Further to my post at the weekend, more newsagents are finding their voice on the move by News Ltd to take margin from newsagents. News Ltd, for its own purposes, is running a marketing campaign to promote home delivery of the Sunday Telegraph. Without consultation with newsagents, News is expecting them to partner in absorbing costs association with the special deal. This means newsagents with home delivery customers paying full price now lose the delivery fee – making less for the same service. Other newsagents with regular over the counter customers are seeing them converted into far less profitable home delivery customers.
At least one group of newsagents is investigating whether there is a complaint which could be made to the ACCC because of what they claim is unilateral action by News Ltd which is detrimental to their businesses. Given that this is a NSW specific issue, I suspect they will consider their options in the Industrial Court, a forum which newsagents have used previously.
I guess this means their online readership isn’t all that’s it was cracked up to be ????
Cheers,
Phil