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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

There's more to life than newspapers

55 replies

notedbiscuits · 04/09/2024 16:58

Visited a supermarket to get the tea, coffee, milk for work. Also had a lotto ticket which I got a lucky dip on it and got that done and went to the kiosk and purchased items there too. The supermarket didn't have its newspapers in. The constant whinging from customers in the few minutes was unbelievable. There is more to life than a bloody newspapers which are full of depressing stuff.

I don't have the time to read a newspaper and never read one cover to cover. Plus the format is outdated - 24 hour news channels, websites etc.

OP posts:
XenoBitch · 05/09/2024 00:53

Soldieringnonosoldiershere · 04/09/2024 23:27

My DP's hobby is spending some time in the local library reading the papers. He goes to our local library and has some quiet time there

pretty sure that doesn’t count as a hobby

It does to him. So why question it?

echt · 05/09/2024 01:25

What a bizarre post. Just because you don't read newspaper doesn't invalidate the choices of others.

You bought a lottery ticket, which some regard as a Stupidity Tax. Your choice.

stormywhethers321 · 05/09/2024 01:38

Of course there's more to life than newspapers. There's more to life than whatever your simple little pleasures are, too. It doesn't mean you would grumble if they were suddenly unavailable.

Mt father has limited mobility due to chemo, but is supposed to walk thirty minutes a day. He hates it, so the trip to the shop to get his newspaper is the only thing that motivates him - 16 minutes each way.

stormywhethers321 · 05/09/2024 01:39

Soldieringnonosoldiershere · 04/09/2024 23:27

My DP's hobby is spending some time in the local library reading the papers. He goes to our local library and has some quiet time there

pretty sure that doesn’t count as a hobby

What are the qualifications required to count as a hobby? Where are official hobbies registered?

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 05/09/2024 01:44

I really miss UK newspapers. I used to read two a day when I lived in London, I remember when you had to pay for the Evening Standard! At the weekend I'd get the papers delivered, usually the Saturday Guardian, the Sunday Times and the News of The World for a bit of scandal. Now I live in Oz and the papers are bloody awful! When anyone I know visits the UK I get them to bring me a Sunday Times back, its not as good as it used to be, but its practically the only thing I miss from the UK that I can't get here. When I make my next trip back i will be buying all the papers! I love the internet, but reading online is just not the same.

notedbiscuits · 05/09/2024 07:24

Another thing. Our local paper is £1.80 a day and sometimes the headlines was on the website 2 days previously with the same words.

Have a few friends that worked/currently work in retail. Customers whinge at them when they give the right change for their paper(s) when one has gone up in price. The retail staff only sell the paper and have zero control on prices - not just papers, everything else.

If purchasing in a week weekday papers at £1 each, Saturday paper £1.50, Sunday paper £2 and local paper for 6 days £1.80 each (no Sunday paper) over a year, that's over £1k. Plus these papers are the cheapest ones.

I remember on my paper round on Sundays there was a house that had 6 newspapers Times, Telegraph, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Mail and Express. Those that did mornings, evenings and Sundays had a different round for each one and got rotated ever 6 months as well.

OP posts:
NeverEnoughPants · 05/09/2024 07:28

Buying a lottery ticket in-store? How outdated. Online is the way forward...

Mademetoxic · 05/09/2024 07:32

notedbiscuits · 05/09/2024 07:24

Another thing. Our local paper is £1.80 a day and sometimes the headlines was on the website 2 days previously with the same words.

Have a few friends that worked/currently work in retail. Customers whinge at them when they give the right change for their paper(s) when one has gone up in price. The retail staff only sell the paper and have zero control on prices - not just papers, everything else.

If purchasing in a week weekday papers at £1 each, Saturday paper £1.50, Sunday paper £2 and local paper for 6 days £1.80 each (no Sunday paper) over a year, that's over £1k. Plus these papers are the cheapest ones.

I remember on my paper round on Sundays there was a house that had 6 newspapers Times, Telegraph, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Mail and Express. Those that did mornings, evenings and Sundays had a different round for each one and got rotated ever 6 months as well.

Gosh are you still going on about this? Are you not bored with this topic yet ?

Needmorelego · 05/09/2024 08:33

@notedbiscuits you do realise people can spend their money on anything they want.
If they want 6 newspapers....they can buy 6 newspapers.
Why is it your business?

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 05/09/2024 08:36

Paper round scars don't heal 🥺

GalacticalFarce · 05/09/2024 08:45

For many people, it's part of their routine and makes them feel connected to the wider world and stimulates the brain.
The papers not being available is out of their control so they feel frustrated.
It's common to feel like that if your routine is disrupted by something you have no control over.

maddening · 05/09/2024 08:56

Thelnebriati · 04/09/2024 17:04

I would have felt sorry for the staff being moaned at for something thats not their fault.

However, if the store do not know that they are missing sales then they will not increase an order - so rather than moaning surely this is highlighting the issue to the staff who should raise this with their management who can assess and address stocking levels.

It is of benefit to staff if their store retains sales and customers as an open store will continue to employ them.

AbigailisPartiedOut · 05/09/2024 09:02

I remember on my paper round on Sundays there was a house that had 6 newspapers Times, Telegraph, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Mail and Express.

And?? Clearly these people wanted to read a wide variety of news and opinions and not rely on one possibly biased news source. Seems like a nice way to spend a Sunday with a cup of tea and plenty of cake!!

ForGreyKoala · 05/09/2024 09:06

Considering that most times I visit the library to catch up with the newspapers there is someone already reading them I think you are wrong. I prefer reading the actual newspaper to reading it online. 24 hours news channels, websites etc. don't tell you everything.

GalileoHumpkins · 05/09/2024 09:09

Congratulations on being so busy and superior to people who read newspapers, what an achievement 👏

BIWI · 05/09/2024 09:14

@notedbiscuits

Another thing. Our local paper is £1.80 a day and sometimes the headlines was on the website 2 days previously with the same words.

Physical newspapers have a lot more in them than online ones though. So you're not buying them for the immediately topical headlines - that long since disappeared when the internet arrived to give us 24hr, global news - but you're reading them for the analysis and discussion of the news and issues.

Using your brain, you know. Or perhaps you don't ...

dottiedodah · 05/09/2024 10:35

I adore a good Newspaper, and it doesnt seem the same reading online somehow! Many people like a walk to grab a paper and its just part of routine for them.What bitchy comments on here.We can buy what we want with our money! Really sound entitled OP ,I went to Salnsburys and the papers were late of course everyone questioned it. Unless you are saving lost kittens/helping at a food bank or similar. you are not "better" just because you dont read a newspaper FFS!

BogRollBOGOF · 05/09/2024 16:04

The begining of the end for MiL was when she began to struggle to do the daily walk to buy her newspaper.
Her physical decline rapidly set in, but more than that, she lost connection with her community, she lost the daily mental challenge of the puzzles and she lost detail of what was happening in the world.

It's so much more than information on a piece of paper.

LlynTegid · 05/09/2024 16:08

Whilst I wish no-one bought the Daily Mail nor the Sun, they do, and reading a newspaper is a simple pleasure for those who do. Some people also struggle with changes to routine, so reasonable to be upset when they are not available.

BrigadierEtienneGerard · 05/09/2024 16:29

DreamW3aver · 04/09/2024 19:39

How do you get from someone being cross that an item they'd gone to a shop to buy and finding it not there to them having nothing in their life but that item?

The very question I asked myself @DreamW3aver !

Allfur · 05/09/2024 16:31

It does seem a bit silly to moan about something that is readily available on-line

Notreat · 05/09/2024 16:32

You are being very unreasonable. Just because you don't read a newspaper it doesn't mean others don't want to. I could say exactly the same about buying a lotto ticket.
The people complaining may have gone into the shop specifically to buy the newspaper

XenoBitch · 05/09/2024 17:00

Allfur · 05/09/2024 16:31

It does seem a bit silly to moan about something that is readily available on-line

My late grandad only left the house to get the paper. It was part of his routine... that and doing the puzzles.

Needmorelego · 05/09/2024 17:03

@Allfur the website for my home town local paper is dreadful. It's almost impossible to read. The paper edition is much better.

Badbadbunny · 05/09/2024 18:45

maddening · 05/09/2024 08:56

However, if the store do not know that they are missing sales then they will not increase an order - so rather than moaning surely this is highlighting the issue to the staff who should raise this with their management who can assess and address stocking levels.

It is of benefit to staff if their store retains sales and customers as an open store will continue to employ them.

It's a quaint thought that store supervisors and managers have any influence over the number of each type of newspaper they get!

It's ALL computerised. The deliveries are controlled by the wholesalers, not the store management. It's dictated by the number of each returned at the end of the day. Then computer algorithms take over. If the returns are, say, only a handful, then that tells the computer, they got it right. If there are dozens of returns, it tells the computer they sent too many. If there are no returns, it tells the computer it sold out of that title, and to "think" about increasing the order. Trends are measured (again by computer), on day by day, week by week, etc. So the computer can decide to send more of a particular title on Tuesdays if none have been returned for the last 4 Tuesdays, but not if 3 of the last four Tuesdays had several returned.

We used to have a newsagents and it drove us insane that we had no control over the number we received of each title. Sometimes, we'd deliberately not return some issues when we knew the reason for less being sold, i.e. bad weather, car crash outside, power cut, or just lots of regular customers on holiday. We knew that if we sent too many back, our supply would get cut down and there was then the real possibility we'd not have enough for our regular deliveries and reserves!

Supermarkets are the main customers of the wholesalers these days, so there'll also be algorithms comparing sales against different stores to look at trends comparing the sales in one store against another, which likewise feeds into which stores aren't selling enough papers compared to other items they sell, number of customers, etc.

I can guarantee the poor sod on the counter isn't making copious notes as to who's been disappointed, and passing up the chain to their supervisor who isn't passing it onto the store manager, who won't be passing it on to the wholesalers!