The major newsagent selling one of Scotland's best-known regional newspapers has criticised a relative cut in the terms to retailers by the paper’s owners.
The Paisley Daily Express is to increase in price, starting Monday, from 42p to 45. But there is to be no increase in the 10.5p that retailers will receive for every copy sold.
Sinclair Barr Newsagents sells more copies of the Paisley Daily Express than any other newsagent and its owner, Desmond Barr, told allmediascotland.com: “In effect, it's a cut in the retailer's terms, because it will be no longer 25 per cent of the cover price. Retailers have increasing costs that they must cover; rising costs don't just affect newspaper publishers.”
Sinclair Barr Newsagents sells around 300 copies of the Paisley Daily Express every day. The paper's most recent audited sales figure is an average 7,726, between June and December last year.
He said he also feared the increase in price might result in a loss of custom. “A lot of my customers have been recently commenting on the content; they say it's lacking real news. This price increase might be all it takes for them to stop buying the paper any more, putting further pressure on both home news delivery and the jobs of retailers and journalists.”
A spokesperson for the paper's publishers, Trinity Mirror, told allmediascotland.com: “We have taken these measures in response to unprecedented rises in newsprint costs and the challenging economic environment which continues to affect the regional press and the publishing industry as a whole. We have fully notified all trade representatives of these changes and we will continue to work closely with all our contacts in future.”
