News UK extends freeze on carriage charge review to December

News UK has frozen its carriage charge review until December 2021 in consideration of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on retailers.

News UK DTR (Direct to Retail), which supplies nearly 6,000 retail outlets inside the M25 area with the Sun and the Times, had earlier frozen the charge until May, but has now decided to extend that to a 12 month freeze.

“Due to the continuing uncertainty for retailers caused by the pandemic, in London News UK is freezing the Direct Delivery Charge (DDC) for the full year,” said Darren Barker, managing director of Newsprinters, News UK's printing and logistics arm.

“The next DDC review date will be in December 2021. We have received positive feedback from our retail partners when we became the first wholesaler to freeze delivery charges in January and will look to work closely with our customers over the coming year to further strengthen the position of the news category as Britain bounces back.”

Commenting, NFRN national president Stuart Reddish said: “Having initially delayed any review into its carriage charges until May, we are delighted that News UK DTR acknowledges the financial challenges that news retailers have found themselves in over the past year and has now decided to freeze this until the end of the year.”