Smiths News and Menzies Distribution have revealed their plans for taking over delivery of News UK titles in London.

News UK will be making its last deliveries on 12 November, with issues dated 13 November onwards to be delivered by Smiths and Menzies. The wholesalers have sent letters out to retailers explaining the changes. Both wholesalers told Better Retailing they do not anticipate alterations to required delivery times.

A spokesperson from Menzies said “extensive planning is underway”, with senior and experienced teams “deployed across all effected depots and shift patterns” conducting a “daily operational review”. Menzies said this “hyper-care” will remain until “we are confident service levels are stable and consistently meet the needs of our customers”. The wholesaler said it would be “reaching out” to all customers, as well as calling any new customers. The wholesaler will also be “offering a series of drop-in session webinars on using i-Menzies and the customer service centre.

Smiths News revealed it has “put together a dedicated project team that is diligently working towards a seamless transition”, and made “substantial” progress in mapping the new volumes and weights.

Both wholesalers confirmed retailers will see their carriage charges change in reflection of the added volumes they will be delivering. While all retailers previously supplied by News UK will benefit from no longer having to pay carriage charges to News UK, the Fed claimed approximately a third of the overall saving will be consumed by Smiths and Menzies’ carriage charge increases. Better Retailing understands those already paying the maximum weekly charges will see no increase.

“These changes are based on our existing carriage charge template and account for the additional volumes,” said Smiths’ spokesperson.

Menzies said: “The only amendment to CSC will be a proportionate adjustment to accommodate the value of the additional News UK supplies being distributed by Menzies, there is no change to our current CSC template.”

The firm concluded: “We anticipate retailers to see a significant saving overall as a result of the change.”

New carriage charges to Smiths News will go into effect from 2 December, and on invoices dated from 9 December onwards with Menzies. Both companies said the change will be positive for stores and shoppers with reduced costs, shrinkage, complexity and staffing for retailers, and fewer road emissions for those living in the capital.

Menzies said it had also renewed its overall distribution contracts with News UK, covering “all existing Menzies territories throughout the UK and Ireland”.

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