A newsagent wanting to close their IPS account checked on supply for The Saturday Paper from their distribution agent, who already supplies newspapers to the business. The distribution agent has refused. This is kind of like the taxi driver who refuses a short distance fare. Refusal to serve ought not be allowed.
Defies logic. Why would a distribution agent supply certain publications to a sub agent and not others? Sounds dumb to me.
Yes Shayne, dumb.
The first issue to be discussed is why the newsagent wants to close their IPS account?
I would not want to have subagents for the Sat Paper because of how stringent and inflexible IPS concerning supplies and returns for The Sat Paper.
Keep your own IPS account and don’t pass your problems to someone else.
Chris they only get two titles that work from IPS: The Saturday Paper and Best Bets. They get all daily newspapers from the distribution newsagent and have a track record for paying on time. All the retail newsagent wants to do is to add a title to the service already provided.
I understand that but as this newsagent has the ability to have their own account then the distribution agent does not “have” to provide them with these deliveries. It could be a sound business decision as I stated before, the compliance with IPS is much higher than News and F/Fax.
How do we know that the distribution agent isn’t having their own issues with IPS? (like most of us!)
I still think the issue is that this newsagent wants to pass the buck and move their issue with IPS to another newsagent yet still get the benefit of supplies from this company. How is that ethical?
I don’t think it is unethical Chris. The retail newsagent wants to use the services of the distribution newsagent. The IPS account for the retail newsagent is small. The existing track record shows the distribution newsagent there is no risk.
We too have spoken to our distribution agent about getting IPS titles and closing our account with IPS. We are still contemplating this move.
IPS is a prick to deal with and the less problems we have in our businesses, the more harmonious the day goes.
There are not many reasons why a Distribution Newsagent would want to refuse to supply a Retailer. However the inflexible approach taken by IPS and perhaps the publisher might mean the Distribution Newsagent is contemplating pulling the pin on IPS titles and does not wish to enter into an arrangement with the Retailer that cannot be fulfilled in an ongoing sense. Especially since the Retailer has an existing account with IPS.
Wouldn’t do much for relationships to have the Retailer close his IPS account, only to discover the Distribution Newsagent do the same thing a short time later.
Who knows what the real reason is. The story needs the Retailer to mention the why, then perhaps it would make more sense.
I closed my ips account ages ago.Net result blood pressure down stress levels down best move ever absolutely no regrets
Anybody got an issue with IPS statements ?
Doing some accounts work today and couldn’t understand why I could not reconcile to the IPS statement. Eventually it transpired the statement did not add up ie
February closing balance
Add March month
Less Payment
Should equal March closing balance, but doesn’t. April statement also does not agree.
So I rang IPS. Sure enough, there has been an on going issue with statements for 2 months.
Why not issue an email to warn people … I suspect because they do not know the extent of the problem. They promised to call me within 2 days with a solution.
Watch your statements and don’t automatically pay the closing balance.
I have to agree with the distributer here.
If you want supply of IPS products, get them directly. If you don’t want to deal with IPS direct… don’t whinge when you can’t get the products.
We chose to NOT deal with IPS from the start..a floored supplier / retailer relationship in OUR OPINION. Despite this we were sent products and it took some time to get our distribution cancelled. In doing so we knew full well that we would not get access to those titles that chose to be distributed through IPS.