Managing magazines in the morning
I have been asked by several people about our process for unpacking, labeling and putting out magazines on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at our newsagency. We have this process complete by no later than 8:15 each morning – having started at 7am. Returns are done the same day, by mid morning. The process runs to military precision. Behind the counter two of the team label stock, by distributor. Labeled magazines are put into columns based on the aisle in which the title is situated. The shopping trolley is for rubbish – this keeps behind the counter clear. I or whoever is putting the stock out takes titles from the customer side an aisle at a time. New titles are put out, unsold stock is put in another trolley which is wheeled to the side of the counter for returns scanning mid morning.
The business turns over around $450,000 a year in magazines. I mention this for those comparing the timing with their own business.
We have tried several approaches to magazines over the years. The approach described above has been followed for the last five years and it has proved to be the most efficient and consistent.
The most common comment we get from people who see our process relates to placement of stock to be put out by aisle. We found this significantly reduced the time it takes to put stock out.
