tgo magazine live letters archive

I'm happy to learn that my local WHS currently has a big batch of last month's TGO. It was only about 6 weeks ago, though, that they told me they'd crossed it off their list due to lack of local interest.

I noticed that the same thing happened last year after they cancelled Athletics Weekly. They've got that too, now.

Does anyone out there understand the politics of all this? What's going on?

WH Smith has weird policies about magazine stocking, it's best not to worry too much about the whys and whats, just be grateful that they have them.

You could live in Glossop where newsagents are an endangered species...

My mate gets Trail from his local Tesco. We don't have Tesco but do have Asda. I asked Asda if they'd get it in and the reply was that they don't stock specialist publications as there is no demand.

Maybe TGO can adise if it's the publisher or distributor who decides whether a shop can stock a mag. I would imagine that if it costs more to collect the unsold copies than they make on the sales, then they'd refuse to deliver.

I bet this is why specialist mags prefer subs - they have a much better method for predicting demand.

Hmmm.... Glossop has other consolations, though :)

This ain't my specialist field but sometimes it's the retailer who decides whether they'll stock it. Some take a lot of convincing. We can ask our distributor to target certain areas and shops (and sometimes pay for any action) but supermarkets and some high street news chains have a slew of rules that seem designed to keep specialist titles off the shelves.

The only ways to ensure you get a copy are to either place a regular order at a newsagent (prfef a small independent!) or subscribe and hope there's a nice free gift or a decent discount on the day!