A couple of times recently I have seen a table loaded with magazines priced at $2.00 each in front of shops that could pass for newsagencies.
The $2 magazines in each case were old issues of home & living, backyard, craft, car and other magazines. They were the sort of titles bagged with current issues.
Thinking about this I am curious about the supply. Do publishers dump unsold product? Publishers I have spoken to say no. Do newsagents dump stock removed from bundle?
Either way it’s not good for the channel to have discount tables like this, cheapening a core product for newsagents.
Is this type of discount table a trend – have others seen it?
I have seen it heaps of times . In the past i have seen full displays with old magazines on special . even the dvds that come with the magazines are for sale . There is nothing new there ….
Yesterday I went into a store selling the free magazine for $4, the DVD for $3 and the got a credit for the item they were supplied. $7 clear profit! They had two displays available, more than their full price display.
Are these stores Newsagencies? I know you said they may pass for one but do they have an account or are they sourcing the stock elsewhere? Are the magazines topped?
No.
Elsewhere.
Not topped.
I have never come across them. Dump mine in a secure bin.
i dump them in the industrial bin and schools get the added frrebies for there fetes etc
sometimes schools will get the old mags for arts and crafts
Nursing homes get old puzzle books and schools get the whatever the teacher may requestg from time to time.
With regard to the post I’m intrigued as to where the mags come from. Given they are not topped is there any chance they are being sold by the distributor or more likely, the publisher? If so I am guessing it’s their prerogative to do so. I’d be interested in how much they are being sold to these shops for.
I have seen this in many stores and at 1 under your banner.
I think if you checked contracts carefully you will find it actually breaches them.
I am amazed at just how many do it and they are not all small substandard stores there are some larger very busy stores that engage in it.
I wonder if it is only stock from double issues as some I have seen are big selling titles that I assume have missed returns.
Also could it be that publishers are selling firm sale so no choice but to mark down to move them?? I would love to know why..
Another theory is that they sell off certain titles cheaply rather than return them due to different incentives on increased sales and greater margin.
The Red Cross store in our centre does this with old mags that are obviously donated……not with much success though.
There is somewhere that sells old titles to places like hotels, doctor’s surgeries etc as I know of at least one accommodation place in town that has bought them and gets them posted to her. Think it was on the east coast somewhere. The mags were as you described, old issues of craft, gardening, lifestyle etc.
This blog has nothing to do with any banner Mary.
We had an interesting issue a few years ago now…we were told to dump our mastheaded papers and mags in the re-cycling shipping container at the local tip…The tip guy was adament that was were they have to go or we would be charged a fee, Later that same year we went to a village fair in a town about 50 kms down the road, There he was with a tressel table with his wife selling the full copies out of the bagged mags that I had dumped…..now I know that the huge general waste bins are changed over on a saturday morning, thats when I go to dump the mags now…right in the bottom
Its hard enough to sell current issues of magazines without trying to sell old issues from inside bundled bags.
To generate a profit you have to actually sell something and whilst these things might be out on shelves, I cannot for a minute imagine anyone paying for them.
I don,t think it is the publishers, the only dumping they do is to us ! A customer purchased a trailer boat mag today it was a bundle ,he brought it back because the bonus mag was a trader boat that was a few months old . Seriously I understand that they need to get rid of excess stock because of over printing but what on earth is someone going to do with a trader magazine that is not even valid anymore .so it goes in the bin that’s about all you can do,with it . This mag has taken up twice the realestate to make half the sale and to top it off someone (still has another newsagents sticker on it )else has paid to send it back in the first place . Why are these going back full copy returns anyway ? Dated mags should not go back full ever ……
I’ve seen this outside a nearby newsagent. $2 for what appear to be the extra mags out of bagged offerings mainly from EMG. This brings me to my question what do you return as tops when the barcode is on the bag and has no relation to the barcodes on the magazines inside. The bag? the magazine tops? or as I do the whole lot and let them sort it out.
I guess if the margin were there for Newsagents in the first place, such activity would not take place.
I am not sure of how G&G or Network work as far as income. Judging by recent emails from them they appear to also work on a commission based scenario, just like us newsagencies. This week i was offered a title at 35% sale or return or 50% firm sale. This would also explain how titles are “dumped.
Newsagents really need their own distributor.
Remove G&G and Network from the equation. We would then see REAL commissions, and be able to control quantities.
Hello. I am a regular magazine reader. I am wondering if newsagents are allowed to sell mags discounted that are not returned. I know of one that I bought a week old Woman’s Day Magazine for $2 (NEW not used) or Real Living for $3.50. Basically selected Mags this newsagent is selling 1/2 price and it has a stand out the front for customers to pick out and buy.