InPost Newstrade, formerly known as Menzies Distribution, has announced its new carriage charges for 2025, with a new calculation model.
A letter sent out to stores details what each retailer will now be paying, with the increase is capped at £4.99 per store per week. Some retailers with lower newspaper and magazine sales will even see decreases in their fees under the new tapered model. The new rates will start from 5 April.
In the letter sent to stores, InPost Newstrade’s managing director Grant Jordan explained: “In 2025, we have taken the decision to decrease the base charge, actively supporting stores with lower sales within the category. We are also introducing a mechanism to make CSC more proportionate to category sales by adjusting the newspaper and magazine percentage sale contributions. Your protection of service and continuation of supply remains unchanged.”
Carriage charges are frozen in the Republic of Ireland.
Prinal Patel of Raj’s Premier Store on the Isle of Wight told Better Retailing that he would welcome any support from the wholesaler.
“Everything is always going up at the moment,” he said. “Obviously it will help if it’s a decrease or a small increase, because everything is going up day by day.”
Patel added that his store has previously had to stop accepting card payments on newspapers as the card transaction charges make how little the category makes for his store unmanageable. He said: “We don’t take card payments even on the weekends when the papers are quite a bit more expensive. At the end of the day, with carriage charges, it’s completely up to the wholesaler. Whatever they decide, the retailer just has to swallow the cost and try to make it up somewhere else to make ends meet.”
Mo Razzaq, the Fed’s national president, commented: “The Fed has been in discussion with InPost Newtrade about the difficulties our members are facing in such challenging financial times. The fact that the news wholesaler has listened – and more importantly – has acted on our members’ concerns is positive and we are pleased to see it taking steps to protect smaller news stores.”
Razzaq added that the Fed remains against the carriage charge model and will continue to push for an alternative with supply chain partners.
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