Calls for a ban on adult magazines from retail have been rejected by publishers. As a newsagent selling these titles, I’d note that our approach adult and retaled titles is quite different to supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol outlets. Newsagents are the professional magazine retailer in the retail mix. Adult titles are usually in a separate and monitored area of the shop whereas in petrol and convenience outlets adult titles are in a more public area for every shopper to see and browse.
It is rare that you see the titles mentioned is media reports, Playboy, Penthouse, People, The Picture, Zoo and Ralph, in a high traffic area in a newsagency for all to see. The experience in convenience stores and petrol outlets is completely different.
Newsagents and their employees watch the magazine department for inappropriate behaviour including theft, opening magazines with free gifts and reading adult material. Children in the adult magazine section of a newsagency are far more likely to be watched and moved-on than in other retail outlets selling the titles.
Those calling for nanny-state type restrictions ought to research the difference between magazine retailers before they call for yet more regulation which restricts our freedom.
Thankfully it won’t happen. Christian lobby groups have nagged about the same thing for years. Besides, this group of concerned mothers is complaining about something that was more widespread and more common to get (and more in demand) back in the 1970s and 80s. Thankfully for this channel the news reports I heard only mentioned convenience stores and petrol stations. From what I’ve seen the only ones that break regulation and are really inappropriate are in rural roadhouses, etc where I’ve seen unwrapped, uncovered 18+ mags sitting on a rack next to the cashier in extreme clear view.
Dare i say, and just to give this thread a political spin, it is only when we have Labour governments in power does the populace suffer impositions from minority groups and restrictions on freedom of choice.
They beleive they have the answer for everything, and they are willing to always experiment with the freedom of the populace, and in doing so imposing their leftist agenda. I say, we are already controlled to the max.
Let society evolve without fear of taking a wrong turn, otherwise we will only stifle human progress and initiative.
This Adult magazine issue is only one of many examples.
Chris
Nonsense Chris. Nanny-state proponents are our pushing their opinions regardless of who is in power.
Chris,
Political parties aside, the push comes from traditionally “right-wing” sections of society. As Squee! said – “Christian lobby groups have nagged about the same thing for years”
Off topic – sorry.
Advice please.
Customer comes in, picks up Womans day – photocopies crossword – replaces magazine and goes to counter.
Do I charge her $4 for the photocopy?
Yes!
Brett, charge her for the photocopy and then destory it due to copyright laws
GEEZ!
A hide thicker than a rhino.
Geez Brett i thought i had some tight customers!!!!
Appalling behavior. Don’t let the bastards grind you down Brett.
The staff told me about this one after lunch and I thought they were winding me up. Reviewed it all on security cam – gobsmacked is the word I am stuck with, I know its tight out there but gees! She is obviously a regular at this as she wrote down all the answers from last week from the other games on the page as well!
I will intercept her next time I think, and point out that this is illegal and that it cannot occur in this store. I am sure we can work out a way for her to get a crossword fix some other way.
Off topic as well but continuing with the theme…..when we had the $1 greeting cards (with no verse) a customer would purchase one of these with the picture siuting the situation they required and then move to the main greeting card section and copy a nice verse from one of those cards. My wife told the customer that it too was a breach of copyright!
Brett, sounds like a customer thats worth losing. Just let her know if this occurs again of her (lack of) rights to do such a thing. Compare it to shoplifting and I’m sure she will either leave and not come back again (if shes been a tightarse who cares) or have a whinge and just by the mag.
@ Brett
You’re a better man than I, Gunga Din.
Working out a way for her to get her xword fix???
Rewarding that behaviour would be the last thing on my agenda. We can take a certain amount of customer foibles, but this really is off.
Y&G,
No bother – I am aiming to score a regular out of this one – call it a project.
Ha Ha Cool 😎
Let us know how the project progresses 🙂