While in the Federal Government owned Australia Post retail outlet yesterday I saw first hand how Australia Post is abusing the Act under which they operate, the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989. I was there to conduct postal business which I can only conduct at Australia Post. The queue was long with nine people in front of me and four at the counter being served. Of these four, one was getting help on a shredder they purchased from Australia Post, another was asking for help with choosing a printer, another was trying to sort out which ink cartridge to buy and the fourth was buying greeting cards. Here is what the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 says about the provision of these “incidental” services:

16 Functions—incidental businesses and activities

(1) The functions of Australia Post include the carrying on, within or
outside Australia, of any business or activity that is incidental to:

(a) the supplying of postal services under section 14; or

(b) the carrying on of any business or activity under section 15.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the functions of Australia Post
include the carrying on, within or outside Australia, of any
business or activity that is capable of being conveniently carried
on:

(a) by the use of resources that are not immediately required in
carrying out Australia Post’s principal or subsidiary function;

or

(b) in the course of:

(i) supplying postal services under section 14; or

(ii) carrying on any business or activity under section 15.

Including the four at the counter, there were thirteen customers in front of me. Only one was there to conduct postal service business from what I could see. This makes a mockery of the Act. Australia Post and the Government, its sole shareholder, are Abusing the Act to take business from newsagents.

Federal Parliament passed the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 behind which Australia Post hides so it is up to Parliament to decide if they want the economic harm being wreaked on small businesses like newsagents by Australia Post to continue.

The Government has demonstrated disinterest through several ministers. Only the Greens through Senator Bob Brown and the Democrats through Senator Andrew Murray have demonstrated concern for how much Australia Post is encroaching on the business of newsagents.

The Act is where this problem begins and ends and only parliamentarians can solve that. Whether they do or not will be a test of their interest in small business.

The professionally printed sign on display at the Federal Government owned Australia Post store was an invitation I could not refuse:

Mobile phones freeze our computers. Please switch off.

After waiting in line for ten minutes the temptation was too much so I called someone on my mobile. It didn’t seem to freeze their computers. Mobile phones do not freeze computers in my newsagency or any other newsagency I know of.

There are many Asian newsagents now in Australia yet my software company is the only newsagent supplier I know of with consistent Cantonese and Mandarin assistance. Such language support is crucial from more industry suppliers and associations if we are to help Asian newsagents better assimilate and carry on the traditions of newsagents in their communities.

I’ve always considered personal expression something best done by a greeting card. Okay, I’m outside the text mad demographic which our phone companies but, but I thought that for sending a birthday, congratulations or sympathy message a greeting card was the most appropriate medium. You can’t display a mobile phone or a computer screen on your mantelpiece after all.

I guess it is my ignorance which leads me to be surprised at how structured the online greetings business is. I have known about e-cards and the like for years but to find established greeting card companies so dominant in the text space is a surprise. Take American Greetings – they have a comprehensive mobile offering through their AG Interactive subsidiary. Their bold pitch is:

The international leader in personal expression content and solutions for the digital arena.

They cleverly attract the 18-24 demographic through a ring-tones business.

This is on my mind today because of data I have seen which underscores the importance of greeting cards to an average newsagency. It shows that more than half greeting card purchases in newsagencies are planned. That is, these consumers visit a newsagency with the purpose of purchasing a greeting card. Often, they purchase multiple.

If (when) consumers transition to communicating sentiments electronically as opposed to by greeting card then a pillar of a traditional newsagency suffers. Given the cross category dependence of newsagencies the impact on many would be significant. To slow such impact Australian newsagents and their greeting card suppliers ought to regularly invest in advertising to remind people about the pleasure sending and receiving greeting cards brings. Otherwise the success of the category will fade with the age of the population. While newsagents will consider this the such investment an obligation of their suppliers, they are wrong. Newsagents need to be financial stakeholders in any profile building campaign.

To help newsagents evaluate an alternative to POS Solutions’ DOS and Browser software, we are hosting comprehensive briefing sessions in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. We will have representatives from our development, support, customer service and sales teams on hand to answer all questions and outline a roadmap for newsagents wanting to tap into the Tower Systems experience for their newsagency.

We are running the session in response to requests from many POS Solutions users and with the encouragement of the many who have switched in the last year – some of whom will attend to answer questions.

We have three dates booked:

Melbourne. Tuesday, October 3. 11 am.

Brisbane. Wednesday, October 4. 11 am.

Sydney. Thursday, October 5. 11 am.

Propsective attendees can book by faxing their details to 03 9524 8099 or emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.

There are plenty of eBay billboards appearing around Melbourne (and other cities I suspect). I photographed this one on the busy corner of Warrigal and Waverley Roads. Time was I used to think of eBay as the place for ticket scalpers and garage sales product vendors. Now they are pitching aggressively for the vehicle space with this eBay Motors campaign.

This campaign significantly broadens the eBay appeal. I suspect it is their move to extend turf prior to the arrival of Trade Me in Australia.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation has decided to switch to Woolworths for retail distribution of their Pink Ribbon Magazine. Newsagents have happily handled the awareness and fund raising title for years. The switch to Woolworths is unfortunate is it reinforces the might of this impersonal profit focused retail giant. It also suggests a fading relevance of newsagents as the magazine specialists in the minds of all those involved in the decision and, it disrespects the work newsagents have done for breast cancer fund raising over many years.

There is not a week goes by that newsagents are not offering a badge, ribbon or other small gift in return for a charity donation. Their efforts for the Pink Ribbon program, through greeting cards, branded stationery and the magazine has raised plenty of money. Along the way newsagents have raised awareness because of their personal engagement with customers. This won’t happen at a supermarket checkout. The Breast Cancer Foundation has done their image a disservice by shunning the community newsagency. I suspect that supermarkets want the Pink Ribbon Magazine because it buys much needed social responsibility kudos.

More and more newsagents are using eBay to find new customers for stationery and circulation product. It is only in the last few days that I have become aware of at least fifteen newsagents using eBay to successfully move stock for better margin than in their retail stores. We have been doing this through our Inkfast online ink and toner business which we have advertised through Google, Yahoo and BidSmart over the last year. Now, connecting with the ‘eBay newsagents’, we are comparing notes on the costs of acquiring these online customers. It’s a fascinating new development. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, only a fraction of the channel will ever play online.

With PowerBall not going off last night and now worth $12 million next Thursday and OzLotto jackpotting to $6 million next Tuesday the sales dynamic in newsagencies will be altered for a few days. While it’s hard to plan for these things we have to find a way to tap into the extra traffic with appropriate add on sales while ensuring that existing would be magazine customers, especially, do not give up their magazine dollars for a lottery ticket.

In an average week, all games combined, no more than $10 million is in play. Already this week, including the Saturday superdraw of $22 million, $40 million is in play. That must affect the sales for other products.

As a result of the theft of a newspaper insert discovered a couple of weeks ago we realigned our newspaper stand to create a better view for our counter team. The stand was pivoted 45 degrees from that shown in the photo – more front on as people enter the shop. The result is a measurable increase in sales of the Trading Post.

This sales kick for the Trading Post from such a small move reminded me of the challenges of retail and newsagencies in particular. We have so many items and only limited space to get in front of people. Newsagencies are bright thanks to the colour of magazines, greeting cards and lottery posters. There is a ton of ‘noise’ in store. We cannot move everything we want to promote in the way we have the newspaper stand.

I wonder whether newsagencies are too ‘noisy’. For example, would a visually calmer shop sell more compared to the traditional ‘noisy’ shop? Are we, newsagents, hurting ourselves by bold lottery, newspaper and magazine displays at the front of the shop? Is this the reason stationery sales in newsagencies are down? Are our shops too full of promotional displays, posters, dump bins, signs, magazine posters etc. for them to be effective?

Suppliers want to get into newsagencies to tap into our traffic. Tapping into our traffic means making major noise. Customers can only give so much attention so each new display takes a slice of a finite pie.

Maybe it is time to start with a fresh canvas. Some already have in the magazine space, mag nation, for one, is a model many are watching and talking about.

My recent experience with the Trading Post suggests it is time to redraw the layout and display strategy for my shop.

I continue to be amazed at the feedback I receive from visitors to this blog, especially those contemplating buying a newsagency. While the industry, through associations and suppliers, provides access to data, it is challenging for prospective purchasers to play in a newsagency to see if it is for them. To this end ,we have decided to make our newsagency in Victoria available, within reason, for behind the counter and back room experience. The first step is a walk through the business after hours to explain aspects of its operation common to all newsagencies. We are not doing this to sell you anything. The idea came out of a suggestion put to me by a reader here – a request for time behind the scenes in a newsagency to see if it is the type of business they would be comfortable owning. If you are considering buying a newsagency and the walk through is of interest please email me at mark@towersystems.com.au.

The software on offer from POS Solutions, a competitor of my company, does not currently comply with magazine distributor standards. It has not complied for around three years. POS will be able to provide proof of their compliance in writing from the distributors once they have achieved this. Ask for this proof.

Software from my company is compliant and Computerlink has been since the beginning of IT standards for newsagents. It frustrates me that there is silence by so many – suppliers, newsagents and newsagent associations about the failure of POS Solutions to deliver compliant software.

Compliant software saves newsagents time and money. Non compliant software costs time and money. If industry suppliers cannot adhere to standards what hope is there for newsagents?

This silence by suppliers and associations has to end as it will be the only to pressure POS to deliver compliant DOS and Windows software. I sad DOS because most of their users still run DOS and there is no technical reason for them to hold back providing compliance on their DOS platform and therefore save newsagents the $15K+ it costs to migrate.

While POS will complain to their lawyers about this they would be better off spending the money necessary to provide compliant DOS and Windows software.

The Federal Government refuses to consider that Australia Post has an unfair advantage over independent small retailers like newsagents in the stationery space. The unfair advantage was no more evident than on last night’s ABC-TV Evening News in Brisbane. There was a story about their Driving Through the Years stamps. Australia Post is able to get national TV coverage for their stamp launch and a free kick for their retail outlets which sell the special edition stamps.

I’d have to front nude day or some other stunt in my newsagency to get similar TV coverage.

The 865 Government owned Australia Post shops have given over more than 80% of their floor space to non postage product, yet they are able to get their brand on national TV free of charge because the government protects them through their stamp and postal service monopoly.

Wake up people! Australia Post is hurting independently owned small businesses like newsagencies. They use the brand I as a taxpayer helped them achieve to now compete with me. They can sustain losses in stationery because of their stamp business. I don’t have that luxury. Their actions will cause some of these small businesses to close. The losses incurred will be blood on the hands of Mr Horward, Ms Coonan and their colleagues. They have been told about the aggression of Australia Post yet the ignore the facts.

Mr Beasley and the Opposoition could do well to focus some of their attention on this. Small business is a big consitiuency and the government, through its Australia Post inaction, makes a mockery of its own Small Business ‘policy’.