What does it mean if a Newsagent business has Home Delivery or Distribution ?

A large percentage of newsagencies hold both Home Delivery and Distribution contracts with agents, on average, delivering  300 newspapers to homes in their allocated territory each morning.

Some agents perform the delivery themselves; others employ delivery drivers as staff or engage a Contractor; or a combination of all these options to provide backup on backup.

There are more companies entering the market offering Delivery Contractor services, so if you find a great business with a run and you personally do not want to perform it, there are always options. Discuss this with your Specialist Broker.

The most desirable position is a Contracted delivery run, because if the Contract company driver is sick, the Contractor has to find their own replacement, taking the obligation off the newsagent owner to do the run.

News Ltd require (where possible) that home delivered papers are dropped by 6.30am each day, requiring an early start to sort, wrap (if needed), pack and deliver to homes and sub-agents. Starting times vary subject to the run size and initial drop time by News Ltd.

Home delivery can engender a customer and community loyalty, and can be a very useful database source for general marketing of the business for product other than Newspapers, and seasonal promotions.

Newsagents who hold a Home Delivery and/or a Distribution Contract with News Ltd; are given a defined Territory. The Territory clearly states a Starting Point, noting street to street compass settings that return to the Starting Point, to Map out an area that the contracted newsagent controls.

Any News Ltd product (eg: Courier Mail, Gold Coast or Townsville Bulletin, Cairns Post, Sunday Mail, Daily Telegraph etc) sold in that Territory, will go through the Territory newsagent. That includes any & all minor or major supermarkets, service stations and other potential outlets. Accordingly, the Territory newsagent gets a commission on all sales of these newspapers delivered by them in their Territory. For minor outlets, the newsagent also commonly provides the Magazines; however larger outlets usually have their own direct supply of magazines.

Non-Territory newsagents are known as Sub-agents, generally earning only half of the suppliers provided commission rate.

Accordingly, a territory provides a degree of protection from competition, reducing the likelihood of another newsagent opening next door to a Territory holder.

News Ltd made an announcement in July 2012 that they intended to start a Trial consolidation of delivery territories on the Southside of Brisbane. The initiative was named T2020. After implementation proved delayed & complicated, on 7^th March 2013, they announced they have discontinued the T2020 trial.

News Ltd have since introduced “The Project” in Sydney (FY2019), assigning 2 distribution agents for east & west, and 2 agents for the CBD. One can only speculate the ongoing actions of News Ltd & Fairfax.

News Ltd contracts have only ever had a 6 month guarantee, where News Ltd can provide 6 months notice to resume any delivery territory. This condition has been around for many years.