LIKE every national daily newspaper, print sales of the Morning Star have dropped over the course of the coronavirus pandemic.  

Today we are launching an initiative to help readers get the paper delivered to their homes each morning.

Hundreds of retailers closed in lockdown and those that were open have not always been able to provide their usual services like home news delivery.  

Working patterns have changed and will probably never go back to the way that they were. Home working for office workers has become the norm.  

Buying the paper on the way to work and having a read on the bus, Tube and train has stopped for many and popping out to find a copy locally can be a challenge if it is not understood that any retailer that sells newspapers can stock the Morning Star.  

We never have been available at every retailer, the print bill would be  tremendous — but to balance this out we do try to have a consistent supply at many Co-ops, Martin McColls and One-Stops. 

The route to market is a difficult one for a small title likes ours. If we are not seen we do not exist.  

Hence the continual battle by many of our readers with the BBC demanding our paper get exposure on the publicly owned broadcaster that other newspapers and news websites receive.  

For more than 20 years the independent newsagent has been declining and sales of papers have been diverted to large multinational supermarkets for whom the sale of newspapers has been an add-on to their business not a core staple. They introduced tight planograms for newspapers leaving little or no space for titles like ours.  

If we are in a supermarket more often than not we will be on the bottom shelf away from the mainstream titles. Supermarkets are not interested in the small number of copies of the Morning Star that they would sell and when they are looking at titles to cull we are often at the top of this list. The hit to sales during the pandemic is prompting this kind of review.

At the beginning of 2021 Waitrose formally advised us that it will delist us from all of their stores at the start of February. We have become non-viable in their eyes.  

Once again a big business can stop the fair route to market and deny their customers a choice of a national daily newspaper and, more importantly, the only newspaper that has a different view — a socialist perspective.  

I will be writing to our wholesalers asking them to remove our title from Waitrose. In the future even if in error we get sent without authority to supermarkets, the wholesaler can run the risk of being fined.   

We would encourage anyone who is currently picking up their copy of the Morning Star from Waitrose to contact me so that I can seek an alternative retailer. 

In line with government advice many trade union offices are closed with staff working from home, which resulted in a loss of our valuable bulk daily sales.  

Add to this the loss of sales at conferences and events, pitches and meetings. Not only have sales been lost but our organic marketing through these events has also dried up.

I am painting a picture here of doom and gloom for the printed version of the paper. 

It is only fair to say that while the print sales have fallen, sales of the website subscription and digital versions of the paper have risen considerably, especially following the exposure of the paper on Zoom events that we have held and the success of the daily alert newsletter.   

The editor is determined that we will continue to support and produce a printed version of the paper, but we do need to find new and easy ways for us to be bought. 

During the past year we have sought to encourage anyone that has been having difficulty in sourcing the paper or would like the convenience of having it delivered to their home or office to contact us and we have done our best to help them find a home news delivery service.  

We are now taking this a step further and have linked up with NewsTeam, a home news delivery agent who cover approximately 65 per cent of the UK, particularly the larger populated urban areas.  

In the past year NewsTeam have seen their business grow exponentially with the opportunity of more people working from home wanting to have a reliable and timely delivery service.  

NewsTeam offer early morning delivery, with most made in the week well before 8am and 8.30 at the weekends.  

There is a small daily delivery charge of 40p per day which would make six days’ delivery of the paper £9.90. Preferred payment is by direct debit but other methods are available.  

It is possible to have additional newspapers and magazines added to your delivery. 

NewsTeam have provided a dedicated number for Morning Star enquiries — (01782) 959-532. 

We are sure most people would prefer to speak to a customer service adviser, but alternatively they can send an email for a call back to orders@newsteamgroup.co.uk.

As home working becomes more common, many home-delivery services are on the rise, from traditional services like milk delivery to the rise in online shopping. The Morning Star too can arrive on your doormat each day.

Support our push to increase our print sales share this information with friends, family and colleagues.

Bernadette Keaveney is circulation manager and assistant business manager at the Morning Star.