Fuel surcharges and rising costs
CSNA criticises fuel surcharge on carriage fees, warning of mounting pressure on already struggling news retail margins
Print8 April 2026
CSNA Members with Newspread accounts have every reason to feel aggrieved that the deeply unfair carriage charges are being used as the base value upon which a 4.5% Fuel Surcharge is being applied according to the organisation.
Carriage charges have a very significant effect on the profitability of the newspaper and magazine sector, particularly given the continuing decline in readership of the physical paper/publication.
The publisher places a retail price on the title, a price that as far as the CSNA is aware, is universally adhered to.
They are also responsible for advising their distributor, who retailers have a contract with what wholesale price they should apply for their title.
Once carriage charges are applied, the gross profit earned from the sale of the products is reduced to such a level for many retailers that they quite rightly question the value of continuing to stock and supply a product that necessitates such a labour-intensive level of care.
While the additional weekly €4 in surcharge is not particularly significant, it acts to highlight the difficulty associated with the category in that even though it is declining in sales, the increases associated with continuing to provide the products to our customers raise the issue of where the sector is going, given the need for the titles to have physical papers as none of the Irish publishers could manage a digital subscription model, they need the retailers input but are almost universally maintaining an ostrich-like position.
Read more: CSNA urges delay on licence applications
© 2026, ShelfLife by CSNA
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