I have had major delivery problems with the Sydney Morning Herald for most of this year. On average there is a missed delivery every week, sometimes two or three. On the odd occasion I get the wrong paper delivered; the Telegraph, The Australian, the Sunday Telegraph - all of these go straight into the bin. Even though I report each incorrect delivery (and they credit me back the missed days) they just don’t seem to have any control over the contractor who is supposed to be doing the deliveries.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can resolve this issue
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This lack of control may be because they have no other choices at the moment other than to use the contractor they have at the moment until they get more choice of contractors (if this ever happens). Contractors are paid very little for each delivery and many find doing the deliveries actually costs them money. This leads to a lack of choices for the newspaper company.
Resolution may not be possible at the moment due to the lack of other choices, but you can contact them at the paper at https://subscribers.smh.com.au/support-centre/overview/ and you will need to log in to take further action, or you could try to contact them via this email address readerlink@smh.com.au or via these numbers 13 66 66 or +61 2 7966 6900 but emailed/written complaints are better. You could also send a letter to the parent company Fairfax Media at
Fairfax Media Limited
GPO Box 506
Sydney NSW 2001
Of course you could make an arrangement to get your copy from your local newsagent, this will avoid the Contractor pain but will sadly involve your time and travel getting to the Newsagent each day (and this might not be a viable choice).
You could also post your request/complaint on their Twiiter account using their tag @smh or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sydneymorningherald (user tag @sydneymorningherald). Often Social Media exposure can speed up getting an explanation or resolution to problems as these types of companies often don’t like dissatisfaction publicly aired.
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In Brisbane, a lot of missed deliveries weren’t missed deliveries but early morning walkers helping themselves to a ‘free’ newsprint.
It may be worth getting a security camera to monitor the front yard/delivery box. If it is a local, they are likely to be easy to catch as their walking routine will be similar each week.
If your paper is lifted by light-fingered locals, report it to the police along with a copy of any video footage.
The camera also lets you confirm if the paper was delivered on missing days.
If paper theft is occurring, there isn’t much you can do unless they are caught. You could however cancel the delivery and pick up the paper at local newsagent/supermarket or opt into a online subscription.
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This would be my choice. As well as the SMH website your subscription gets you access to a digital copy of the newspaper, this is an image of the pages so you get all the ads, puzzles, comics etc. as well as some bonus extras which you may or may not enjoy. Saves trees. $15.14 per month.
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What a bargain.
The Qld based Courier Mail is $28 for four weeks, after a 12 week introductory offer of $1.00 per week.
The best deal locally is the Sunshine Coast Daily which is the same deal and same publisher as the Courier. Importantly subscribers can also redeem free access to the Courier Mail digital edition, and get to read the news a day earlier. 
It’s tempting, however our local rag (Fortnightly since Covid) is free as is the ABC online. Things move a little more slowly in the country, although it would be great to see the GC&Maleny News resume it’s weekly cycle. It’s also back in print so digital or compost feed as suits your needs.
P.S.
Those wanting a home delivered paper locally miss out. The only option is a daily drop in to the local News Agent. Only for as long as they stay in business propped up by selling lotto etc.
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Each newsagency has a choice of either doing the deliveries themselves or employing someone to do it. The early morning deliveries is no longer seen as a desirable job, and as @grahroll indicated, it is hard to find people willing to do it, because of the time of day, it’s not easy work, it can be messy, and most importantly it doesn’t pay well. Therefore, newsagents tend to put up with problems because realistically the choice is between problematic deliveries, or no deliveries at all.
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Magazines, cards, odds and sods.
Earlier this year Fairfax took away deliveries from the local newsagent and centralised it. Presumably the SMH is now delivered by subcontractors. I only have the paper delivered on weekends but at least one or two newspapers each month are missed. I doubt that it’s a local stealing my newspaper as it’s delivered very very early in the morning and usually picked up by me soon after.
When the local newsagent was responsible for deliveries a missed paper was rare, and if it did happen I could pop into the newsagent and get a replacement. Now that’s not possible. Instead, when I report a missed delivery I receive a credit - which can vary from $1 to $4.
I suspect that what’s happening is that the problem is subcontractors who are unfamiliar with the area and so poorly paid they don’t have time to take the care needed to make sure everyone gets their newspaper. Metro Publishing subscriber services - who are responsible for the deliveries- don’t seem to have the capacity to remedy the situation. Their latest suggestion is that they would send a photo of my house to the person responsible for delivery!
I love the early morning ritual of of a cuppa and the weekend papers - digital just doesn’t have the same feel - but am planning to cancel as I tired of the uncertainty of missed deliveries.
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Not everyone wants to read newspapers (or magazines for that matter) online. Me for one. And it should not be up to the customer to fix delivery problems that could be fixed with a better delivery system than a driver in a car lobbing newspapers from the window. The papers land where they land which may or may not be on private property, may or may not destroy plants and may or may not land in puddles rendering them unreadable.
Yes I used to have SMH delivered but when I ended up paying for something I never received, I stopped the subscription.
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I’m still experiencing this exact issue in Sydney Mosman area and SMH doesn’t seem really care… it’s regular and they can’t seem to do anything to resolve.
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Welcome to the Community @Scoot
This seems to be a problem with their ordering and accounting systems that they are unwilling or unable to fix.
You might be better off cancelling your deliveries and arranging for your local Newsagent holding one for you.
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I signed up for a Weekend Delivery service at the SMH a month ago, and I have only averaged one delivery per week.
The weekend they were meant to commence home delivery, no papers were delivered at all.
I also subscribe to The Australian/Weekend Australian (6 days per week) and The Daily Telegraph/The Sunday Telegraph on weekends.
I have had no problems with the news corp papers on the weekends being delivered with non-deliveries now a rare event after making many complaints in 2018-2019 to them and even bought NSW Fair Trading into it. I wrote letters etc and kept a log of the problems. I noticed that home deliveries became less reliable after my local newsagent closed in mid-2018 and handed it over to independent distributors.
At the end of the day, you pay for a service and that service must be provided, unless the delivery driver/newspaper has reasons not to provide them. I would suggest to anyone to do what I did with the news corp newspapers back in 2019, if they cannot resolve it, refer them to Fair Trading.
Of more concern, retail outlets stock few if any copies of the SMH so if you want to cancel it, getting a copy in retail outlet is going to be difficult.
I for one am concerned with the pay that drivers receive for delivery. I used to deliver retail catalogues to homes and while it was less than minimum pay on an hourly basis, it was better paid than delivering newspapers. If a person is getting less than minimum pay for a job, they have no incentive to do the job well. I have actually seen the drivers that are contracted to do it and they tend to be international students.
No issues here (Melb Docklands) with getting the Age delivered. Interestingly early this week they switched from the plastic bag wrap to a much greener tightly rolled copy with a paper address wrap. 350 bags x number of subscribers is a lot of plastic to landfill each year. Downside was that the tight roll made the paper hard to read - started wishing for the days when the gentry got their butlers to iron the newspapers for them (in those days to fix the ink which would otherwise come off on your hand). But after a few days back to plastic bags - perhaps they had complaints?
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I have the same issue. I wrote to the CEO of Nine and still no reply, not even from an underling. Then one day the paper was strewn all over the street (no plastic wrapper). The next time it was dumped in the middle of the street. I then lodged a complaint to NSW Fair Trading that they are not living up to their service requirements and they have decided to prosecute my case. We are paying for a service, it’s time they delivered to the minimum standard of home delivery and got their contractors into shape. Lodge a Fair Trading complaint just to make a point, they must follow up on it.
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I used to have problems but lately delivery has been OK.
The same person currently delivers both the SMH and The Saturday Paper to us but it looks like The Saturday Paper is changing suppliers; see below.
Dear subscriber,
I’m writing to let you know that the company that distributes The Saturday Paper is changing. As of this weekend, distribution will be done by Wrapaway.
We are working closely with Wrapaway and our previous distributor, IPS, to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible, but we ask for your patience while we implement the transition.
You do not need to do anything. You should receive your paper as usual this weekend.
In the unlikely event that you do not receive your paper, please let us know by following these steps:
1. Email our subscriptions team at subscribe@thesaturdaypaper.com.au with the subject line “Missed delivery of The Saturday Paper”.
2. Include your subscriber number (if known), full name, delivery address and any delivery instructions that may assist the driver.
Our subscriptions team will be in contact with you to rectify the issue as soon as possible.
All subscriptions will be extended to make up for any missed deliveries, as per our regular procedures.
If you have a print subscription, you also have full access to the digital edition. You can read the paper now by visiting www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au.
If you are unsure how to access the digital component of your subscription, you can view our how to access your digital subscription guide here.
We appreciate your continued support.
Kind regards,
Rebecca Costello
CEO, Schwartz Media
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same thing happening here in Sydney’s inner-south. Frequent missing deliveries, wrong paper etc. I do have cameras, and am proud to say we don’t have light-fingered neighbours.
I have now realised that deliveries are being made by Uber contractors. From what I understand, the local distribution centre just allocates delivery schedule to the lowest bidder who turns up on the day.
I miss the days when the local newsagent delivered the paper.
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My subscription has physical papers 4 days a week (Fri-Mon) & digital 7 days a week. I used to live in Sydney when paper deliveries were done by the local newsagent. The number of times the paper was ‘delivered’ onto the grass council verge… not even into my driveway (had no car)…
I have since moved to a rural town. I also get the Daily Terror on the weekends. It must be being delivered from the newsagent because it is common for both papers to be wrapped together into a single roll. Mind you, they often don’t appear until after 10am… so there is that. On the good side, they usually get the paper onto my porch out here…
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I thought it was just a problem in my area of the Sutherland Shire but it looks like it is Australia wide. The contractor probably contacts it out to whoever offers the lowest price, half of the time I either get the wrong paper or none at all. It is a non stop battle reporting it to the SMH.
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I get the starter online subscription to the SMH for $15 per month which is a fraction of the price of hardcopy depending on which option of either you take. The only delivery problem I have is when the internet is down. Over many years I have not missed reading the paper any day I wanted to, once or twice it was not available at breakfast.
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