No newspapers until the afternoon 8/4/13
Western Isles shop keepers warn of a dramatic loss in business after it emerged that most daily newspapers will not arrive until well into the afternoon.
In some cases, particularly in winter, the changes mean people getting the news a day late.
Today is the first day of a distribution switch from early morning plane to afternoon ferry resulting in a hugely delayed service for islanders.
Only the Press and Journal will arrive in the mornings as usual. However, bundles
of the P&J destined for the Uists will not get past Stornoway airport on Monday and
Fridays after the Comhairle axed these inter-island flights.
When Hebrides News broke the news last week, many retailers were taken by surprise because there was no consultation from their mainland distributor.
With more people using internet news sites plus dramatically falling newspapers sales and rising freight fees, the Scottish Newspaper Society (SNS) distribution committee opted to cancel the daily 8am plane charter.
Unlike island weekly papers which are still profitable - thanks to a combination
of a cover price and high advertising prices - despite also suffering declining popularity,
the fiercely competitive market for price sensitive dailies means the air freight
route was unviable.
Sales of newspapers already plummet on days the plane is delayed by bad weather so retailers fear the majority of customers will simply not bother buying papers from now on.
They warn the loss of customers will badly hit struggling shops in fragile rural areas with sales of additional goods like milk, bread tobacco and confectionary also likely to be hit.
A newstrade summit in Glasgow last month highlighted that bought an average of £4.40 of goods with their newspaper on each visit.
Equally concerning is the loss of the social role newspapers play in remote areas with people, particularly the elderly, going to shops to meet others, having a chat and catch up with what’s happening in the community.
On Uist and Benbecula, newspapers will not be available until after 4pm every second day and not get to many shops until almost closing time.
On alternative days it is unclear if the mainland papers will make the morning ferry from Skye.
Numerous disrupted ferry sailings over the winter results in many days without newspapers.
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