Transport

For the transport of the newspapers to the subscribers and to the points of sale, small transport vehicles operated by third-party companies are mainly used; these are commissioned by the printing centres. Depending on the day of the week, approximately 200 vehicles cover an average of some 50 kilometres on 200 to 430 tours (340 tours on average). Small diesel transporters are used as a rule. A survey of transport companies has shown that due to the lack of charging infrastructure and the insufficient range of the vehicle models in question, a switch to electric or hybrid transporters is currently out of the question for most of those companies. It is important to bear in mind that most transporters do not make deliveries exclusively for the printing centres but often carry out other orders as well. For this reason, they cannot afford to take an extended break in order to charge the vehicle batteries. For both economic and ecological reasons, however, printing centres and transport companies ensure that tours are efficiently planned in terms of distance and delivery times. As a rule, these plans are drawn up on a yearly basis. Another example of measures to increase efficiency with a positive ecological impact is kiosk delivery. These points of sale are supplied in cooperation with 7Days, which usually supplies them with other products. In this way, newspapers are able to serve the kiosks more efficiently.