using such an inefficient and disinterested carrier.
If they want to be paying more (if charges have gone up for supply delivery as well) for such crap service, that’s their prerogative. But I’d be asking for a lot more if it were me in that position.
Y&G,
I think I get the same paper.
It arrives any day of the week that it feels like.
This is way off topic – I received some mags that were supposed to be dropped off at the local supermarket. They receive almost as much crap as I do. The ladies at the supermarket were laughing with me at the titles. I feel better now. We are not alone.