It ain't called "USA Yesterday"

[wolfie]

Monday night, I bought a newspaper to have something to read while eating dinner (this truck stop only carries the flagship of the Gannet chain). After dinner, I noticed something was wrong, and mentioned it to the cashier of the truck stop's convenience store (wasn't a problem for me - it was an issue I hadn't read yet) - it wasn't the current issue (July 28th), but one for the 24th (Thursday of previous week).

Cashier went to the pile of newspapers, and not all of them were for the 24th - a few at the bottom were for the 21st. Also, the "Sports Weekly" (I don't follow sports) had a few of the current issue, and batches of several different outdated issues - if they'd gone one issue older than the oldest one in the stack, it'd have gone into May.

Apparently when the new issue came in, they'd just drop the stack onto whatever was still in the rack, without clearing out the old issues. I understand that they can get credit for returning unsold copies, but there's got to be a time limit on that, so letting old ones build up can cost the store money. Also, I can just imagine the SC behaviour (even though this happened in NJ rather than SC) if someone found out that they'd just paid 2 bucks for a newspaper (oldspaper?) from the previous week.

[Gizmo]

Surely you'd want to keep on top of the returns for the store credit? Not let them build up!

[EricKei]

Just a lazy delivery guy, then x.x

We have issues (ha!) with the *other* paper in town's delivery guy. At certain locations, we have granted them permission to use our (clearly-branded) newspaper racks, on the simple condition that they are not allowed to place their papers on the top level. While our top level will sometimes run out, we leave plenty extra on the lower levels to replace them, but, of course, we're the only ones who ever move them up -- we ask everyone on staff to do so whenever they happen to be in said store.

Competitor's driver, at our biggest-selling local store, has decided that he doesn't really need to comply with this restriction. Not only does he repeatedly put his papers on the top rack, we have found that the little shit has put them *on top of our actual papers* more than once. Not cool. I mean, I realize that our weekly paper has significantly more readers, and better circulation, than their daily paper, but come on...We've been trying to get the bosses to have a little...chat...with their distribution department for a while now. Wish us luck on that front x.x

[Firecrackers Not Included]

The guys I hate the most that come into my store are the ones that bring in the free circulars (apt guide, employment news, etc.) They will put them on top of other papers and in front of magazines. When I face that area and find these offenses, they are instant garbage.

[Kagato]

Most places here in NZ that I know of require the shop to clip the logo and date from the front page (so basically the top couple of inches of the page) from the returns and simply give those to the delivery person as proof of unsold copies (though AFAIK the delivery person can request to sight the full paper to ensure they are not being ripped off), once this is done, the unsold papers can be binned/given away/shredded and used for puppy training

[wolfie]

Competitor's driver, at our biggest-selling local store, has decided that he doesn't really need to comply with this restriction. Not only does he repeatedly put his papers on the top rack, we have found that the little shit has put them *on top of our actual papers* more than once.

Sounds like a need for an ultimatum. "We allowed you to use our racks at these locations so long as you didn't use the top rack. Your delivery driver at location X is not only using the top rack, but putting your papers ON TOP OF OURS. This stops NOW, or we will no longer allow you to use our racks."

[TheSHAD0W]

"This stops NOW, or we will no longer allow you to use our racks."

Or even simpler, "if we find any of your papers on top of ours, we will discard them." That might get their attention.

[emax4]

They must be considering converting to doctors offices or something similar. They always have two-year old magazines...

[wolfie]

Or even simpler, "if we find any of your papers on top of ours, we will discard them." That might get their attention.

My understanding is that these are not free papers (EricKei mentions "biggest selling local store"), so the store needs to either send the supplier money for the sold papers, or return the unsold papers (possibly intact, possibly just the masthead). Discarding the papers would only hurt the store - and possibly result in the store discontinuing EricKei's paper but keeping the infringer.

[Deserted]

How about "we will throw your papers in a disorganized heap on the floor"?

[EricKei]

We generally go with Deserted's strategem Really just upside down on the bottom rack ,but it has the same net effect, plus it doesn't make a mess that the people *working* at the store will need to clean up

[Teskeria]

Or even simpler, "if we find any of your papers on top of ours, we will discard them." That might get their attention.

If we find your papers on ours, or on the top shelf, they will be placed aside and returned for credit. They will not be sold. you will lose the sales. (hit them where they feel it - in their sales)