In Suspense

Home Deliveries

We are being kept in the dark about the late deliveries to us of Sydney papers. This is becoming increasingly common in recent times. There are major problems at the Sydney end but we are being treated like mushrooms.

Once we had Sunday paper deliveries around midnight or soon after. Now we have an enormous number of deliveries (fostered by cheap promos) but are receiving papers as late as 5 am. Infighting, power struggles and obstruction within publishing houses are a major part of our problem. Another cause is our downgrading in the pecking order so that other routes are being supplied ahead of us.

Physical production problems and stupid management decisions also aggravate the problem. Who would believe that the entire distribution of The Daily Telegraph could be held back for several hours waiting for the production of a handful of The Australian? Such "wisdom" beggars belief.

At our end customers, staff (delivery and shop) and management get very frustrated. It is most unfair for these large corporations to continue without resolving such confronting problems. We are not kept informed about these problems and are unable to make contingency plans. The day is ruined and the delivery task interferes with the general running of our business. The damage to customer relations at the local level is horrible. There is growing resentment of the publishers actions or lack of resolution by all people at this end of the chain.

Maxine and Peter