Smiths News has announced plans to increase its carriage charges by an average of 2.1%.

Letters were sent to more than 12,000 Smiths News customers announcing the move, which will cost the average Smiths News customer an extra £47.32 per year. 

NFRN national president Mike Mitchelson called the increase a “bitter blow” for newsagents.

“Come September some retailers will be paying nearly £60 a week for their newspapers and magazines to be supplied,” he said. 

“How are they expected to make money from the category when these rip off charges are increased annually with no prior consultation with the retailers involved? It’s high time that carriage charges are scrapped completely.”

Carriage charges were one of the most frequently mentioned grievances in the recent news wholesale survey by Retail Express and RN.

One Smiths News customer wrote:  “While service levels decline the service charges increase. Every morning is stressful and Smiths News is the number one reason I’m closing my shop.”

The upper cap on carriage charges means nearly all stores pay the same, regardless of how many papers they sell.

One retailer responded: “Delivery charges are too much, WHSmith get charged a tiny bit more sell thousands of pounds worth of newspapers more than me per month. It is not appropriate for the sales the shops do.”

Retail Express approached Smiths News for comment and is awaiting their response.

Read more: Smiths News voted worst wholesaler for customer service.