Fascinating …
This newsstand in the W4th St subway station is stuck in March 2020, right before the pandemic shut things down. See the InTouch cover where Trebek is still alive, and the….special edition Coronavirus magazine. And some evergreen covers from pubs that didn’t seem too concerned. pic.twitter.com/JEz57tWhzD
— Kevin Collier (@kevincollier) October 6, 2022
News Corp is installing a new printer in South Australia and to provide a plan B in case there is an issue connecting their flat wrap machine to this for home delivery newspaper preparation, they have advised distribution newsagents they are providing them with rubber bands.
APC – Contingency Rubber Bands
7 October 2022
To all SA Distributors,
As discussed with your ALM, you will receive a quantity of rubber bands with your Newspaper delivery in the coming week – enough to cover you for 1 week of banding home delivery papers should an emergency contingency be required for wrapping and delivery of newspapers.
If you don’t receive these rubber bands, or if you have any questions regarding this please contact your ALM.
Regards,
Senior Area Logistics Manager – SA
News Corp Australia
On the one hand, I thought rubber bands, what?! but then I thought it’s good they have a backup option in case there is an issue with flat wrapping for a time.
Paul Smith writing at The Australian Financial Review reported yesterday that COSBOA opposes the small business application of changes to data privacy law changes.
The peak body representing thousands of Australian small businesses has warned against imposing the same new data privacy laws on companies of all sizes following the Optus data breach, saying it is unrealistic and unaffordable for smaller operators without extra government support.
The government and privacy commissioner have flagged changes to privacy laws to force companies to take their responsibility to protect sensitive data more seriously. This would include significantly raising fines and extending breach reporting responsibilities to small businesses with turnover under $3.1 million, which are currently exempted.
Alexi Boyd, chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, told The Australian Financial Review it would be senseless to impose new rules that would be impossible for operators like hairdressers and mechanics to meet.
“It’s really crucial that the government, when they’re making decisions like this, consider the impact on small business people of any regulatory changes because ultimately, it will be them who spends the money and the time implementing them,” Ms Boyd said.
“They don’t have IT departments, very few of them have IT management consultants on call, so they will be the ones that have to learn what to do and implement this, and it will potentially be an increased cost of business.”
…
Ms Boyd said the government should follow an approach of “education first, enforcement second” with small businesses, which were now making much greater use of data through software subscriptions and smart point-of-sale devices to operate more efficiently.
She said the digitisation of small businesses had happened rapidly, and that COSBOA would support any measure from the government to help mitigate the risk for both the business owner and the customers, whose data that they hold, which she said could involve education programs and potentially financial assistance.
I own a small business focussed POS software company serving 3,000+ local retailers, and I own four local retail shops in Melbourne. I think the COSBOA position as put is ignorant, and selfish.
Too often I see private personal data disrespected, collected and stored without consideration as to security and necessity. While most businesses I have seen do not fail to respect the privacy of their customers in this way, enough do for it to be a problem.
From what I can see, poor privacy practices are employed out of laziness, not because of the cost of tech or ignorance as to requirements. From what I see, people are lazy, entering credit card details into software that can be hacked rather than taking an easier step of using a secure and separate platform.
The need to respect the privacy of sensitive personal information is not new. No notice is needed as to this requirement.
I hope the government issues new and stringent standards and that they apply equally to all businesses. This is not a time for us to be soft, not for us, especially not for our customers.
The CEO os COSBOA appears to use examples that, to me, are nonsense.
“How do you do that? How do you get a hairdresser, or a cafe owner, or someone who is a fitness instructor to start doing this? What are you expecting them to do?” she said.
“Also, where does the onus and responsibility lie? Does it lie with the software companies that are holding that data, or with the small business owner? How does that even begin to work? It’s not something that you can just flick a switch on, because every small business digitises differently.”
Why would a hairdresser or cafe owner have any private data? For a loyalty program maybe. But not private data like a licence, passport number or credit card number surely?!
And then there is the comment about software. It’s not complex. they party collecting data from the public is responsible as that is where any privacy representation is made.
Also, some software does not store data in a place under the control of the software company. In the cases where it does, the software company has to share the responsibility.
Now is not the time for lobbying to dilute responsibility. We owe our customers more than this.
Let’s see what the government proposes before we get lathered up for a fight about what we think may happen, and then, let’s put the interests of our customers first.
One reason I own newsagencies is to show, rather than tell. The high street Malvern business is an example of that. Take a look at the September numbers in this business:
As I say in the video, everything we are doing in the business is what is offered and pitched to newsXpress members. There is nothing exclusive or unique in the approach here.
For sure, we are proud of the results so far.
And, yes, this business does not have lotteries.
The economic analysis published recently by the Commonwealth Bank is fascinating. The Victorian retail numbers are terrific, contradicting the narrative some have put out re the Victorian economy, and retail results in particular.
The overall result, too, is good for Victoria:
I have been looking at our September results and while I will have more to say on that soon, they match what the Commonwealth bank report is showing.
Of course, there are many factors that feed into growth: state, the local economy, actions by business owners. I guess my core point today is that here is an independent report presenting results that contradict the commentary or many about the Victorian economy.
The notification on LinkedIn that Christine Lovatt has just celebrated 44 years in business was a good enough reason to pitch a couple of the magazines published by Lovatts.
I don’t often pitch magazines on social media, but when there is an opportunity for something different, I embrace it. Usually, shoppers notice.
here’s what they sent retail; newsagents today:
30 September 2022
Daylight Savings
Dear Newsagent/Retailer
A reminder that daylight savings is due to commence this Sunday.
Production will run to current deadlines on Saturday night, impacting arrival times of Sunday’s papers by up to 60 minutes.
Please let your customers and staff know, and convey our apologies.
Should you have any questions, please contact your Area Sales Manager, Area Logistics Manager or the News Retail Support team on 1800 639 700 or via email at newsagents@news.com.au.
Kind Regards,
News Corp Australia
Lotterywest has been engaging with existing retailers on the process of considering new possible locations:
Dear
In June we launched our new Expression of Interest process for sourcing new Lotterywest outlets and business owners, giving retailers the best opportunity to operate a successful lottery business in prime locations for player access.
New locations
Lotterywest identifies locations by assessing their potential to support a new outlet and is only approved after a thorough process that indicates unmet player demand, minimal impact to existing retailers and a benefit to the community.New locations approved under this new process are now available to view via the Lotterywest website and on Retail Link.
Anyone interested in opening a new outlet for any of these locations must complete and submit an online application by 5pm, Wednesday 9 November.
Expression of Interest applications
Applications for new locations are assessed through a fair and competitive process, considering the most suitable combination of location, business type and business owner.Business plan assessments, site visits and face-to-face interviews will be conducted with shortlisted candidates before appointing the successful applicant.
How to apply?
Please visit our website to view available locations, download our EOI Information Pack, and apply.We are also holding an information session on Tuesday 4 October at 6pm. You can attend in person at our Lotterywest office or join online. Please email retail.enquiries@lotterywest.wa.gov.au to register your attendance.
If you have any questions, please contact Customer Services on 133 777 and ask to be put in contact with Retail Support or your RRO.
Kind regards,
Lotterywest
The most common complaint I get from retailers about The Lottery Corporation is their lack of transparency and fairness when it comes to new outlet consideration.
Optus collected personal data from people, and, it appears, kept it long after the need for the data passed. Worse, if reports are accurate, Optus kinda left the data on the kitchen table with the back door open and the light on.
This is data requested initially from customers to check identity. I’d like to know the government regulations / legislation requiring this identity check data to be stored.
The whole mess feels to me like a big business problem: overreach on data collection, no housekeeping to identify and securely delete data no longer required, poor data structure on data storage making theft of a useable batch easy, and inadequate protection of data required to be kept on-hand.
In my experience of decades working in software development, in government (CSIRO), big business (banks and mining) and in small business (Tower Systems), it’s the big business systems where problems like we have been reading about from Optus thrive.
In big business there are big IT teams, lots of stakeholders, lots of committees, lots of fingers. These are all very removed from the people personally responsible. In fact, who is personally responsible in a business the size of Optus: the CEO?, senior management?, the Board?, the Shareholders? … who knows.
In small business, if I ask a customer for an ID check for some reason, they show me their licence or passport and then return it to their bag or wallet. I don’t copy it. I don’t enter their details in my computer system. I don’t keep it longer than I need.
If I screw up and leave personal details of a customer out for anyone else to see or take, I am responsible. I know it. My customers know it.
Okay, it’s maybe not the best example. But, actually, it is. In small business we tend to be lean, and efficient, taking action necessary to get the job done. We, well I know in my own small business situations, I and those work work with me tend to not hoard things, we tend to not hoard data, and we respect value, and security. We use our safe for that, and we do not leave the door open or pass out the combination.
Small business owners are closer to their customers in a practical sense and in everyday life. We understand them and respect them because our customers are us, or at least like us.
In big business, customers are numbers, pieces of data, and, too often in big business, data, especially old data or data not part of today’s push to drive the share price up is not as mission critical and may therefore be left on the kitchen table with the back door open – because no one was watching, wondering, or worrying about and for those who provided the data.
So, yeah, I read the Optus situation as a big business problem. Until there are share price impacting consequences for what has happened we should expect more events like we have seen in the last week.
I’m so glad for the partnership between newsXpress and the Royal Australian Mint. These $10 Christmas ornament gifts will be a massive hit.
Coins have all but sold out since the death of the Queen and there is no indication off this slowing.
From a basket perspective, coin shoppers are valuable, often purchasing other items in-store, or online is that opportunity presents on the website.
I’m not big on looking back, especially at past blog posts. This morning, though, searching for something else, I found this post from here, on September 28, 2005:
CRIKEY PUBLISHER SAYS NEWSPAPERS ARE “ON THE SKIDS”
- September 28, 2005 Mark Fletcher
In yesterday’s edition of Crikey, a daily emailed publication of news and comment, Publisher Eric Beecher commented about newspapers in the context of the appointment of a new editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, a newspaper Beecher once himself edited. Here’s what Beecher had to say:
17. Editing the SMH is about cost cutting, not creative journalism
By Crikey publisher Eric Beecher
The Sydney Morning Herald has a new editor – Alan Oakley, currently editor of The Sunday Age. “I am privileged to take on the best job in Australian journalism,” he said yesterday. “It is a challenging time for newspapers. I will concentrate my efforts to ensure that we are continually meeting the evolving needs of readers.”
Oakley, who is a popular choice, may feel he is taking up the best job in Australian journalism (it certainly felt like that when I had it in the late 1980s), but I suspect it won’t be much fun.
Newspapers like the Herald that depend solely on classified advertising for their profits are on the skids. Fewer people buy them or respect them, and their classified ads are migrating inextricably to the internet because it’s a better, cheaper medium for that kind of advertising.
Unfortunately, this consigns their editors to saying one thing (“I will concentrate my efforts to ensure that we are continually meeting the evolving needs of readers”) but doing another – cutting costs and eliminating jobs. These days, editors of papers like the Herald are more like executioners than editors.
Quality newspapers are a sunset industry desperately trying to prop up their historically high profits by cutting costs. Over the past week in the US, for example, six of the country’s more prestigious newspapers – including The New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and San Jose Mercury News – have sliced hundreds of editorial and non-editorial jobs. And no-one believes this culling was anything other than business as usual for big newspapers.
Fairfax CEO Fred Hilmer said yesterday that Oakley’s appointment means the Herald “is in excellent hands for the future.” Unfortunately, that can only mean that Alan Oakley knows how to wield the knife.
I agree with Beecher’s comments about the viability of newspapers relying on classified advertising. Okay it won’t happen today or tomorrow. It will happen though. The economics of online classifieds make it inevitable. Newspapers cannot compete with the flexible search, production costs and mobility offerings of online advertising. Playing games with giveaways and competitions to drive sales will not fix that. Nor will offering free advertisements. Nor will free newspapers. Newspapers have a bright future if they focus on content.
I worry for the traditional newspaper supply chain in Australia. Newsagents are not prepared for the effects of the changes even though we are in the middle of them already with considerable supply changes impacting our businesses.
I disagree with Beecher’s comments about the viability of quality newspapers. Respected content (news, analysis and opinion) delivered exclusively in a print form will deliver sales of sufficient value to attract certain advertisers. Okay it’s more of a hope than a belief. People like Tim Porter and Jeff Jarvis and others have suggested how it may be achieved.
There is no doubt that this is a time of enormous disruption for newspapers. Denial only makes the road harder to navigate.
This: I worry for the traditional newspaper supply chain in Australia. Newsagents are not prepared for the effects of the changes even though we are in the middle of them already with considerable supply changes impacting our businesses. proved to be true.
The answer, based on evidence, is no.
Through one of my shops we have offered boxed Christmas cards in-store and online all through the year. Online sales have ticked along while in-store has been slow. Then, in July, online sales increased further, and at the start of this month, sales spiked further again.
The online sales indicate that planners are thinking of and buying for Christmas from the start of July. We have seen enough early sales to encourage us to continue with the year-round approach, and to know some possible trends for this year.
I post the question Is it too early to put Christmas cards out in the newsagency? today because some newsagent colleagues tell me they will hold off putting out Christmas until the start of November. In my experience, that would cause the business to miss revenue there for the taking.
Woods Grove is one of the best gift shops I have seen. I am grateful to visit there a few weeks ago, and speak with one of the owners. Here’s a short video in which I share some highlights.
The visit was part of a newsXpress retail study tour where we visited a bunch of innovative and successful local indie retail businesses relevant to the Aussie newsagency channel.
Lew Stringer, a terrific cartoonist, shared this UK Magazine cover image on Twitter a few years ago.
The latest Washington Post offer is extraordinary: A$40 for a year after a 4 week free trial.
Experience what millions of subscribers love.
Get the Washington Post free for 4 weeks—then just A$40 for your first year.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 20, 2022
News Corp. continue to engage well with retail newsagents. They have sent out this communication re AFL Grand Final engagement:
|
Grand Final week news coverageHerald-Sun
- Friday, September 23 — Bumper AFL grand final preview.
- Saturday, September 24 – 20-Page AFL Grand Final preview.
- Sunday, September 25 – 24-Page Premiership Wrap.
- Monday, September 26 — 16-Page Grand Final Souvenir Edition.Geelong Advertiser
- Mon to Fri 19-23 September – Bonus 8-Page GF week Special.
- Saturday, September 24 – 24-Page AFL Grand Final preview.
- Sunday, September 25 – 56-page Souvenir Premiers Edition*
- Monday, September 26 – 16-Page Grand Final Souvenir Edition
Supply review
- Please review your supplies for Fri to Mon, September 23 to 26.
- Please make supply changes online via iServices or iDeliver.
- Or by email (with “Supply Change” and route number mentioned in the subject header) or phone to News Retail Support.
- We may further adjust supply based on overall print volumes.
AFL Premiers Posters (Mark Knight)
- Posters go on sale Monday, September 26, for $5.00 (inc. GST)
- All proceeds go to Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.
- Supply, delivery, returns & billing details to be sent separately.
Should you wish to discuss this with us, please feel free to contact your Area Sales Manager or our News Retail Support Team.
Kind Regards,
News Retail Support
This may seem like basic stuff, and it is, but it was missing for a while from News for retail only businesses and it’s non existent from Nine in my experience.
www.lotteryoffice.com.au, owned by Global Players Network Pty Ltd , is appearing in several social media feeds and while they are not engaged in paid advertising as much as in their past, traffic to their website is growing as this graph I pulled yesterday. The second graph shows keyword penetration in key groups.
I mention it because I suspect plenty of lottery retailers are not aware of this competitor that offers games related to overseas lotteries.
They pitch interestingly on Twitter. Here’s a post from yesterday, for example:
Our world-class lottery jackpots, our amazing local customer support, and the fact that we are 100% Australian-owned and operated are all motivating Aussies to join The Lottery Office. Here’s why we’re safe to play with online 👉https://t.co/P3oGb1Uras
— www.lotteryoffice.com.au (@LotteryOfficeAU) September 18, 2022
8% of their online traffic comes from people searching for lotto in Google. This keyword is searched 301,000 times a month in Australia. The Lottery Office ranks at position 6 currently in Australia.
I don’t know their revenue, or whether they are winning customers from sales of over the counter games. What I know know is that they are present in the marketplace, and pitching themselves well.
Their website shares more information abut them:
The Lottery Office is operated by Global Players Network Pty Ltd. We are Australian owned and operated and licensed by the Northern Territory Government. We have offices in Darwin, NT and on the Gold Coast, QLD.
The Lottery Office is unlike other companies. Our unique business model allows you to enter our own Government approved lotteries. When you enter one of our lotteries, we will then purchase a matching ticket in a major overseas lottery and we will claim any prize that is won from the overseas ticket and pay you the exact same amount. This ensures we are able to pay out any prize and not have to rely on an insurance policy like other companies. It also allows our players to have the chance to win from matched tickets with major overseas lotteries having prizes reaching into the billions.
I mention this so as to avoid confusion.
