Like any business organization these guys keep their little secrets. So it was interesting when Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Limited and Horwitz Publications had an argument over the changes in return policy of magazines.

The dispute seems to be that once Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Limited went away from checking everything to spot checks, Howitz became upset and complained the returns data became less accurate. Since large sums of money was at stake, ad they could not agree they went to teh courts.

This is all lucky for us as it makes interesting reading and gives us some answers to some questions we occasionally ask in the industry.

If you click here
http://tinyurl.com/3dbrxn

Do a search for SCHEDULE 1

You can see what Horwitz Publications are paying Gotch, a fee for sending each magazine. In 2004/2005-year it was $0.215 a copy. They also get a fee for collecting the returns of $0.075 for an unsold magazine. I was surprised how low these fees are. If you think about it for a company to do it for that price shows an efficient operation. Note there are obviously extras as further down you can see for example they get a bit extra if the magazines are not barcoded. Which is good as it encourages suppliers to use barcodes. Anyone who does not use barcodes in retail today should be punished.

There is a big issue in returns I noticed that I never thought of before as I read this document. It is the magazine producer in this case Horwitz Publications, are going to much trouble to make sure that unsold copies of magazines are destroyed. It makes much sense when you think about it. An unsold magazine is often a dangerous rival product to the current magazine.

However what I found particularly interesting is that supermarkets are not required to return copies if unsold! Why supermarkets and not newsagents in many states, I am not sure but I would be interested in finding out.

Another point I can see is that not all clients of Gordan and Gotch are required to send return forms unfortunately this appears not to be important in this dispute so no details were supplied other then it happens.

Still it appears that this round Gotch lost and I suspect it them a lot.

Enjoy reading it, I think you will find it interesting.

Bishops News & Stationery

We have just launched our brand new website!

Be sure to have a look, for all our latest specials and what’s new!

We will be updating the site on a regular basis.

Thanks

Steve Bishop

This is not POS Solution's problem but a problem for people who use other systems.

Anyway what we are seeing is to quote Josh Billings “There are people so addicted to exaggeration they can't tell the truth without lying.” So therefore I have put together some FAQ type questions to answer questions on what the HWT latest compliance requirement means.

Q: If I do not have a contract with HWT in Victoria am I affected?
A: No.

Q: If I do not do HWT deliveries am I affected?
A: No.

Q: What exactly is the problem that HWT sees that caused this issue?
A: HWT has a project which involves collecting and overseeing its subscribers, to complete this project they need the newsagents subscription data weekly. Many newsagents despite frequent requests by HWT have not been sending this data. HWT now feels the solution is an automated method using broadband to process and send the data.

Q: Are only DOS users affected?
A: No. My understanding is that any newsagency that is not sending subscription data automatically is effected. The ruling now is that newsagents must be sending this information automatically by the end of June 2008.

Q: What is HWT terms for those people that are effected?
A: My understanding is that until March 2008, HWT will offer any affected newsagency up to $10,000 interest free loan for 12 months to pay for anything to fix this problem. After March 2008, if they do not comply it would be nearly impossible to sell a newsagency as HWT will not approve the software at transfer. Then after June 2008, HWT intends to take action against newsagency using clauses in the existing contracts.

Q: Are only POS Solutions clients affected?
A: No. Although most of newsagents on the HWT list are POS Solution's clients there are at least two other software vendors substantially affected as well.

If you use one of the vendors which has clients affected maybe you should ask yourselves where will my software be in a few years if say lynx takes off.

Q: What does POS Solutions intend to do about this problem?
A: We intend to upgrade our software so users will have the feature that HWT require.

Q: Will I need to upgrade any extras?
A: There maybe some equipment cost as HWT requirements include broadband. For this we would suggest a computer with at least Windows 2000. Although we have not done any tests we expect that for many Bill Expresses broadband should do. This is free.

For some old computers systems we may need to do a site inspection to see what is required.

Q: I am affected but I am not a POS Solutions client what will happen to me?
A: You need to get a new system. From what I have been told there will be no easy solution for you.

As I stated before this is not POS Solution's clients' problem but a problem for people on other systems.

Having said that I would like to invite you to look at our software and find out why I believe it is the best on the market.

An information sheet is available here.
/blogs/pictures/DOSTOBROWSERFREE1007.pdf

If you did not want to go windows then we could supply you with an approved DOS system too. One that is I believe the second only to posbrowser in power and speed. It can and does handle a newsagency with extremely fast response rates of ten cash registers, a 1000 home deliveries and 50 subagents, with more analysis and reports that you have ever seen.

Plus we are now the only ones that can provide you with an upgrade path from DOS to windows if in the future you were forced or just decided to upgrade to windows.

For quiet some time we have had requests for a status bar when printing round cards instead of those few scary moments waiting to see if your rounds are going to print properly. You know what I mean, in the past when you clicked on print rounds you had to wait for them to appear on screen without any indication of what the computer was doing. This led a lot of people to believe that nothing was happening and Pos browser had crashed. This thought was always reinforced by the fact that while waiting for the rounds to print the rest of Pos browser was not accessible. Now when you click on print rounds you will find a clear display of exactly what the system is doing so you know that things are running smoothly while the system calculates the rounds.

Also you will notice that they run much faster.

If you don't have this new feature yet make sure your automatic updates are working by checking the program updates tab on the welcome document. If they are not please contact pos support for help with getting things going again.

Regards
Paul

NEWS CORP in Victoria now state that

The over-riding requirement for newsagents is that they must be able to transmit home delivery files automatically to HWT each week by the end of the 07/08 financial year

What this means is that from the end of June 1008 customer subscription data must be sent to HWT using an automatic facility every week in the new formats!

Our windows version already has this in place.

However since newsagents with DOS cannot do this now, to make this happen if you are such a newsagent with a contract in Victoria with NEWS CORP, NEWS CORP will give you an interest free loan. This amount can be up to $10,000 to upgrade your computer system by the end of March 2008. Included in this $10,000 can be such items as software, data conversion, computers, modem, broadband, software agreements and training. All are included. Whatever is needed to allow this to happen!

This is a fantastic offer. Motivated because everyone realizes that you cannot just dump people.

So for our DOS users we will be releasing in late February, a DOS version WHIZ that will have this function. As HWT insist on an Internet broadband in the shop, the minimum specification for WHIZ is windows 2000 although we prefer XP.

One warning WHIZ may need a trained engineer to come out on site to set it up.

We will not be supporting WHIZ on early operating system of windows for example Windows 98 or 95 or DOS operating systems. If you want to use some others for example Linux or freeDOS I would be interested as a theoretical exercise although I suspect that HWT will be reluctant to support such operating systems. So perhap run it though HWT first.

Also by the nature of the automatic facility, HWT will know instantly who is not doing this so although there is a lovely carrot there is a stick as well. My understanding is that after March 2008, the $10,000 offer is closed. Then NEWS CORP will state at any proposed newsagency transfer the software is not satisfactory if it does not have this automated facility. After June 2008, NEWS CORP intends to take action against newsagents with old software using penalty clauses in the existing contracts.

If you wish to discuss this further to discuss this further. Ring up our Head Office on (03) 95977222 and ask for me quoting "NEWS CORP $10,000 offer"

It is always very special when people send in such letters. We certainly appreciate them.

Michael Varga - CEO
POS Solutions
23 Tuck Street
Moorabbin

Dear Michael,

Recently Beaufort News and Tattslotto upgraded the newsagency computer system from DOS to POS Browser and Windows XP.

Prior to the upgrade we considered the following:

Improved efficiencies within the business
Service 24/7
Price - purchase and installation
Data transfer from old to new system
Features of POS browser
Tailor made to suit our own business
Management of the papers, magazines and stock
Productivity improvements - reduction of labour costs

After considering all of the above, we found that POS Solutions met these needs and we are extremely happy with our upgrade.

We are a small country Newsagency, operated by a husband and wife partnership, with minimal part time staff. Since the upgrade, the overall day to day operations of the business have been simplified.

We are extremely satisfied with the total installation of POS Browser. Should Newsagents want to upgrade or change their system we would highly recommend POS Solutions as their service and program is exceptional.

Regards,

Jim and Mary Cox
Beaufort Newsagency
Beaufort

Now the card companies are blaming Xchangeit for the hold up!

I know many of you are thinking it would have been good to have it out by Christmas. I had a few people all lined up hoping to give it a go then.

Based on the current schedule, I don’t see the new card categories out before the New Year. There is little I can do except register our disappointment.

I always like to check what the effect on newspaper sales are when something extraordinary happens. Generally they do show an increase partly if only as it gets people out of their homes but partly also for information. This shows that we do still have an important part to play in the community in information sharing.

One point I am disappointed is that unlike the last elections, newsagents have given up in trying getting political capital out of there concerns. For example with the ACCC since the monopoly gone surely they should be arguing in public that the ACCC is stifling competition by not letting newsagents in small business organise.

Also I wish the newsagency industry had advertised they are a green industry? I am sure there could have been some political capital out of that too.
 

Finally we have figures out for newspapers by the Audit Bureau of Circulation with comparisons.

I should say the main interest in the ABC figures are that these are official and legal so they can be discussed at any level.

Anyway I don’t see any surprises in the report. I had already discussed this issue with several of my clients and many of them had reported to me that newspapers are slightly up or stable. Which is exactly what the report shows as overall sales of national newspapers like the Australian and the Australian Financial Review are slightly up. State newspapers were constant or slightly down. Overall the newspaper industry is static. Which considering the overseas trend in the US and Britain is down is a good result!

Still it does not give us a newsagency wide figure and we should not to be so dependant on these bodies, as no-one is going to give to us these figures but should be easy to get if the ANF decides to do something about it!

Christmas and the holiday period are getting close so I thought we better give the priority to putting more information sheets out on publications handling. So an extra section on publications handling in the DOS system was been added today.

A group of around 50 small business owners is now holding signs with messages. Note how some are dressed. They are protesting at the annual general meeting of Lend-Lease in Sydney claiming that because of the extensions of the Erina Fair shopping centre in 2003 many retailers and restaurant owners were financially ruined.

{links removed  as no longer active}

I remember recently a really good newsagent near Dandenong went badly south partly for a similar reason because of changes to the center he got moved. They ended out in a section that had no after-hours trade which was a major part of his business.

Almost if not all the magazines and newspapers make most of their income from advertising so if they increase their readership they will get more advertising dollars. So they have a vested interest in increasing the readership figure.

Sometimes these methods maybe a bit too much and although American, I think you will find this article titled “When newspapers fudge the numbers” disturbing.

[Update 11/09/2018  link no longer works]

Probably in response to such stories the ABC here changed its circulation methods.

If so, this has created another major problem that we no longer have any historical comparisons of circulation figures from previous years.

Am I being cynical in wondering if that is partly the reason that they did change the method as surely they could still give us a decent figure or estimate using the old method for comparisons?

Another lot of information sheets were added today dealing with
Magazine Management Returns

You will find it here.

Earlier this week, the public was alerted to toxic chemicals being identified in the Bindeez Products. I am not sure if this alert is across the whole Bindeez range. Moose Enterprise, the distributor of the Bindeez product, informed GNS that they have set up a recall procedure for consumers. The details are on their website.

Or through a free call at 1800 303 895. At this stage, GNS is waiting on advice from Moose regarding the recall procedure for Wholesalers and resellers. GNS has pulled all Bindeez stock from sale, and I would ask that Newsagents also do the same and hold the stock until I can advise you of the return procedure. GNS sold the Bindeez products under 2 codes (00012 Bindeez refill Packs) (00014 Bindeez Starter Pack)

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact the GNS staff in Melbourne.

Regards

Jason McLeod
State Manager Victoria
Group Newsagency Supplies
80 - 84 Peters Avenue
Mulgrave, Victoria 3170

A fair number of our clients last month signed up for on-line returns with network. Then they got nothing! So they have been querying with Zac and I about what is happening.

We have just made some enquiries! Nothing is wrong. What happened is the last release of return forms from Network was on 23/10/2007 and these people signed up afterwards so they missed that delivery. The next return form from Network should come out around the same date in November so it should come then.

Of course if nothing comes then, please let us know.

Please note we do suggest that anyone wanting to do on-line returns we recommend that you start with Gotch, then go to NDD and then NDC last.

One of my clients in Queensland emails me an email with a link to a web page from a competitor that claims that he must upgrade his DOS version. He then demanding to know what is happening.

As I see it, what he has read is a fiction!

So what is the facts, in Victoria many newsagents were not sending News Corp subscription data. News Corporations got upset so they decided to make a review of what was happening. They looked at the DOS and found certain features that they did not like. Once we found out we had discussions with them on this issue. Following these discussions we presented News Corporation with a proposal that has a good chance of being accepted that will allow Victorian newsagents of our software to keep using their software.

Now what has happened is it seems that one of our competitor although they have many such sites too are not going to upgrade their DOS version. What is going to happen to their clients that trusted them to buy software off them? It is all well and good to take someone money but once you do you should not leave them in a lurch in the middle of the river.

So as I see the facts only those newsagents in Victoria that are not POS Solution's clients are in big trouble.

We were working with Artwrap to fix up some errors that we found in their stock category listing. As a result a new file has been created and now mounted. It can be found here.

For this and other supplier files please visit here

It has been a frustrating day for us here with a supplier to try to give him sales data from a few of our clients. To their credit they need the information to find out what advertising deal would work best in the dynamics of a newsagency. So we spent most of the day trying to massage the data into a format that they would like only to discover that nothing worked not barcodes, not supplier codes nothing.

It is a case that we are going to have to go out and check their operations out to discover how they think.

The following has been done in the new version of the school book program

Added new fee reports in report section

We have added an interim report into stock order screen to get it press f8 after loading order.

Now when entering payments under the payments tab, if payment method 'cheque' selected once you click 'Take Payment' you a prompt to enable you to add cheque under the account.

You can edit the line description (i.e. the stock description) by pressing F5 for both the student booklist and the class booklist.

Under School Book Package > functions > Utilities. You will find a new tab 'Aging Process'. This tab will allow you to bulk move students into a New Year or bulk delete students from a particular year.

You can now unfinalise quotes/classes or student booklists from the function > Utilities tab. When refinalizing an Active Price-List you will be asked if you wish to updated all linked classes. By selected Yes for this choice the system will automatically update all relevant class lists. When refinalizing a Class Booklist you will be asked if you wish to update all relevant student booklists. PLEASE NOTE: That if an individual student's Qty for an item has been changed from the default Qty the Qty will not be changed.

Changes done and now being checked so scheduled soon release

School Books > Reports you will find a new report 'Profit By School', This report will show a breakdown of all items on booklist for a particular school and include all student totals.

In School Books > Setup you will soon find a new alternative 'Allow EMA Method'. With this alternative you will be able to select a payment EMA method default. If 'EMA Method' is enabled when entering the student tab, you will find a checkbox 'EMA student'. If this checkbox is ticked when selecting a student in the payment tab it will default to the preselected EMA payment method.

This one is just scary. It is going around now on youtube.

AT first I thought it was a newsagent he was hitting but now I think it is a post office. But it could be a newsagent it is so close.

[youtube]KAhD08P6kU4[/youtube]

Looking at it I suspect that it is not as easy as it looks as I noticed that he is only going where it is busy. Nor is he looking for security cameras. He must have done his research first.

You can write a comment here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAhD08P6kU4#