Carriage Charge Increases

NEWSTRADE

News UK increases carriage charge

Retailers have been told the increase will take place in two stages.

News UK Direct to Retail is to increase its delivery charge by 3% next year.

The news was broken in a letter to its retail customers on 10 December. Retailers were told that the increase would be in two stages, with 50% of the new charge deferred until 5 July.

The letter said: “We have worked hard to continually manage our costs and operational efficiencies in order to keep any annual changes to a minimum. In light of this, News UK will increase DDC by 3% from 24 January 2022, which is below inflation. However, 50% of this increase will be deferred for six months as a gesture of goodwill.”

In response, the NFRN’s National President Narinder Randhawa, said: “Last year, we were relieved when News UK DTR, along with Smiths News and Menzies Distribution, took the commonsense decision to suspend any carriage charge reviews in the light of the challenging position that independent retailers were facing.

“Nothing has changed. Times are still incredibly tough for independent retailers and service levels are unacceptably low. News UK DTR pressing ahead with an increase to its charge will only add to newsagents’ angst. The company is also running the risk of causing yet even more news retailers to exit the industry. For swathes of retailers, handling news is becoming increasingly unprofitable.”

Surrey news retailer Bhavesh Patel said that NFRN members served by News UK DTR were “very unhappy”.

He added: “With our energy bills soaring and with wages set to rise this spring, many news retailers will be unable to stand an increase in their carriage charge.

“Publishers and wholesalers must have a long and hard think about their actions if they want the printed word to survive. This latest news will force some news retailers to look again at selling newspapers, particularly when we are served by two news wholesalers and have to find the money to pay two sets of carriage charges.”