In a letter to customers, Smiths News advised that “it currently has no plans to make any charges to your delivery service charge as a result of these changes.”
NFRN Devon and Cornwall district president John Cotsell said: “This is wonderful news and will benefit all news retailers who previously received their News UK supplies from Dash. These are truly challenging times for independent news retailers and we are delighted that Smiths News recognises this and is not hitting our pockets with any extra charges.”
Chief executive Paul Baxter added: “Smiths News is to be applauded. But what a difference to the actions in Northern Ireland where EM News introduced a £15 per week carriage surcharge after it won the contract to distribute News UK titles and Newspread imposed ludicrous increases in carriage charges by as much as 33 per cent when it took over the distribution of a number of titles in 2012 and then attacked retailers again with inflation busting carriage charge hikes at the end of last year. EM News and Newspread should hang their heads in shame.”
Smiths News takes over the News UK distribution contract from Dash from Monday July 7. The wholesaler has also advised retailers it is working very closely with both Dash and News UK to deliver a seamless transfer of supplies.
To date the NFRN has held two meetings with Smiths News and says it will be closely monitoring service levels throughout the transition period.
