We are promoting the latest issue of Good Health magazine with this feature aisle end display.
We have the title in a double half waterfall in the regular location. January is the perfect month for promoting health titles – following the traditional Christmas binge.
While not in our top three health related women’s health titles we are still supporting Good Health to try and achieve traction with our customers.
It’s good to see a report by Ryan Chitturn of the Columbia Journalism Review that New York Times’ digital revenue exceeded editorial costs. If this trend continues, the newspaper could possibly continue without a print edition.
It would be iterating to see digital revenue and editorial costs compared for Fairfax and News here in Australia.
Clay Shirky has published an insightful and challenging piece on newspapers and paywalls. I urge everyone to read this for it is most relevant to discussions in Australia right now about the future of newspapers.
I feel for Queensland newsagents who have paid out more in Golden Casket prizes this week than they have taken from sales. With a higher payout requirement now, some are considerably out of pocket in terms of cash flow.
The challenge is will Golden Casket support these newsagents when they struggle to pay other suppliers. For example, if this is a magazine account payment week and a newsagent is $10,000 down in cash payouts over Golden Casket takings, will GC go into bat on behalf of the newsagent with Gotch and Network? … not that the Gotch or Network accounts people would care.
My newsagency software company last month announced details of a national newsagent user meeting tour to kick off on February 2, in Perth. Any newsagent is welcome to attend. The agenda includes a business discussion as well as information on how to make the most from our industry standard newsagency software which has been selected by more than 1,750 newsagents. Click here for details.
Newsagents questioning their businesses and their future especially should come along. Prepare to be challenged about building stronger and more valuable newsagencies.
We have been promoting the latest issue of MOJO magazine. This is a bit of a selfish move on my part – I am a fan of The Who, the featured group this issue. Personal taste aside, MOJO is a title which sells according to local interest in the featured group or artist – hence the value of time in the sunshine.
It’s good to see News Limited now supporting newsagents in the move by the SA government to facilitate SA Lotteries promoting online purchase of lottery products. As I noted late last year, this move by SA Lotteries is unnecessary and a further hit to newsagents.
Gordon & Gotch has doubled our supply of Your Trading Edge magazine despite us never selling out. Indeed, a check of sales history – click on the image for detail – does not support any move from four copies per issue. I have looked through the magazine and can’t see any excuse for us now being supplied eight copies. The most copies we have sold is four, our average is barely three. So, why eight copies?
I’d be interested in hearing from other newsagents about their supply of Your Trading Edge magazine. Is this a network-wide oversupply or selective?
Publishers who complain about early returns need to look at this story for it is this behaviour which causes newsagents to look at striking back against a system which hurts and disrespects them.
More NSW newsagents have complained over the last few days about being supplied insufficient quantities of the Daily Telegraph. Newsagents who have used the News Ltd processes to increase supply have usually found that the request is ignored.
One newsagent I spoke with yesterday explained that they were due to not even be able to service all home delivery customers based on supply cutback. When they finally got through to a News representative they were told that the matter would need to wait until their area manager returns from holidays next week. I found someone in a different area of News who was able to follow up – they resolved the situation and ensured additional stock.
While I am grateful that News was able to ultimately resolve the situation yesterday, it is frustrating that the newsagent was unable to achieve resolution through their contacts and that was only when I asked questions that progress was made.
The question I posed last week remains – is News killing newspaper sales? While I don’t think so, newsagents with insufficient supplied to meet even basic requirements would answer yes to that.
We are promoting the latest issue of Prevention magazine, out yesterday, with tactical placement with newspapers. I figured that the free two week total body turnaround would be popular with women this side of Christmas / New Year celebrations. We have it here next to newspapers as well as the usual location for Prevention.
Port Macquarie News reports on a second newsagency closure in two weeks
For the second time in a fortnight a Port Macquarie newsagency has closed its doors.
Westport Newsagency, which moved to the Grower’s Market shopping complex recently, has shut its doors.
Port News management received notification of the owners’ intentions on Monday night.
Owners Scott and Gale Oxenford cited “ongoing family health problems” as the reason behind the closure.
“There are issues we need to work through – just the same as we tried to help our readers affected when Lighthouse Beach Newsagency shut last month,” Port News general manager Janine Buesnel said.
“The Port News will be available from newsagents in the CBD and also from our offices in Milton Circuit.”
More and more Back to School business is being won by overseas owned businesses. This sees more profits shipped out of Australia, to overseas shareholders.
Schools which care about jobs for their students when they leave will award business to and encourage business for Australian owned businesses, like the local newsagency. This is a pitch I’d like to see newsagents make to schools in their area … support us and we support your kids and their families with jobs.
This is a campaign newsagents could run … demonstrating the importance of purchasing stationery from businesses which employ locally and from which profits are kept locally.
If we don’t make a stand on this more and more Back to School business will be shifted overseas and more local jobs will be lost.
For their part, newsagents need to look at the source of stationery they sell. It could be that a made in Australia education campaign fits with our needs and the interests of a school – not only around the issue of local jobs but also in terms of carbon footprint.
As Staples asserts more control over what we used to Know as Corporate Express we will see more pressure in the Back to School space. Newsagents urgently need a strategy to combat them and other overseas businesses pursuing business from schools and students.
Checking our sales of the last two issues of New Idea and comparing it with other weeklies I’d say that the decision to publish an issue which was on sale for two weeks paid off. Our sales across the two weeks were on target. This could be because we’re in a shopping centre and therefore see people this time of the year who are not regulars.
I figured it’s worth noting – for others to comment on their experiences and to record that here is an example of a bumper edition by a publisher which did work.
Newspaper publishers could learn something about delivering value for bumper editions from Pacific Magazines.
If the Occupy movement really wants to make progress on economic inequality and social injustice then they should move out of Wall Street, and its equivalent, and engage locally. Shopping locally owned businesses, like your local newsagency, green grocer, butcher, baker and chemist will deliver more of a message here in Australia especially … where Coles and Woolworths control somewhere between 55% and 75% of grocery relates sales. Watch this video from the Hungry Beast team.
Newsagents should seize every opportunity possible to propose a shop local message.
Happy New Year newsagents. New national OH&S regulations come into effect from today. They impose on newsagents, and indeed all businesses, tough requirements which will be time consuming and present to us considerable risks for lack of compliance.
Thanks to the assistance of the ANF, here is what you need to know. This is a summary of information provided by the ANF to newsagents already:
Newsagents need to be aware that new model Work Health & Safety (WHS) laws commence on the 1st of January 2012 in most States and Territories. (Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are still to confirm exact dates) Under these new model laws all newsagents have a positive obligation to undertake due diligence to ensure that their organisations are compliant.
The introduction of a new concept of “Person Conducting the Business or Undertaking” (PCBU), and the expansion of the definition of “worker”, has together greatly increased traditional employer obligations.
Employers (now PCBU’s) must ensure that, so far as is “reasonably practicable”, their workers are not exposed to health & safety risks.
The concept of “reasonably practicable” requires each employer to effectively implement a formalised risk management program, through which it identifies workplace hazards, assesses them and takes action to either eliminate or control them. Newsagents are required to have a goodworking knowledge of WHS matters and how they apply in practice to their organisation.
Newsagents are also required to ensure that their organisations have appropriate resources and processes in place to manage WHS and, critically, to verify that these processes actually work in practice. This requires a system that provides both transparency and visibility.
It only takes one worker (it could even be a work experience student), to request that a Health & Safety Representative (HSR) be appointed and an organisation must comply with this request.
HSR’s have expanded powers and can issue directions to cease work, which must be complied with.
The new laws come with significant fines and penalties of up to $3 million per breach for a corporation, and$600,000 perbreach for Newsagents.
Newsagents (and potentially, workers) face prison terms of up to 5 years.
If Newsagents fail to discharge their duty, they can be prosecuted, even if the PCBU is not prosecuted, or the PCBU is found not guilty.In some jurisdictions (including New South Wales and Queensland) criminal proceedings arising from WHS events are being moved from the Industrial Courts to the mainstream court system, where prison terms are handed down on a daily basis. This means that prison sentences for Newsagents are more likely to be applied.
The simple message is that newsagents should act NOW to ensure compliance and avoid fines and penalties.
The following is a summary of the key changes due to commence on the 1st of January 2012.
Move Away From Employer Definition:
From 1 January 2012, the primary duty of care for workplace safetywill sit, not with the employer but rather, with the “Person Conducting the Business or Undertaking” (PCBU). A PCBU may be a corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, a self-employed person, or a sole trader.Expansion of Duty of Care:
The PCBU concept is much broader than the employer definition it replaces. In simple terms, the introduction of the PCBU definition is designed to break down barriers of responsibility so that there can be more than oneparty primarily responsible for the health and safety of workers.Expanded Definition of Worker:
The definition of “worker” has also been expanded to include contractors, subcontractors (or their employees), employees of a labour hire company, volunteers and work experience students, to name but a few. This expanded definition is designed to better reflect the nature of the modern workplace and the types of relationships that now exist within it.Expanded Obligation to Consult:
The obligation to consult has been significantly expanded to include a requirement for each PCBU to consult downstream, upstream and cross-stream, depending on the nature of the workplace and the other PCBUs it interacts with.Additional Powers for Representatives:
The role of the Health and Safety Representative (HSR) has been expanded to include the power to stop work or demand remedial action. From 1 January 2012, it will only take one worker to request the appointment of an HSR and an employer must do so.Officers Required to Exercise Due Diligence:
Officers (adopting the broad Corporations Act definition of an “Officer”), are required to exercise ongoing ‘due diligence’ to ensure that a PCBU meets its WHS obligations. The definition of due diligence requires each and every officer to take positive steps to inform themselves of their organisation’s workplace safety obligations and to ensure that they have adequate systems and procedures in place to comply with these obligations.New Model Codes of Practice:
In conjunction with the introduction of the Model Law, new Model Codes of Practice have been developed. These provide guidance as to how to comply with certain aspects of the new legislation. Courts can reference the Codes to identify what is “reasonably practicable”.Increased Penalties:
Maximum penalties have increased significantly.
- Up to $3 million per breach for a corporation.
- Up to $600,000 per breach, or 5 years’ imprisonment, or both, for a director or officer
- Up to $300,000 or 5 years’ imprisonment for a worker.
Change in Criminal Jurisdiction:
Whilst in the past directors often referred to the possibility of “going to jail” for workplace safety breaches, the reality was that in the Industrial Court system, offenders were rarely sentenced to a prison term. This may be about to change, with some States now passing jurisdiction for serious offences arising from WHS breaches to the criminal courts. Here, judges are used to imposing prison sentences on a daily basis.The ANF along with all State Newsagent Associations have recently been communicating with newsagents about this issue and have launched a newsagent specific Smart WH&S online workplace safety system to proactively assist newsagents manage this significant risk in their businesses. With changing obligations under WH&S harmonisation newsagents should not ignore this risk.
The ANF will be providing further communication about this issue to members to help them understand its significance. New additional costs associated with compliance hurt and the ANF has made representations about this issue during consultation. However, faced with requiring a solution for newsagents that is easy for them to use and that will proactively prompt them to remain compliant where a simple manual is unlikely to achieve this, an online solution has been deployed. It is a very comprehensive online system that is easy to use and that has been customised for newsagents.
The ANF would love this to be free to members, but this is unfortunately not possible. We have negotiated a dramatic discount for members of all Newsagent Associations with Smart OH&S who have developed the system. If you would like more information please contact your ANF or State Newsagent Association or you can download a flyer HERE.
