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Newspaper distribution

News Corp and Nine Media seem to care little about print newspaper customers

Every week I hear another story of problems with newspaper delivery to retailers: late deliveries, missed deliveries and more.

The most recent issue relates to a regional Victorian town where the local retail newsagent no longer receives newspapers in time for when they open at 7am. The delivery contractor delivers papers to another retailer two minutes away from the newsagent, then does home deliveries and, finally, to the local newsagent.

Often, deliveries to the newsagent are short, sometimes less than half what they can sell.

Contact from the retail newsagent to News Corp and Nine Media has achieved no resolution. It appears they have either no interest in resolution or no ability to direct the delivery contractor to deliver the papers when they deliver to the cafe two minutes away.

The situation is ridiculous, petty.

Most newspaper delivery contractors I know of do a terrific job and provide excellent service to retail newsagents. Not this one though. Some decisions seem targeted.

I wonder if the disinterest of the publishers has anything to do with the retail newsagent handing their run back a year or so ago. If that is the case, it’s petty. It that is not the case, the newspaper publishers have a broken system that they appear unwilling or unable to fix. Either way, they appear uninterested in the issue and its resolution.

In the meantime, local newspaper readers miss out. Maybe that is what the publishers want. Who knows?

This specific situation does seem to have an easy resolution, if the newspaper publishers want the resolution. The delivery contractor could be directed to deliver to the two sub agents – a cafe and the retail newsagent – at the same time, as they are two minutes from each other.

Years ago, newspaper publishers were demanding of newsagents in terms of delivery times and accuracy. Threats were made. newsagents complied rather than risk losing their business. Today, it’s different. The newspaper contractor in this story has demonstrated no interest in resolving the delivery time, quantity and contact issues – it’s not possible to contact them during the day to resolve issues.

Again, newspaper customers are those that miss out. Newsagency staff are impacted too as they are the front line dealing with customer complaints.

If only News Cop and Nine Media cared about the mental health of newsagency staff and cared about their newspaper reader customers.

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Ethics

News Corp continues to fail newspaper home delivery subscribers with road-block customer service

Complaints about News Corp management of newspaper home deliver subscriptions to newsagents who stopped home delivery months and years ago continue. regulars here would have seen the comments by many subscribers.

From my own experience when I signed up for a subscription to The Australian and then sought to cancel after the initial period, the News Corp process is clearly structured to frustrate to a point that people give up. That is how it felt to me.

Subscribers ought be able to go to a website and cancel their subscription with one click. News Corp does not offer this service.

You have to call them. The first response after wanting to know why you want to cancel is to offer a deal. I’ve heard of people being offered an even better deal. The call process is layered with road blocks.

This is appalling customer service from News Corp in my opinion, and in my experience. For a company so invested in shouting at Australians and trying to tell us what to think, they appear disinterested in providing a good customer experience.

It’s as if the call centre mandate is to keep a subscriber at all costs – financial and emotional.

My advice for News Corp newspaper subscribers experiencing difficulties in cancelling their subscription because of road blocks by News Corp is to complain to your local office of consumer affairs and to email the ACCC. If you are owed a refund or the company has charged more than they should have in your opinion, and if you have the time, consider a claim to a small claims tribunal, like VCAT in Victoria. The more state and federal government agencies are made aware of what is happening here the better.

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Ethics

The Australian Financial Review all but out of Western Australia

This note has been sent to newsagents by Nine Media:

Supply of The Australian Financial Review

Nine has been notified of a substantial increase to printing costs of copies of The Australian Financial Review (the AFR) supplied to newsagents, distributors and sub-agents in Western Australia.

As a result of these increased costs, the supply and distribution of print copies of the AFR in Western Australia is no longer commercially viable.

Our existing print distribution arrangements for the AFR to newsagents, distributors and sub-agents in Western Australia will cease effective close of business on Wednesday, 22 May 2024. Your business has been identified as currently receiving print copies of the AFR and as a result, you will no longer receive these print copies effective close of business on Wednesday, 22 May 2024.

We will be contacting all AFR subscribers to advise them that home and office delivery of print copies of the AFR will no longer be possible after that date.

We kindly request that you make a copy of this notice available to any sub-agents or other retail outlets supplied and billed by you (i.e. those retailers who do not have a direct account with Nine).

Separately, Nine will distribute retail copies of The Australian Financial Review Magazine and the quarterly Fin! magazine in metropolitan Perth from the end of the month. If you are interested in receiving supply of any other publications that Nine may determine is commercially viable to distribute within Western Australia from time to time, please notify us of your interest via email at circsales@nine.com.au

We thank you for your past support of The Australian Financial Review. If you have any questions in relation to this matter, please contact us via email at newsagencycontracts@nine.com.au.

It’s an odd move by Seven West. Maybe they think this may help with sales of their local paper or boost interest in their new online after nine product. It will be interesting to watch how it plays out.

Aussie daily newspapers have hung on to print editions for longer than in plenty of other parts of the world. While I am no expert, I suspect that somewhere around half the daily newspapers in Australia are not profitable on the majority of days they publish. They are thin and loaded with ads from a small group of businesses.

I suspect that if were see a capital city daily close it’s print edition, several others would follow quite quickly.

There is no upside for print newspapers. Publishers have repurposed the print product to rely far less on news and to give advertisers more control of their once respected mastheads. Smart newsagents long ago adjusted their businesses to not rely on them.

Newspapers themselves are inefficient products with more than 75% of newspaper purchases in a newsagency being a newspaper and nothing else. This basket inefficiency has been a challenge for our channel for decades. Back in the 1990s the inefficiency percentage was 85% or more. It has dropped a little, not enough though and this is despite extraordinary effort to engage with newspaper shoppers to try and sell other better margin products.

In their treatment of newsagents over recent years, newspaper publishers have shown little respect. Our margin is down, which makes newspapers less valuable. It’s at a point that there are newsagents in our channel who no longer sell newspapers.

What’s happening in Western Australia with The Australian Financial Review is interesting yet far from the bigger story about newspapers that is playing out nationally.

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Newspaper distribution

Why is Nine media paying WA newsagents a lower percentage to sell The Australian Financial Review? And, at what point is the paltry margin NOT worth it?

Retail newsagents in Western Australia make 7.8% gross profit from selling the weekend edition of The Australian Financial Review while east coast retail newsagents make 10.6% for the same product. Here is the evidence. First up, the WA notice:

Now, the east coast notice:

Both of these notes come from Paul Munro, Director, Circulation Sales & Operations Nine Publishing, who is based in Sydney.

They value Western Australian retail newsagents less than their east coast counterparts, yet labour and occupancy costs in WA are the same as elsewhere.

Then there is the broader question of whether stocking the AFR is worth it to any retail newsagent. By the time you unpack the product, count what you have received, place it in-store and do other requisite overhead, 10% does not cover costs and that does not even account for theft, for which the retailer is responsible.

Maybe the newsagents who no longer sell newspapers have made the right move.

In the past when I have raised margin with newspaper and magazine publishers and mentioned supermarkets, they have said supermarkets get the same margin. When challenges, a couple have mentioned that there are other fees paid to supermarkets for stand placement or, back in the day, guaranteed checkout pocket placement. I am not sure if Nine Media has any such arrangement in place for supermarkets.

An adult retail employee working in a newsagency on a Saturday is paid $36 an hour or more. Assuming trading 7 days a week and considering average occupancy costs outside of a shopping centre, the daily rent and related costs for an average size retail newsagency will bet $250.00 or more. So in just these two cost points, a retail newsagency needs to cover $538.00 in costs. Based on the industry average GP% range of 28% – 32%, they need sales of $1,793 to cover costs.

But that’s not accurate as it’s based on average GP%. A product like the AFR on the weekend drags the average GP down. Newsagents selling it rely on better margin products, like cards that achieve 60% GP and more, and gifts that perform similarly, to subsidise poor margin products, like newspapers and magazines.

Publishers created the Australian newsagency channel in the 1800s. They controlled us for decades. Then, they abandoned us. Today, they disrespect us with paltry margins. They make matters worse with out of date practices that waste time and make us uncompetitive.

They price their product as if it has other benefits, like attracting shoppers. That may have been the case ten or more years ago, not today in 2024. Newspapers are offered as a service, a loss making service.

I suspect publishers treat newsagents this way because they know newsagents will not do anything about the situation.

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Newspaper distribution

Newsagents handing back their newspaper home delivery runs need a service contract for dealing with poor newspaper publisher service

The two main newspaper publishers in Australia, News Corp. and Nine Media (Fairfax) have a poor track record managing newspaper home delivery they take over from local newsagents, regardless of whether it is a forced takeover or a voluntary hand back.

They replace what has been for 100+ years a local personal service with corporate impersonal processes.

Whereas newspaper home delivery customers could speak to someone locally with direct knowledge of the delivery situation, in the publisher driven model customers have to navigate impersonal and broken processes that pay little regard to the local delivery situation.

I think newsagents deserve a service contract to cover the first year of post home delivery option. This contract could include the following fees payable by the publisher to the newsagent:

  • $5.00 for each email contact by a home delivery customer to the newsagent asking about home delivery such as where is my paper.
  • $5.00 for each in-store contact by a home delivery customer to the newsagent asking about home delivery.
  • $10.00 for each phone contact by a home delivery customer to the newsagent asking about home delivery.
  • $25.00 additional fee for each engagement where the customer is angry.
  • $25.00 for each call or email contact with the publisher for matters not covered by the above.
  • $25.00 for each call that has to be made or email that has to be sent to the distributor asking where the papers are for the shop.
  • $50.00 per title for each day a newspaper is not delivered to the shop by 8am (or any other time as stipulated by the newsagent based on their early morning trading). The amount could vary based on the usual number of papers sold where the penalty should be double the usual GP$ for the day.
  • $100.00 per title for each day a newspaper title is not delivered to the shop. The amount could vary based on the usual number of papers sold where the penalty should be double the usual GP$ for the day.
  • 250% GP penalty for each newspaper given to a home delivery customer who missed a paper, the publisher cannot rectify and a replacement paper is given from the shop.
  • A flat insert or giveaway fee for each time the newsagent is asked to give something away with the newspaper where the fee is at least 10% of the cover price of the accompanying newspaper and is paid weekly as an automated credit to the account.
  • A fee of $50.00 per 15 minutes for any in-store visit by a newspaper pub lister representative.

I’d make reporting simple with no opportunity for dispute by the publisher for such claim and with payment monthly by direct debit initiated by the newsagent entering contact details (date, time, customer name) into a web portal setup, maintained and paid for by the publisher.

Of course, these fees will seem over the top to most reading them. I have suggested the figures I have so they act as an incentive to newspaper publishers to do better. I reckon can predict some of the reactions people will have reading this.

No publisher will agree to this.

Newsagents have to be kidding themselves if we’d agree to this.

This list is nonsense.

Who do they think they are.

I’m just happy to have given up home delivery, I don’t want to rock the boat.

I’ve moved on.

The response by publishers will be silence. They will ignore the suggestion. They’ll read it here and mutter about it to each other, but we will hear nothing because any request like this from newsagents has been treated this way, with silence.

I started thinking about the list when I saw a query from a long-term home delivery customer to the newsagent who used to deliver their paper to a nursing home. The newspaper publisher had not actioned a change request and the customer was becoming distressed after 4 attempts at contact. They reached out to the newsagent who ultimately organised for the issue to be fixed. They did this in service of a long-standing customer and because they understand personal local service. The newspaper publisher had let the customer down because of the corporate processes put in place to manage home deliveries.

Recently, we did not get the Australian Financial Review in one of my shops that ended home delivery a couple of years back. Two phone calls produced no result. Then, a couple of hours later, the distributor called a number not on the registered contacts list to say it would not be supplied at all. The person with that number had to call the shop. Next, the shop staff had to deal with customer queries and agitation. There were several unpleasant exchanges.

All of this costs money.

The newspaper publishers control the production and distribution of their product, yet they continue to expect local small business newsagents to provide free customer service to cover for their failures.

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Newspaper distribution

Newspaper publishers are one reason newsagents are time-poor

The Australian Financial Review did not arrive at the newsagency a couple of days ago.

We let the distributor know, and gave them the number of the shop for contact.

An hour later, someone from the distributor called a different number, a mobile for someone not at the shop and not listed as a contact, to advise they didn’t;lt know what happened, there were no spare copies and that we would have to lodge a credit request with the publisher and not them.

To put in the credit request we have to log in to the publisher portal and put in a claim.

What a broken process and waste of time. It should have all been dealt with in one call or, better still, notification via a distributor website rather than what happened.

So out of date.

So, yeah, this is another example of newspaper publishers using poor business practices to steal time from newsagents.

A modest investment in technology could improve this situation considerably. It would save time in newsagencies and help them improve customer service. I expect it would save time in newspaper distribution businesses too.

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Newspaper distribution

Here’s a video of an AI bot navigating cancelling a New York Times subscription

Now, this is relevant because of the barriers newspaper publishers place in front of those who wish to cancel their subscription. Both News Corp. and Nine Media deploy time wasting barriers to those wishing to cancel a subscription, I’ve experienced it myself. As the video shows, an AI bot has more energy for the process.

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Newspaper distribution

News Corp. updates VIC newsagents on product printing and distribution

News Corp. sent this to newsagents Friday last week. It doesn’t address the fact that the old newspaper home delivery arrangements better served local communities than the current arrangements, even though the old arrangements underpaid newsagents for the work they did.

3 June 2022

Update on printing & distribution of newspapers in Greater Melbourne & Geelong

Dear Newsagent/Retailer,

As you would be aware, we have recently moved printing of our newspapers to a new production facility in Truganina. We also commenced the transition to a new consolidated distribution model.

We acknowledge this has caused challenges and whilst we are making progress, our team is working hard to further improve and ensure that we provide you with a consistent and timely service. We do appreciate your continued understanding and support with this.

PRINTING:
Background
In 2020, News committed a significant investment to construct a new facility in Truganina that included modern equipment needed to enable production long into the future.

This investment helped to deliver an improved product for readers, such as full colour availability throughout the paper. It also increased our capability to provide more supplements into our papers, such as the recently launched VWeekend in Saturday’s Herald Sun.

Amongst the normal challenges of a new facility, the project was managed over the peak of CoVID and lockdowns.

Status
Production performance and equipment reliability has been slowly improving, as have dispatch times. We recognise that further improvement is required to ensure we consistently meet our targets.

What’s Next
To further improve dispatch times, we have a number of initiatives underway such as:

Earlier editorial deadlines on some products
Installing a second inline automated wrapper for home delivery copies
Increased on-site offline wrapping capability for home delivery copies

DISTRIBUTION:
Background
In late 2021, we commenced transitioning our distribution model towards a consolidated distributor. The transition plan is spread over 15 months. It is a process that has previously been undertaken successfully in Sydney and Brisbane, providing a more sustainable model to get papers to our valued retailers and subscribers.

Status
Our consolidated distributor, NDS is currently delivering about half of all newspaper copies printed in Truganina each night. Like many industries, the supply chain has been challenged by driver recruitment and retention.

What’s Next
To further improve our delivery arrival times a number of steps are being taken, including:

Increasing the number of vehicles used
Recruiting additional drivers
Improving delivery run sequencing
Increasing warehouse capacity for retail product preparation
Deferring the timing of some upcoming distributor transitions

We’re also working towards introducing reporting of arrival times at retail outlets, which will help improve visibility of problem territories.

CONTACT US:
To better support you, we have increased staffing in our call centres, including on weekends.

Should you have any questions or issues, please contact your Area Logistics Manager, Area Sales Manager or the News Retail Support team on 1800 639 700 or via email at newsagents@news.com.au.

Kind Regards,

News Corp Australia

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Newspaper distribution

The newspaper distribution mess in Melbourne leaves Melbourne airport without papers til 7:30am …

Update (12:26): we’ve had customers coming in saying there was coverage on this topic on 3AW today, which surprises me given they are owned by Nine Media, one of the companies responsible for the mess.

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Newspaper distribution

News Corp. and Nine Media fail newsagents again with newspaper delivery

Several Victorian newsagents shared with me their frustration about newspaper delivery failures yesterday. here is one:

I am dumbfounded after my attempts to find out where our paper deliveries have got to today.

I was advised by NDS customer service that they cannot contact the driver to ascertain when we might receive the delivery, nor can they ensure that the driver delivers the papers and where applicable, magazines directly to the shop front. We are left in limbo not knowing what to expect.

On Thursday just gone, not only were the papers late but our magazine delivery was also late. We have a staff member start work early on a Thursday to ensure that magazines are on sale as early as possible and there are obvious costs wasted when magazines are delivered late

It is becoming an issue as to whether it is viable for us to stock newspapers as the combination of space taken, effort required to manage them an time spent attending issues such late and non delivery of papers outweighs the pittance they earn for us.

Here is another:

Good morning folks, once again we face a disastrous morning for a newsagency.

We happen to be away on holidays and our poor staff have no papers at 9.15 on a Saturday morning.

No communication at all, no notifications from anyone.

I could share more, but they are the same message – no papers, no communication, time wasted in the business, angry customers that erodes trust in the local newsagency business.

The failure of News Corp and Nine Media to get newspapers to newsagents, and to home delivery customers, consistently and on time must be a factor in the future of the print product.

What a mess.

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Newspaper distribution

Must read: Paper cuts: Why daily newspaper deliveries have become a lottery

The Citizen (A PUBLICATION OF THE CENTRE FOR ADVANCING JOURNALISM, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE) has published a terrific report into the actions of News Corp. and Nine Media in removing newspaper home delivery from local small business newsagents and putting it under the control of a faceless, contactless mess of an organisation.

I am grateful to Petra Stock for the time she took to understand the issues and speak with some directly impacted. Her reporting on the impact on local family-owned Lygon Media speaks volumes to the disinterest in the offices of News Corp. and Nine Media in delivering a local service for local newspaper readers.

Lygon Media Distributors – a newspaper distribution business co-owned by Fabian Pizzica – made its final delivery run on Sunday, 27 March. Mr Pizzica has been selling or delivering newspapers since 1989, working from age 18 in his father’s Lygon Street newsagent.

In the mid ‘90s, brothers Fabian and Nick joined forces with cousins Robert and Pat (who has since passed away) to form the newspaper distribution arm of the business.

From a few suburban paper runs they grew Lygon Media into a service that stretched from the northern suburbs down to Docklands and Port Melbourne and delivered around 15,000 papers a day.

Lygon Media Distributors closed after newspaper distribution changes. Photo: Petra Stock

Until recently, the family-owned company was one of eight-to-10 remaining larger newspaper distributors, which alongside around 100 smaller newsagents, delivered daily papers around greater Melbourne.

As one of the larger operators, Mr Pizzica says Lygon Media had hoped to win a contract under the new model when News Corp invited tenders last year.

“We were out there buying up territories, increasing the volume. We were spending money and borrowing money to buy more territories, thinking that we’d be big enough for [News Corp] to look favourably on us,” Mr Pizzica says.

But their efforts didn’t deliver a contract. Now, he says, he’s out of a job and the business “isn’t worth anything and we have to pay off debt”.

We’ve all seen, and heard, how upset newspaper customers are with the poor service being provided by the News Corp and Nine Media controlled newspaper home delivery, which can only lead to reduced sales for print editions of their mastheads.

The report by The Citizen provides timely and appreciated coverage.

Personally, I am so lucky to have sold my home delivery runs in 2006, back when they had a good value. But through my newsagency software company, I speak daily with newsagents who did not or could not do this, newsagents who have had tens of thousands, and more, in goodwill ripped from them by the changes to newspaper distribution. This all started in the newsagency channel more than. 20 years ago. Those representing newsagents at the time have plenty to answer for enemy opinion.

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Ethics

Herald Sun slammed on review platform

The Herald Sun is having a rough time at www.productreview.com.au. Here are some reviews from the last couple of months, which I share as some speak to comments made by others here about newspaper deliveries:

Herald Sun has become a Lazy Journalist paper and full of advertising, which I know results in $$$ made. However, a lot is going on in the world. Doom, gloom and misfortune seems to be your story line. $2.50 for that?
Don’t think so…

…

I signed up for digital and hard copy of the Herald Sun for Fathers Day September 3rd 2021. Still haven’t received a paper, six months!!! Ring them every few weeks achieves nothing. Last time it was suggested to cancel and start again so we did. Now they tell me I have only missed 2 weeks! What do you do?

…

I spent 30 mins on hold just to cancel in this day and age a simple cancel now button would do without talking to someone who just tries to play marketing with you

…

Frustratingly poor poor service, very very disappointed.
From the 14th of February 2022, the Heraldsun changed delivery agents after which I have received only three newspapers in nine days for a seven day delivery customer..

The above is fact.

I have telephoned their number six times and spoken to helpful people who are sympathetic to our complaint but can only escalate the issue.

It seems that management does not care or bother to get involved personally.

For a customer who has paid in advance, not receiving the product that has been paid for is very annoying and frustrating.

…

You should be embarrassed
I have had my papers home delivered for over 5 years from my local news agent without a single problem.
Since the Herald sun took over the deliveries in December 2021, I have had nothing but problems.
Incorrect invoices, no deliveries , late deliveries and incorrect deliveries . There has not been one part of your service that you managed to get correct in the past 3 months.
After 3 emails and numerous phone calls, it is still not working .
I am now attempting to cancel my subscription but you have obviously set up your web site to make this as complex as possible.
DO NOT SUBSTITUTE TO THIS SERVICE

…

Very easy to subscribe, very hard to cancel
Frustrating that in a digital age you have to call to cancel your subscription however it is super easy for you to subscribe online. I was on hold for over 20 minutes to try and cancel. Not a good service.

…

Home delivery of newscorp papers
After many years of being a loyal hone delivery customer they’ve change delivery service and haven’t been able to deliver the paper to us. After complaining to newscorp the driver put a rude obusive note in the letterbox. We’ve been promised a free paper for the month, then they charged our credit card. Absolutely hopeless and not worth the hassle dealing with them.

And this is from customers. The frustration experienced by newsagents who are approached by former home delivery customers about missed papers and other issues they are unable to fix in the new distribution model pursued by News Corp. What a mess! Customers are frustrated. Newsagents have their time wasted.

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Newspaper distribution

Smart way to get newspaper home delivery customers to pay on time

While we don’t have many newsagents directly managing newspaper home deliveries in Australia any more, this competition for people paying their account from Lomas News in the UK is cool:

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Newspaper distribution

Newsagents not to blame for missing and late newspapers and magazines

In Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in recent months newspaper and magazine distribution has become even more unpredictable than usual.

Too often, newspapers and magazines arrive late in newsagencies. Sometimes, they don’t arrive at all.

This is not the fault of the newsagent.

Talking to the newspaper and magazine companies you get the feeling they don’t see it as their fault, either. They point at those they contract with.

Newsagents find it almost impossible to get assistance that resolves the problem of late and completely missed newspaper and magazine deliveries.

The distress the situation is causing for affected newsagents is considerable.

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magazine distribution

The late newspaper problem in Brisbane that has customers and newsagents frustrated

For all their talk about a better customer experience with changes they have made to newspaper distribution in Brisbane, News Corp. is yet to deliver (excuse the pun).

It’s now more than 3 weeks into the new arrangements and newsagents and customers alike are frustrated, upset, disappointed and angry at the continued failure of News Corp, Fairfax and their distribution partners to deliver the newspapers on time.

The newspaper delivery failure costs sales and damages customer service.

It’s like the newspaper publishers don’t care about newspapers any more, a newsagent wrote to me yesterday.

They took a system that was working and f*&%ed it up royally, another newsagent said.

I’ve ditched my print newspaper forever, said one long-standing home delivery customer.

The emotion aside, this is a dreadful situation that has come about solely because of decisions by the publishers. It is their failure to own.

What amplifies the situation is the poor communication from the publishers and their appointees about it.

Late newspapers are a problem in Brisbane. But, please, don’t blame your local newsagent.

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Newspaper distribution

The turmoil of newspaper delivery for a regional newsagent under new News Corp arrangements in Victoria

Victoria is in the middle of considerable changes to newspaper distribution let by decisions of  News Corp.. While change can be challenging, as we have seen in Queensland and New South Wales, the newspaper distribution experts at News Corp. are certainly expert at the botch up. Newsagents are suffering, enduring higher costs and upset that they are letting their long-term customers down.

Here is the experience of one regional newsagent in Victoria in dealing with the Herald and Weekly Times:

The Herald and Weekly Times replaced the reliable transport company they had used for decades to deliver papers to us and many newsagents in regional Victoria. Under the new transport company arrangement, it has been a nightmare.

Previously, papers for home delivery were delivered between 2:30am-3:30am, giving us time to unload, wrap and deliver by 6:30am. This meant deliveries were done when there was less traffic on the road. Delivery people are working longer hours and are delivering to homes in a less safe situation given more traffic on the road later in the morning.

Newspaper home delivery drivers are angry and threatening to leave. Customers are disadvantaged with later papers, often coming after they have left for work.

Circulation people at the Herald and Weekly Times have been disinterested. They tell newsagents to be patient and that what newsagents are experience are teething issues. For the first couple of weeks this could be the excuse, but months in, it is no excuse at all. To be fair to them, maybe they are saying all they can given the company’s decisions.

The Herald and Weekly Times people set the OH&S standards that newsagents are consistently unable to meet now because of their failure to deliver newspapers on time. The consistent failure puts delivery drivers and the public at risk.

The failures of this change in newspaper delivery transport arrangements is impacting the mental health of some in our channel. Yet, management at the Herald and Weekly Times, and their masters at News Corp. headquarters in Sydney appear disinterested. It feels like the News Corp. financial situation is all that matters.

I get that News Corp. wants to cut costs. But to do so in a way that even more burdens are shouldered by local small business retailers reflects a lack of ethics, it represents poor social responsibility.

I tell newsagents who tell me about the challenges relating to getting newspapers on time for home delivery to quit newspaper home delivery. There is no upside. What you make today in real terms from newspaper home delivery is less than a couple of years ago. Few newsagents genuinely profit from it. It is a distraction to other parts of the business that should be experiencing double-digit growth, and which make you happier.

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Ethics

How the News Corp. take over of newspaper home delivery from local small business newsagents is going

This comment from yesterday morning prompted me to share the tweets in this post:

We have had a 7day newspaper delivery for over 40 years. First by newsagent and in last 2 years by News Ltd contractor. The newsagent was excellent but the contractor is hit and miss. Some days we get paper some days not. It can be delivered anywhere fron 5am to 12 midday. Just recently it has been changed to a plastic sealed cover with paper being delivered flat. The driver must find it impossible to throw from vehicle. Our paper ends up anywhere from our neighbours yard to being on gutter or on the road. We also were told the late delivery is because the paper is coming from Sunshine Coast. Heaven forbid why we live in Brisbane.

These tweets, a selection of what’s out there, from newspaper customers speak volumes:

And this, relating to cutting supply in regional Australia:

The decisions read like the company plans to shrink newspaper home delivery to nothing.

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Newspaper distribution

News Corp. subscription systems failures let home delivery customers and newsagents down

I hear from newsagents about failures in News Corp. notifications about newspaper home delivery situations, about how the News Corp. notification is evidence of internal systems failures. Here is a recent example – they ask the delivery to restart on August 11 while then noting that the paper was failed to be delivered on August 10 to the same customer.

I am told no amount of reporting situations like this to News Corp. helps as the company ignores such reports.

So much for News Corp. providing newspaper home delivery customers a better experience than local newsagents provided – as the company claimed would be the case in its letters to customers.

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Newspaper distribution

Interesting use of tech in newspaper distribution in the UK

I am grateful to a UK newsagent for sharing these screen shots. On this screen we can see that they can set the required delivery time by day for newspapers.

In this image we can see the advice from the distributor as to when newspapers are likely to be available.

Newspaper publishers in Australia have failed newsagents on the technology front for years. Their disinterest in helping newsagents better serve customers is a factor in declining newspaper sales.

The screen shots from technology in the UK suggest access to a tech platform with useful tools that newsagents can use and rely on to provide better customer service.

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Newspaper distribution

Customers angry at newspapers not arriving until 10:30am

I heard from a newsagent in a major regional town in NSW this week who regularly receives newspapers at their shop at around 10:30am. What used to be 6am delivery is so late that customers are stopping purchasing the newspapers.

Part of the problem is the late delivery ion papers top a distribution depot. The main problem, though, is they supplier to the retail newsagent does not prioritise that last step delivery.

Despite calls and emails, publisher representatives appear to have little appetite for resolution. Now, if anyone says speak to an association, this should not be necessary. The publisher is already well aware of the problem. Their care factor is zero.

I feel for newsagents who are trying to serve their local communities and who face disinterest by newspaper publisher reps in getting papers consistently delivered on time.

This is a mental health issue as much as a customer service issue. The mental health of some newsagents is being challenged by late papers and the failure within newspaper pu listing businesses to have a process through which this can be reasonably addressed.

Here’s what I think should happen – newsagents should obtain the direct mobile number for a senior newspaper circulation executive and hand that out to any customer who complains about late papers. This would lead to the problem being resolved.

7 likes
Newspaper distribution

It’s almost as if News Corp. is trying to kill off print newspapers

Every few days I hear from newsagents complaining about how broken newspaper distribution has become, leading to late papers, lost customers and a higher cost for small business newsagents dealing with problems caused by the changes.

This email is one example of the News Corp. related mess:

As we are starting week 2 of the new courier company our papers were once again late. I rang XXX newsagency (as they get their papers just before us and is about 25 mins away) they told us that the van left at 5am from XXX. It took one hour and fifteen minutes to get here to YYY newsagency ( which should take less than 25 mins) We spoke to the delivery driver who said he was doing other deliveries before he dropped off our papers. We received our papers at 6:15am. This is not good enough Its hard enough to run a small business at the moment, we are having regular customers stop their deliveries and the early risers are not coming into the shop. Our paper delivery people have other jobs which means We have to do the deliveries. That causes a flow on effect to all home deliveries and our out of town paper deliveries. We may just be small but we matter. Sunday they got here at 5:15 I wonder if that was because they had no other deliveries.

While Thera are some in News Corp. doing their best to address issues like these, the company is weakened in the circulation management area. It is but a small shadow today of the strong circulation and considerable circulation management resources of years ago.

While never-ending falling circulation is driving the company ‘s commitment, or lack thereof, to circulation resources, it fails to adequately support newsagents.

Note: I removed identifying information as this note could relate to plenty of locations where News Corp. has messed with what was a working system in pursuit of their profit or something.

11 likes
Newspaper distribution

Personal service disappears with News Corp changes to newspaper home delivery

Back in the day, if you had an issue with newspaper home delivery, you could speak with your local newsagent and, usually, it would be fixed. Today, for many Australians, thanks to the changes led by News Corp, changes that have ripped newspaper home delivery away from local newsagency businesses, you often have to deal with a faceless, not local, call centre.

One home delivery customer told me this week that the process was so broken that they cancelled their subscription. They were a 7 day a week customer. The issue was the paper being left at the wrong entrance to their apartment complex. The delivery was to a foyer 5 metres for their foyer. They told me that contact to report the issue took more time that the paper was worth.

Another person told me of their experience at receiving the paper without having ordered it. They spoke to the local newsagent who advised they no longer did deliveries. The person receiving the free paper called the number the newsagent provided. After a couple of calls they gave up and decided to lean into the daily free paper.

For all their noise to home delivery customers about the changes providing a better experience, the anecdotal evidence is that the experiences are worse, more disconnected and certainly not local. I wonder if these experiences will be noted as a reason for a decline in newspaper sales.

Newspaper home delivery in Australia, while often loss making for newsagents, was an appreciated local service. News Corp has led the changes that have dismantled this much loved service.

18 likes
Newspaper distribution

News Ltd. throws QLD newsagents under the bus on newspaper home delivery

After decades of loyal, low cost, accurate newspaper home delivery service, News Ltd. is planning to send letters to subscribers in which they throw newsagents under the bus, inferring their service has sub-standard.

News Ltd. has send impacted Queensland distribution newsagents newsagents a package, including letters to be sent to subscription customers. This paragraph is from the second letter:

This is appalling wording. Improved customer experience? To do that, News Ltd. will need to:

  1. Be contactable 24/7. That is, human contact, not a recording or a computer system.
  2. Have people dealing with queries who understand local situations.
  3. Get the papers out on time – this relates to many complaints.
  4. Be a good listener as many customer complaints relate to matters under control of News Ltd.

Back to the paragraph from the letter, it suggests that News Ltd. has been delivering the paper, when it has not. Sure, there is a nod to the accuracy of newsagents – but News Ltd. claims this is their achievement, when it is not.

For a company in the communication business, this letter is appalling.

I feel for Queensland newsagents and what they, and their customers, are about to endure.

17 likes
Newspaper distribution
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