I am surprised by the things newsagents worry about sometimes. Take the recent Fairfax announcement. I have been called by several newsagents who are concerned and want something done about the changes in remuneration by Fairfax. They say the changes are good today but may not be so good over time depending on cover price changes. One wanted to know what I was going to do about it.
Okay so there could possibly be some concerns about the changes. But I don’t think so, not at a level that would concern me.
The bigger question is what are you doing about the parts of your newsagency over which you can exert control? Are you worrying more about what you can’t control and less about what you can? Is your performance with what you can control better than the performance of the parts of your business you can’t control?
I am concerned that newsagents spend their time on things outside their control to the detriment of other parts of their businesses. This concern has its foundations in the performance data I see for many newsagencies. Departments like stationery, confectionery, copying and gifts are a good indicator of whether the newsagent is a good retailers and positively influencing key and valuable parts of their business over which they have complete control.