With no reasonable or fair mechanism through which to manage magazine supply, early returns are a must to manage space use, inventory investment and cash-flow. Today, I’ve done the first sweep for 2015, in plenty of time for the returns to be processed with this month’s data. In addition to taking of all stock for some titles that are not paying their way, I reduced supply for titles where supplies have been increased despite no requirement in past sales data. Homes+ is one such title.
At the end of it there is the usual feeling of wasted time, wasted paper, wasted space on the trucks. What a sick distribution system we have and how disadvantaged are newsagents compared to our competitors. Dumb.
The magazine (no names no packdrill) I have left untouched for 7 years surprised even me on Thursday.
For 7 years I have received one (1) of these magazines, I have never sold a copy. I have not tried to cancel it because the distributor proudly claims they send me the titles my sales record justifies.
7 years I have watched. For the last 2 years I have early returned it.
On Thursday – I got 2 copies
Mark, it seems the flaws in the magazine distribution system are caused by 2 of the 3 main distributors, namely Gotch and Bauer (Network) :
* Newsagents have no control over which titles and the number of copies Gotch and Bauer supply
* Newsagents are required to pay the cost of returning unsold copies of titles they neither requested nor agreed to have Gotch and Bauer supply
* Newsagent accounts with Gotch and Bauer are not marked as “non sales” for the unsold copies of unrequested titles. That is most unfair given that newsagents have to pay the cost of returning them
As well as the waste you mentioned, another result of the above flaws is the power they give Gotch and Bauer to trespass on a newsagent’s management of their cashflow.
Is it time for more publishers, especially small independent publishers, to migrate to IPS?
AFTC: maybe – if IPS adjusts their rules. Their current 3 month requirement is not working.
IPS are just as bad. One mag we sold 2 of one issue then received 12 next issue,plus they sent me calendars which I didn’t want, plus they send me mags I know will not sell but have to keep for 3 issues. If it wasn’t for The Sat Paper and Guardian I would cancel the contract.
Plus I forgot that you have to make sure all your returns are correct as you only get 1 chance with IPS. No supp returns accepted
AFTC, IPS may work for you, but their system is even worse.
Only one chance to return, no early returns and send us any rubbish they have. We only sell a small amount of their titles, and if those change distributors we will close our account with them as many already have
We stock your mag, and I would strongly recommend never to go to IPS with their current system as you may lose sales.
IPS to us is just a couple of winning post and best bet sales a week. Perhaps the occasional foreign newspaper. For this end we are supplied numerous magazines we have to return when the time comes. When things get overlooked on the shelves there is no next chance to get credits.
As for our current magazine situation. we receive around $16,000.00 from both companies a month. We return around $7-8,000.00 each company a month. This is not sustainable.
A few months before christmas we went through and did a massive cut down of supply and processed it all through the web portals for gotch and network, This did result in changes from Gotch and our supplies for the most part have been changed (Good job guys) however network has seemingly gone the other way and we now receive even more bagged mags and junk.
AFTC,
We stock your mag and sell about 2 to 3 copies a month. I would stock it even without those sales as I am a family history addict.
However I am nearly ready to close my account with IPS. One more billing error from them “Oh we did not get your returns from The Saturday Paper. We got the rest of your returns though even though everything was in the same envelope and stapled to the returns form.”
Then they debit my account for the “missing”returns.
Chris @ post 5
We’re with IPS and our title manager reads this blog, so your message will be received.
I am in favour of returns being once only, however they should be tops only. With sales based supply that is achievable.
Frankly, if I were a newsagent being expected to pay the cost of returning dead stock I would be highly insulted.
Once only returns mean that you have to make sure that everything is returned. If I miss 1 magazine return I have to sell 3 copies just to make up the loss I have suffered. The IPS system does not work from a newsagents side, it may work from a publishers side but publishers don’t sell magazines, newsagents do. For this reason Publishers need to be asking all distributors to work on a model that helps newsagents manage their magazine accounts so that there is a positive outcome for everyone.
Max – I do not let any suppliers have control over what they take out of my bank account. Only Tatts and Epay/Eftpos have access to my bank account. All of my other suppliers are paid directly from me. I have the same issue with the Saturday Paper where my returns were not accounted for. I contacted IPS to check if my next lot of returns were accounted for and I was told “we can not check every newsagents returns, we get too many”. I have not paid my full IPS bill for 2 months as I have not been credited 2 months of Sat Paper returns.
A dead set WTF moment here this morning. Whilst i like Annette Syms range of cook books the supply here this morning is nothing short of BLOODY DISGRACEFUL.
No 1 Have 8 copies received 2 more
No 2 Have 4 copies sent 2
No 3 Have 4 sent 2
No 4 Have 5 sent 2
No 5 Have 3 sent 5
No 6 Have 2 sent 2
No 7 Have 2 sent 10
My last sale of any of the range was on the 22/11. Some I havent sold since September.
This is bloody ridiculous, especially as they are FULL copy returns.
Feel like pulling the bloody lot from the shelves.
same here.
Allan we also received a few extras of these, not to the amounts you are saying but extra stock of the items we already have on the shelves. Good thing its magazine culling time of the month in my newsagency.
Kept issue 1 as we had sold out, early returned the rest.
Chris @post 10
Believe me, I understand the frustration that comes when something changes. As a woman of mature years, I learnt a long time ago that refusing to accept change is just a waste of my energy. It’s a myth that there are only 2 certainties in life: death and taxes. Taxes occur once a year, death occurs once a lifetime, but CHANGES can occur 24/7 x 365 days/year. As business owners, it behoves us to train ourselves to manage change in the most appropriate and sensible manner.
Instead of hankering for the “good old days” it would be more productive to investigate the cause of missed returns:
* Did a customer browse a magazine and replace it in the wrong pocket? If so, a regular check of magazine pockets before their return date will prevent that problem from re-occurring.
* Was a magazine due for return put in the wrong “Distributor Returns” stack and only discovered after the due date for return to the correct distributor? Solution: regular checks.
* Was a magazine due for return put in the wrong place in the office/storage area? Solution: as above.
Chris, I really wish you hadn’t assumed that being a magazine publisher is my only business experience. Just as I don’t know the sum total of your business life, nor do you know mine.
Last, but not least, I hope no-one misunderstands why I am being so vocal here. It’s because thousands of people religiously buy our magazine from their local newsagent and to me, that means newsagents and publishers are in this together. I am trying to help.
We received every cookbook from 1 – 7, early returned and topped the lot, as well as a gazillion bagged motorhome mags
I am confused by your comment in #15 aftc? Where in my comment did I assume anything about you? If we are going to criticise gg and NDc then IPS needs to be discussed as well. What terms does IPS offer compared to the others that means only having one chance at doing returns is ok? And why assume I hanker for the “good old days”! I look forward to the future and surprisingly I am very adaptive to change. It seems maybe you have assumed quite a lot about me yet I mentioned nothing about you in my post.
AFTC after all the discussion about how magazines are border line viable to most newsagents because of the excessive amount of time (costly paid in wages time) devoted to managing an inefficient supply system over which we have little control you suggest what? That we do regular checks and then check again to manage IPS’ over restrictive returns policy. WHAT PART OF WE WASTE TOO MUCH TIME ON MAGAZINES DIDN”T YOU UNDERSTAND!!
Chris #17
The IPS system does not work from a newsagents side, it may work from a publishers side but publishers don’t sell magazines, newsagents do
The second half of that sentence came across as “You’re a publisher, what would you know about being a newsagent?”
Are newsagents and publishers enemies or do we have a mutual inter-connecting problem with distribution?
Re hankering, you admitted it If I miss 1 magazine return I have to sell 3 copies just to make up the loss I have suffered. Can you not see a tiny bit of change-resistance there, a hankering for a return to “how it used to be done”?
Steve #18
I’m with you 100% about inefficient magazine supply!
No hankering, just saying IPS can’t have their cake and eat it too! I wouldn’t mind a 1 return only policy if I had control of my supply. I wouldn’t have to worry then about tracking all the extra stock they give me that I know won’t sell and will need to be found to be returned. I love spending 15 min finding where the 4 copies of oi oi oi are so I don’t make a loss on 12 other mag sales! You need to stop assuming that all newsagents have a regressive attitude as that will only affect how we view you. Any posts I have put on this blog have shown an attitude towards the future. Any notion that I would like to go back to the good old days are offensive and do not help with this discussion.
Chris I’m hopeful that IPS is listening. While their model today has problems for us, I get a sense that they want to demonstrate they are listening. Time will tell.
Chris #21
Absolutely no assumptions or offence intended. The last thing I want to do is get anyone offside, least of all newsagents.
I have just sent Annette Syms an e-mail regarding oversupply.
These titles should be supplied only when we order.
The Symply To Good to be True cookbooks have been on display for 5 months. Getting sent 5 more of #7 just reminded me of that fact and I need more space. GONE!
I early returned the new ones sent, plus also all stock on the shelf, people have moved on from this anyway so very slow seller