Unity between the ANF and state associations is on show in Melbourne at the ANF Conference this week. While I could only attend for half of Monday and the welcome function on Sunday evening, a shared purpose was evident not only among representatives of the associations but also newsagents and suppliers.
The level of cooperation is a far cry from the divisiveness of years gone by.
It will be exciting to see what is achieved by working together for the good of the newsagency channel.
The conference itself was smaller than in the past, completely appropriate for the times. The program was practical with excellent learning opportunities for newsagents and suppliers. Importantly, there was no waste of newsagent and newsagent supplier funds as happened years ago.
I think its great that there is some unity coming into the representitive groups.
when there is real evidence that they are getting things done, then i will join.
but at the moment i dont see any real practical changes they have made to our industry. sure they raise money and run an office, but im still getting up early to do a loss making delivery run, then spending hours processing oversupplied magazine returns.
Agreed Peter and I have been a knocker of the ANF in the past however I see this as a positive step by them. I think credit should be given when it is due.
I can understand Peter’s comments fully, however I did not think that unity was possible until I think I read about it regarding the formation of IPS.
Although its early days, their were breakthroughs in the IPS model and I do not think they would of been achieved without the unity.
If the problems Peter mentioned are ever to be addressed to produce a fair distribution model, this unity is one’s only hope. I am sure hope this unity is developing processes to achieve this and be open and communicative about it. It does appear with no disrespect to anybody that this unity has a great passion for Newsagents to be treated fairly. This will unfourtunately take longer than we all want but I am positive it will happen. IPS have cracked the mould and once their portfolio increases it will make things interesting.