NANA President Andrew Packham contacted me tonight to advise that he had tonight received a call from Adam Lamb, Director, Circulation Operations, Fairfax Media to advise that they had considered the NANA / ANF proposal and considered it to be a fit.
The Guide will continue to be inserted into all copies of the Sun Herald by Fairfax Media and Newsagents will insert The Guide into The Sydney Morning Herald on Mondays for the customers who opt in and for the previously offered 15c fee.
This process will commence this weekend.
Click here to see a document from Fairfax outlining details.
Newsagents will receive faxed advice of the subscribers for next Monday in the morning. Details of the changes will be on the Connect website tonight.
Click here to link to the original thread with more than 180 comments on this topic.
Kudos to NANA and the ANF … and to Fairfax for listening.
A great victory for common sense!!!! I firmly believe that this could have been achieved as a solution without all the aggression and threats if Fairfax had consulted Newsagents in the first place!!
A compromise is all the better when it can shake both ends of the stick without breaking it.
Well done to all who made it happen 😉
Thank you ADAM and those at Fairfax for finally removing your heads from confined spaces and seeing reason that this was a cost and time prohibitive delivery.cheers to those at nana anf for your time and patience.
good result but what will they want us to insert next?
Common sense prevailed. Thank you Mark for providing such a good platform for all the newsagents to join this campaign. It’s a win-win solution for our industry. Thanks for all newsagents and association, and the Fairfax media who make enormous input on this issue.
A fair result. I beleive this blog had more to with the result than either association – who were unable to access the decision makers during the process. If the ‘associations’ are fair dinkum they will make submissions to the ACCC regarding Fairfax’s conduct in attempting to abuse it’s market power. How about doing a genuine survey of delivery agents and ask if they have been threatened or intimidated by a representative of Fairfax. How many agents have ‘current’ contracts with Fairfax and of those how many have been allowed to negotiate?
A great result, but why all the sudden does Fairfax do a back-flip?
Could it be that this BLOG actually has an effect on the decision making process at top-level Fairfax?
Could it be that the REAL possibility of a Fairfax product without a TV GUIDE competing against a Nationwide News product with a TV GUIDE was seen as a real possibility as a result of Newsagent back-lash?
It seems strange that a back-flip was done after all the promotion had gone into this product and neither the ANF or NANA had progressed anywhere in negotiations. In-fact it seemed Fairfax were simply telling these associations what to do.
So, perhaps this BLOG actually achieves the results Newsagents want?
As for 20YRS newsagents comments about intimidation and threats from Fairfax, i would suggest a quicker survey would be one that asks if anybody has NOT been threatened by a Fairfax representative…..I would think this would be a much smaller group to survey!
Hi Fellow Let-down Newsagents,
We will not be inserting the TV Guide in the Heralds on Monday! How can the ANF and NANA actually applaud themselves for their “positive outcome”. The reality is that this will still cost us money to insert, more than the 15c Fairfax are spruiking. We need to stand our ground and say that we will not be doing this full stop. Fairfax are hoping that we cave in as the Monday Herald will not create as much of an issue as the Sun Herald. The problem for us is that it still creates an issue which will cost us time and money. As we all know most people buy the Monday Herald for the TV Guide, unlike the Form on Friday. We must not give in now or else it has not been worth it at all!
Spot on Chris, bottom line is the assoc.’s need to stop discussing how we can provide Fairfax with their desired cost cutting – Fairfax approached McDonalds to sell papers, McDonalds said they were interested. Fairfax came to the table with the same deal we get 25% sale or return. McDonalds said too much work 50% and you go off our sales data. Fairfax said that’s not how we do it – McDonalds said that’s how you do it if you want papers sold in McDonalds. End of story. How about some McDonalds best practise from the association!
If anyone believes that Fairfax changed their minds because of the content of this BLOG I’m afraid that you have never dealt with big business. Like any business they probably made their initial decision, unfortunately based on some ill-informed/incomplete information at the time. Reading the various excerpts from the reports from ANF/NANA it would seem they perhaps did achieve this outcome based on the points that are outlined. Emotional outbursts, which were understandable in this case, probably had little impact. Credit – or in Mark’s word “kudos” – should be directed to the achievers in this event. Would it be fair to say that most of the non-supportive Association comments belong to non-Members. I was a knocker of the Associations but I see this as a big win for the Industry by ANF/NANA.
Harold, How can you make bold statements without any idea of each newsagents personal situation? I have been a member of both the ANF and NANA for several years but i am tempted to flick them both as they have not fought for Newsagents yet again. How is this a win for Newsagents when Fairfax will still be making cost cutting at the expense of Newsagents on Mondays?
Chris I looked at the issue from this basis
1 The alternative of having to do what was contractually obligatory in relation to the original directive was not pretty – everyone would agree on that; therefore the Sunday expenses will remain constant with current costs
2 I now have to deliver ½ dozen (down from 35) TV Guides on Monday, as I have transferred the previously requested TV Guides requested for Monday delivery to Sunday for those who receive the paper both days. This I believe would apply to a lot of Newsagents; there may be some exceptions but in general there will be a decrease on the Monday delivery numbers.
3 I agree that not every model will be the same for all, as you state, but I suspect this outcome is nowhere near as hurtful on the pocket as was originally contemplated
I think that Fairfax retreated for a combination of reasons including the alternative proposal put jointly by NANA and the ANF, the opinions of newsagents put directly to Fairfax and through this place as well as public coverage in other places of this issue referencing comments by newsagents made here.
As for the outcome, it is a reasonable compromise.
We need to understand that circulation is changing, dramatically. We will face more challenges than any other generation of newsagents has ever faced as a result of these technology and economic driven changes.
The challenge presented by Fairfax, to help them cut costs, is one we must force on all aspects of our own businesses, with urgency.
Your final paragraph is correct mark, that is why we will be terminating our fairfax distribution contract as soon as legally possible
Mark and Harold are spot on.
Associations have to operate within their constitution and legal confines.
Newsagents have long been the whipping boys but many have allowed themselves to follow the road downhill. If you do not like your association then get on the board and change it.
If you do not like your delivery run then turn it in. Both ways it is your decision so stop whineing and change what you are doing.
The associations appear to be finally getting their act together so maybe it is about time we all started to get behind them. There is after all, strength in numbers.
hey Chris
did you give NANA your cost figures so they can take it to Fairfax
I will be you did not.
Tell me how can the association get an increase from 15cents if we keep our costs in house
I don’t know about anyone else but i’m still getting stop/start info from fairfax for customers opting for mon delivery of the guide and all these customers get the paper 7 days. if their expecting us to deliver the guide to customers they’ve got their wires crossed. I won’t be and and i
also goes against fairfax’s whole aim from the start which was to cut costs.
Sorry about the grammar everyone, typing with your 2yr old on your lap doesn’t always work. 🙂
In 20 years in the industry, this is the first time that I can recall a publisher doing a backflip. The voice of many on this blog is the only thing that has changed in negotiations. The first time newsagents have been able to act collectively. Perhaps nana should take note. More changes can occur through this blog if we stand united and say change or else. Perhaps there is a future for us
nathan ar #18… typing with a 2 year old on your lap is how we newsagents spend any time with family…
Peter #20, being able to have the kids come to work and the enjoyment we and our customers get out of it unfortunatly would have to be on of the few positive things to come out of our industry for a long while. Hopefully the recent positive standpoint we as “newsagents” will continue and give our industry a much needed boost. 🙂
It’s a shame really….
While I’m glad the compromise suits some newsagents and it looks like both Associations worked well together on this issue – the fact remains that nothing has changed for me. I will still not be inserting any TV guides on Monday. As I have posted earlier on this blog – for me it boils down to an OH&S issue – adding any tasks that results in my drivers being delayed getting on the road leads directly to an unacceptable increase in OH&S risk that I am not prepared to take. Due to a large concentration of business Customers that we hold papers for over the weekend Monday is already the most challenging delivery day for my business – I will not add any additional task that increases the workload for my staff.
So Daniel
I take it that your OH&S priorities prevent you from delivering the paper when the publishers are late delivering or is the ‘unacceptable increase’ suddenly acceptable
I won’t be delivering the tv guide either.
Fairfax introduced this problem, they can fix it.
The first time I received anything from fairfax was after NANA/ANF got involved.
I found out about it via this blog and a customer.
It shows a complete lack of respect by Fairfax to not even bother telling us about it until the sh*t hit the fan.
An apology by fairfax that is really meant, might fix the problem
AFTER THE LAST WEEK IT IS EVIDENT THAT MANY NEWSAGENTS ARE UNHAPPY WITH NOT ONLY FAIRFAX BUT NEWS LTD AS WELL IN REGARD TO RETURN FOR DELIVERIES.WHAT OTHER INDUSTRY REQUIRES 2 TO 3 HOURS WORK SO YOU CAN MAKE A LOSS FOR AN OTHER PARTIES GAIN. PERHAPS WITH NEWS LTD CONTRACTS ROLLING OVER AT END OF JANUARY IT MAY BE TIME TO CONSIDER OUR DIRECTION AND MAYBE LET SOMEONE ELSE TRY TO EMPLOY WEAR OUT VEHICLES AND MAKE A PROFIT. IT IS QUITE CLEAR WITH FAIRFAX DOING A U TURN THEY DO NEED US SO IT IS UP TO EVERYONE TO LOBBY FOR A BETTER DEAL AS WE HAVE LOST SO MUCH OVER THE PAST YEARS SO WE CANNOT KEEP DELIVERING AT OUR EXPENSE FOR THEIR GAIN
For those that applaude the decision that was reached by Fairfax, have a long think about it…
We had the chance to say NO to the monday deliveries, unless our overall delivery conditions were improved.
We had Fairfax bent over and could have demanded more money for doing the job we currently do at a loss.
Now we have to do more work for them, for the same crappy money, and bowing to their future demands.
We aren’t doing the tv guide deliveries on monday either, the customers can actually come into the shop and pick it up themselves.
Who knows, while they are in the shop, they might actually buy something else…a magazine, lotto, a card, whatever.
It’s companies like Fairfax that deal directly with these customers. These customers never have to come into the store, and don’t realise what other products we have in our store.
Why should a customer go to Officeworks for stationery or the Servo or supermarket for a magazine, when they can get it all in the one store.
Fight for your livelyhood peoples!!!!
Has anyone out there changed from a retail and distribution agent to just a retail agent recently? How complicated was it for you? Any thoughts are welcome
just give them 3 months notice in writing.
Tell them the delivery is cost you too much money and is causing health problems
Chris , i hear a lot of complaints on here about agents that cannot get a good supply once handing there runs in from there distibuting agent ,so maybe this is one of the negative sides of handing the run in .
I sold by Forest Hill run around four years ago and never regretted it. The distribution agent who purchased the run was a breeze to work with, always ensuring we had plenty of stock every day as well as for promotions.
Chris the selling process was straightforward. Sure some customers took a while to understand but it was not too bad.
The move enabled us to focus on being retailers and the shop flourished as a result.
Mark , how did you work out the value of the run .
The buyer used a formula which I was happy with. bear in mind, I sold it just prior to the exodus from home delivery businesses.
Thanks Guys,
I am not expecting any return for the run. I am under the assumption I will just be handing them back to Fairfax and News Ltd as no-one would want to buy it!
The main reason for getting rid of it would be as Mark said to focus on my retail side as this would provide me with substantial benefits to the amount of time i spend on deliveries:
1) Better profit on retail sales compared to deliveries
2) better lifestyle, earliest alarm call would be 4am instead of 1am!
3) no stress over late papers etc etc
Its a pretty easy decision, its just unfortunate that I am only starting to ssee it now.
As if this whole saga wasn’t already a farce, Fairfax has today sent me a list of additional TV Guides to deliver to customers on a Monday. 50% already get the Guide with their Sunday paper, but the classic is that is that I am expected to deliver the Guide on Monday to 4 customers who don’t even get a Monday SMH?? One has a F/S/S subscription, so perhaps I’ll just deliver him a six day old Guide with Friday – that should give him value!! What a joke!!
BruceH, we too have quite a few customers who only get a Sunday SMH – but want the guide on a Monday. Conversely, we have just as many who get the SMH Mon – Sat, but want the guide on a Sunday.
As you say – farce.
We also received requests for customers who only receive Sunday SMH but want the Guide on a Monday – I’m ignoring these.
Anyone who gets SMH on a Sunday is getting the Guide on a Sunday, regardless of their nominated date.
This will result in only a small number (about 30) needing to be delivered on a Monday.
Chris, we sold our round 3 years ago and are retail only now. It was the best decision we ever made because now we are not beholden to the newspaper companies except on a sub basis. I don’t miss the threats and I don’t miss the phonecalls from people saying “I missed my paper today” and me going out and finding it in a bush about a foot away from the customer’s eyes. Rounds have finished and are now unsaleable and we just have to pick ourselves up and start again.
The companies are only using us up until the newspaper in its current form is null and void (I think about 10 years if we’re lucky)
We are moving from the horse to the car
and we horseriders are becoming extinct.
EXCITING TIMES AHEAD!
My shop is becoming more and more a gift,card, stationery, magazine
store (in that ascending order of importance)
I means ‘descending” not “ascending” in my previous email
did anyone else learn from experiences last week with the tv guide and change their supply for sunday this week?
i was left super short of tv guides and resorted to pulling the insert from both sunday herald and telegraph to have available for monday herald readers.
we are in a rural area where 90%+ monday customers do not come to town on sunday.
for today i had increased my supply and im currently headding and pulling the tv guide insert from the sun heralds so that i will have enough for tomorrow.
sure it will take time today, but we spent more time last week explaining to monday customers why there was no guide. and watching them walk out the door unhappy. hopefully over a few weeks i will be abkle to win them back.
Chris,
We handed back both our distribution contacts. One of the end of 2009 and the other early 2010. While we don’t regret the decision and would still do the same thing there can be some transition issues and ongoing supply problems.
Because no one took up our territory when we handed it back, one of the publishers cut our supply off completely for over a week. They would not let the newsagent in the neighbouring territory supply us for that time, claiming that they could not let a distributor supply outside their territory. They caved in the end when we made representation through newsXpress, called around other independant publishers that used this larger publisher to distribute and threatened them with the prospect taking the matter to the ACCC.
We are now supplied by the neighbouring newsagent. Unfortunatly we now have a huge under-supply problem. We run out of newspapers most days and despite repeated requests for increased supply (both direct to the newsagent and publishers) he refuses to increase supply. We have been more than reasonable in our requests but frankly this particular newsagent is just an asshole. We even have customers that travel from his suburb into ours just to get a paper because they refuse to go into his store and be greeted with a grunt. His nickname around town is Mr Grumpy.
If your in a metro area the situation will most likely be different in that if no one takes on the distribution the publisher is going to be more inclined to take it on themselves. We’re in a regional area so that was not something they were going to consider here.
“some transition issues and ongoing supply problems”
Sounds like an unmitigated disaster to me. A real lesson on why newsagents, particulary rural should be particularly careful in contemplating such a move.
What a terrible PR exercise. All I can think of is a pub with no beer.
We are losing SMH sales hand over fist since this mess started. The Sat customers are unhappy due to the price rise and not getting ALL the supplements, the monday customers are unhappy because they do not get a guide, and we cannot get an increase in Sunday heralds to have anything left over.
As a result we are selling 50% less SMH over the weekend/monday with only a few people swapping over to other titles, it may change once they get used to it but it does not help in the short term.
Was this fairfax plan to kill sales?
Still no advice regarding this whole issue from Fairfax.
No Guide are supplied to us on Mondays.
All of our putaside customers want their Guides, but we have none for them.
All of these customers get the SMH, but never the SH. It sucks for them.
We are small enough to not have any delivery subscriptions in our territory for Fairfax (thank god!!!). But it seems to me Fairfax have completely overlooked casual, and putaside buyers, thinking only of delivery ‘customers’ yet again.
Thank you all the comments. We are a semi-rural newsagency and that is why we are proceeding carefully. But rural newsagents especially are the ones looking at handing in their runs because it is not profitable travelling 90km every morning to deliver 300 papers. Thankfully we have a good relationship with all our neighbouring newsagents so the only factor is Fairfax and News Ltd which is the worry!
The culture of newsagents being the sellers of newspapers is dead Peter, it is slightly different to a pub with no beer. Our newspaper sales count for diddly squat nowdays. I think the term “unmitigated disaster” is a bit of scare-mongering on your behalf. You dont even know how the rest of Jarryds business is going since he gave deliveries the flick.
I have a feeling the main compaines will be involved in scare tactics from now on because they know that once word gets out that newsagents who give deliveries the flick “survive” the domino affect will be tragic for them.
Jarryd , surly you knew when you handed your run in that you would loose all rights to set your quantity for papers . ok so the runs may make you run at a loss but so does not having control over you supplys . I would hand my run in tomorow if i didn’t have to rely on someone else to set up what supplies i would be getting in papers ,especially when it is your competition as it would be in mycase . He is a nice bloke and all but at the end of the day i know he would prefer the customers to come into his shop than mine .
Everyone needs to make their own choices, but for my 2 cents worth
We sell about $2500 worth of papers at our shop ( not including deliveries, subs etc purely walk ins) so we are losing about $350 odd per week in lost profits based on 12.5%, BUT I do not get up at 1am each morning, I am not bothered about late deliveries and angry home delivery customersor subs that get bundles stolen and wanting them replaced. I get to focus on the retail side of things 100% not juggle the 2 sides retail/distribution.
We did take a profit hit when we closed all our customer accounts and some no longer came in to buy things when they paid their bills but we have more then made up for it since, we also do not have the massive costs of running cars, wrapping machines as well as drivers, all for the extra 12.5%. I cannot see newsagents that still make the bulk of their profits from newspaper sales, deliveries yes but sales?
Peter,
Our customers were very understanding in the whole process. Supprisingly few complaints on the whole. One of our major reasons for handing back our run was that we could not find delivery drivers. The large wages offered by mines for unskilled labour made it almost impossibe to find anyone. Even with the assistance of both publishers we failed to find an suitable drivers.
Business is great since we gave up the run. Obviously because no one took it over we had a large increase in instore sales. Our store layout leverages this well and allows us to passive upsell very easily.
I will note that we have a relatively young family demographic and this was obviously reflected in the lack of negative customer response. We discovered that in the end they were relatively ambivelant about home deliveries.
Shaun,
We knew we would loose the right to set supply quantities. However that does not give our supplier the right to purposly withhold supply.
Both publishers publicly state that they want agents to aim for 8% returns from subagents. For a distribution agent to undersupply us is not only in breach of contract but potentially, within my understanding of the legislation, illegal.
The stupid thing is that most of the customers missing out on newspapers are not going to travel across town to get one. They come into our store on the way home from school or work and will simply go without if they cant get one. We also open longer hours than the other newsagent so the option to purchase their newsapaper from him isn’t even available. We both loose out.
Luke – That is correct, you felt what you did in your business was correct. If I were in your shoes I know I would of done the same, including the closing of accounts.
Times have changed and so have people and distributors / suppliers.
Nice honest post.
When I closed my NDD account well before it surrendered. It was the right choice for my small business.
Apparently any newsagent north of grafton will not get the guide separately for monday customers. They expect that sales will transfer to the sunherald. However they dont realise that customers dont want the sunherald as it is printed in qld and contains more qld news than the sydney morning herald on monday. Another case of not listening to the newsagent or customer
Good to see Lismore is not the only ones getting missed Chris, we still have customers coming in waving the adverts in the SMH stating they can get the guide on monday and then hurling abuse at our staff when we explain the QLD connection ( like we are lying to them and keeping the guides to ourselves). Anyway on we go with a smile, we have a sign behind the counter that only the staff can see that lists the key attributes of SMH readers (its not overly flattering but still funny.)
Have just read the announcement on Fairfax Connect about the TV Guide now being moved back to Monday. Funny old world isn’t it!!