With the average price of unleaded petrol at 106.57p on Sunday January 25 and diesel at 113.65p, and with newspaper and magazine circulations continuing to fall, NFRN Chief Executive Paul Baxter said news wholesalers could no longer leave retailers high and dry and should pass on the cost savings with immediate effect.
“Everyone knows that the price of fuel is at its lowest for a long time so it’s wrong for news wholesalers to leave their retail customers high and dry by hiding behind the excuse of their annual reviews.
“What’s more, just recently Menzies launched its Customer Service Pledge and I quote: ‘We will set a Carriage Service Charge (CSC), calculated on the basis of relevant distribution costs.’ It’s a travesty that wholesalers are refusing to recognise the fuel price drops and haven’t passed these on to their customers.
“So come on, news wholesalers, it’s time to end this retailer rip off and make sure that retailers are paying a realistic charge for their dwindling supplies of newspapers and magazines or is it time we had a word with the new Competition Markets Authority?
“It is not so long ago that, in reaction to soaring fuel prices, wholesalers imposed an interim carriage charge increase without waiting for an annual review. Now that fuel prices have dramatically reduced, wholesalers’ failure to react with a corresponding reduction in carriage charges is tantamount to blatant profiteering.”
