Many of the street corners of Auckland have a newspaper vendor just like the one in the photo … located outside the Westfield Shopping Centre down by the harbor. They all look the same: well sign-posted, accessible, an easy way of buying a newspaper.
Passing so these newspaper stands reminded me that we have nothing like this (that I can think of at least) back in Australia.
They must work, otherwise why keep them there, the cost would be too great.
you would have to move over 100 papers an hour just to cover a wage …..
old mate looks to relaxed with his foot up to be rushed off his feet , how many people did you see buying the paper ?
The Big Issue Magazine is sold to a lot of success by vendors!
Also, I think that the vendors, like the one in this picture, could be on a wage (employed by the publication) or receiving a higher margin than we do.
In Ireland they still sell the evening paper (yes they still have evening papers over there) at major traffic intersections around Dublin. When the lights go Red the paper sellers walk up and down the traffic and then retreat back to the island in the middle of the road just before the lights go green.
They have been doing this for donkeys years.
Sarah
They are effectively self employed. They get paid so much per paper sold.
I live in Auckland and see these paper sellers all the time. It’s clear to me they are a promotional exercise rather than about making money as the individual sales people are rarely run off their feet serving customers – they maybe sell a dozen or so papers an hour.
Mind you, they ARE a cheap and effective promotion with most of the costs offset by sales.
They remind me of the old blokes who used to sell evening papers by the London Underground stations when I was a boy.