I have met with hundreds of newsagents in a trip around the country over the last three weeks and the most common topic raised is magazine oversupply. Newsagents complain loud and long, saying they are being ripped off because of too much underperforming stock. When I respond with practical suggestions on how to cut dead titles based on sales data from their shop many complain that they have nothing to put in the floor space they would save. Some even say that oversupplied magazines save them having to make a decision on new lines. That shocked me. While they don’t like the cash drain, they are happy to NOT have to make business decisions about the use of the reclaimed space. Sometimes I don’t understand newsagents.