Ongoing Sunday Paper Problems

The Struggle Continues


We have just spent a great deal of time reassembling Sunday newspapers that have arrived with poorly done inserts. This has become a regular occurrence, but this week was an extremely high proportion (about one third).

Many have double inserts of some sections, others have inserts between papers and yet others have missing inserts. This results in several phonecalls from customers complaining about sections of their paper missing. Because we roll hundreds of Sunday papers, we can't check them all and only remove sections that make the paper too fat for our wrapping machine and cause expensive breakages.

What a pity that the papers are now arriving 3 hours later than they used to and they are so poorly assembled. It causes heartache and frustration thet should be easy for the publishers to resolve! The additional pressures on us to deliver in a reasonable time are quite unfair.


Maxine and Peter

Harry Potter Disaster

The Lies:

Customers who phoned the Telelgraph to complain about the Harry Potter promotion were given a pack of lies by those answering the phone.

Customers were told that newsagents had been given promotion items equal to their newspaper supply. Supplies were savagely decreased in steps until we actually received 80 items for almost 1,000 newspapers!

Customers were told that newsagents had to supply major petrol outlets from their own supply and were therefore unable to fill requests from their customers. We received completely separate promo items packed and labelled to send to these outlets!

The Facts:

The promotion was so badly handled by the publishers that it caused major damage to our business though factors that we could not (were not allowed to) control. Unfortunately we have to wear to unjust and uncontrolled comments from some irate customers. The worst thing was that they verbally attacked our staff. Another point was that we were not given enough information about any attempts to rectify the situation to inform our customers.

There were many other problems with this promotion such as storage of the product and the abysmal return offered to undertake the project. Unfortunately the handling of the promotion was not up to scratch from the source. What was promised and promising did not eventuate.

Maxine and Peter

Harry Potter

Posters, Cards and Wands

The current promotion is underway and there is one essential for customers:- you MUST have a coupon from the paper to purchase the product. Each day there is a new item to purchase for $2 with the coupon.

Some customers who received the first item and the album last Sunday will come in next Sunday to get item number 2 free, having not looked carefully at the details. The fact that they are many issues behind will cause great angst because of they didn't listen to our info last week-end.

We hope that all outlets participating follow the rules by insisting on collecting the coupons from the papers. Our staff often get abused for not providing previous items or mutiple items with only one coupon. Another problem we have struck is requests to hold papers and promo items that we will not do. These customers do not realise that the time involved does not start to match the retail returns we receive from these promotions. For over a week we had to find storage room for many of the boxes of the free albums and have happily provided them to free up the space not the promotion is on.

Enjoy collecting this promotion at a fantastic price for enthusiasts, but please bear with us as we collect the tokens and explain the details to other customers.

Maxine and Peter

Professional Thieves

Another Break-in!

We are certainly getting tired of continued attacks on our business by local youths. This time there was a lot of malicious damage and only some drinks and confectionery stolen (that we have identified so far).

This seems to be done by young professional criminals. Witnesses say that there were four very young people who had the audacity the come back after being disturbed during the break, enter and steal. In addition to the damage to stands and displays, there was an organised search for money and cigarettes that left a huge amount of documents and records scattered behind the counter. We remove all valuables as a result of bitter experience in previous break-ins. Last time we decided to discontinue cigarettes from our stock.

It is extrememly difficult to cope with such events and begins to take a toll on individuals and owners. The most disappointing thought is that when arrests are made, we are requested to attend a conference with those arrested. At one conference the criminal involved decided not to attend because he didn't want to get out of bed that day! Result - end of conference!

We feel that the only real solution would involve payment for damage caused and goods stolen. This could be repaid over an extended time, and our experience is that all those who have been involved with these illegal activities receive some kind of public benefits. This could be the source of some of the repayments. Such penalities could lead to second thoughts about becoming involved in the growing public problem of such break-ins.

Maxine and Peter

$1,000 Gift Voucher Winner!

Mother's Day Winner

Here is our lucky winner of the Proud's $1,000 gift voucher in our Mother's Day draw. Helen Roworth had her name selected from over 40,000 entries. For her free entry she purchased a Mothers Day card from our Newspower store.

Helen said that this was the first major prize she had ever won and she had never had $1, ooo to spend on jewellery before. Congratulations!

We have had great luck in our store with some of the Newspower competitions where customers have won barbeques and sets of golf clubs among other great prizes. Remember that we are your store with more.

Maxine and Peter

Nan Turns 90!

Happy Birthday Nan

Nan will turn 90 on Thursday June 2nd.

We plan to have her at the Hillvue Road store around 10.30am on Saturday June 4th. She will be there for about an hour, so please call in and say hello to her. If you are lucky, you might even score a piece of her birthday cake.

She and Ron bought the newsagency in 1964 and extended themselves to the limit. In those days the rules to purchasing a newsagency were very different. She has noticed many changes over the years.

She may need some help in recalling your name, so be kind and give her some clues when you call in. She has not worked in the shop for many years and only recently come in one morning a week to us help with some office work.

For a long time she helped look after Ron who went into a nursing home for quite a number of years. In this time she lost contact with many of our long time customers.

Maxine and Peter

Fun For All

New Card Range

Our new range of cards that make a noise have caused great interest with our customers. People are spending time checking out the range and having great fun doing so. Many have found the exact card they want for someone special.

These are difficult to describe in words, but fascinating when inspected. The cards make noises that include songs and music and sounds. Call in and check them out yourself.

Maxine and Peter