In December stores enjoyed a second consecutive month of reduced delays to newspaper deliveries caused by publishers as the number of late arrivals into wholesale depots fell by nearly a fifth.
The Express, Star, Mirror, Guardian and Observer, i, Racing Post, and Sunday People all improved their arrival times into depot between November and December 2024, with each decreasing its number of late arrivals into depot by more than a fifth.
By contrast, most of the titles that arrived into wholesale depots late more frequently (namely the Daily Mail, Telegraph, and Financial Times) saw increases of less than 10%.
Only The Sun and Times had more than a 10% increase in the number of late arrivals into wholesale depots.
The overall improvement of 18% fewer newspapers arriving late into depots is likely due to calmer December weather after the UK was battered by several storms in late November.
Improvements most noticeable for Smiths News
The improvement had a higher impact on Smiths News. In November, nine of the 10 depots worst hit by publisher delays were Smiths News-operated, compared with two in December.
Menzies’ Carlisle depot and Smiths News’ Croydon depot are the only depots to make a repeat appearance in the list of the 10 most affected by publisher delays.
Carlisle improved in this period, going from an average of 1.8 late arrivals per week in November to 1.25 on average in December. Croydon had a small increase in the number of late arrivals per week on average, going from 1.4 in November to 1.5 in December.
Late arrivals to wholesale depots
Top 10 depots by late arrivals
Analysis explained
The first table shows how many of that title’s deliveries to wholesale depots were late in the average week each month, as well as the percentage change.
The bottom table shows the 10 UK depots that received the most late deliveries from publishers.
These figures are taken from data gathered by National Distribution Monitor. The figures do not take into account cut-off extensions – where publishers agree among themselves that their arrival times can be later without counting as late.
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