Labour shortage hits newspaper distribution too

Newspaper distribution has joined the list of sectors facing labour shortage in Kerala. With over 70 per cent of the newspaper agents, sub agents and distributors above the age of 50, this business seems to heading for tough times.

Says NS Prabhakaran, a Kochi-based newspaper agent, a large number of agents have quit due to ill health and lower income. And, youngsters are not too keen on taking up this job.

An agent with a copy of 100 papers gets around Rs 3,200 as commission at the rate 27.5 per cent. He can distribute up to a maximum of 100 copies in the morning and above that has to engage additional manpower.

A distributor under an agent gets Rs 1,500 per month for delivering 100 copies. This works out to an income of Rs 7,500-8,000 for a agent with a copy of 200-plus and periodicals. He says a least 5 per cent of the customers default in payment every month which they have to bear. The agent has to remit the cost of his copies two months in advance with the newspaper office.

The average earning of an unskilled labour in Kerala is Rs 300 per day. Skilled labourers get a minimum of Rs 400.Compared with this, newspaper distribution fetches a meagre daily wage of Rs 50, according to him.

Moreover, the job starts in the early hours of the day, around 4 am, come rain or storm.

Some of the local newspapers have also brought down their price from Rs 4 to Rs 2 daily to stay in the competition. This has further affected the agents since the agency commission is at the same rate.

“Our children are looking for other attractive offers which give them more remuneration. I inherited this job from my father, but my son who is studying degree says he would not continue with this,” says KP Santhosh, secretary, Newspaper Agents and Sub Agents Associations.

Recently, the association hiked the delivery charges by Rs 10 per month. This has been introduced in most parts of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts of the state.

“If things continue, readers would have to get their copy through vending machines or vendors,” Prabhakaran says.