Newspapers racks vs. thieves: ripoffs of National highlight vending machine thefts.

Newspaper racks vs. thieves: Ripoffs of National highlight vending machine thefts

Tens of thousands of newspapers are stolen from coin-operated racks in Los Angeles every day, and at least one publication said the problem is unusually bad here and is costing wholesalers extraordinary losses.

Newspaper wholesalers said about 25 to 35 percent of the copies of The National, a daily sports newspaper, in Los Angeles coin racks are stolen every day. Steve Hammond, spokesman for The National, said that's a much higher percentage than are stolen in New York City or anywhere else in the country. He said he's not sure what the average national pilferage rate is, "but it's less than 20 percent, I can tell you that."

The National's street circulation in Los Angeles is about 60,000, about 70 percent of which are sold in coin racks, or 42,000 papers. Using the wholesalers' estimates, about 12,600 copies of The National are stolen in Los Angeles every day. The paper costs $1, which means $12,600 in lost revenue per day.

Hammond said in New York City, homeless people often steal copies of The National and sell them for 25 cents in the subways. In Los Angeles, he said, newsstand vendors are stealing The National and reselling it at full price.

To deter theft, Hammond said the papers placed in coin racks are being stamped with a message asking readers who bought the paper at a newsstand to call a number and report the vendor.

Tim Stirens with Mader News Co., a Los Angeles newspaper wholesaler, estimated that his company loses more than $150,000 per year to newspaper rack theft. In addition to stamping papers, Stirens said Mader has been switching over more papers from racks to retail sales - selling them in stores and at newsstands, which have a lower theft rate.

More copies of the Los Angeles Times are stolen from racks every day, but since the paper costs less and has a much higher circulation, the thefts are less of a problem, said Stephen Johnson, assistant director of marketing for circulation at the Times.

Johnson said the Times loses about 8-10 percent of its coin rack papers to pilferage. The Times daily street sale circulation is about 350,000, with about 75 percent (262,500) sold in coin racks. A 9 percent theft rate works out to 23,625 papers stolen per day, or $5,906.25 at 25 cents per copy.

"It's not a big problem. The paper is lower-priced. I can make up for pilferage in volume," said Johnson. "The general opinion in the industry is you know you go through the barrier at 75 cents. You have to take that problem on when you cross that price barrier. It's not acceptable if it goes above 10 percent."

He explained that the majority of papers stolen from coin racks are taken for resale. The thief puts in enough money to pay for one paper, takes the whole pile and resells the papers by the single copy. Therefore, the higher priced the paper, the more incentive there is to steal a pile and the bigger loss to the publisher per paper stolen.

Still, he said his company's coin rack pilferage rate for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times (which sell for 75 cents) is about 12 to 14 percent, and the rate is about 25-35 percent for The National.

"Of all the papers we service, The National has the highest rate," he said.

Don Lyon of Lyon's News Co. in Manhattan Beach agreed that theft is "a tremendous problem" with The National, possibly because of its broad resale appeal.

"That seems to be the problem paper," said Lyon. "We've done everything we can, up to and including removing machines in some areas."

Lyon, who services Los Angeles and Orange counties, said he had about a 20 percent pilferage rate with USA Today, but he stopped carrying it because the unit price to wholesalers was too high.

Stirens said many newspapers are attempting to make up for falling advertising revenues by charging more to wholesalers, putting a big dent in their profit margin. Theft only makes things tougher, he said.

Roger May, spokesman for the Wall Street Journal, said Dow Jones Co. doesn't like its wholesalers to stamp its papers with anti-theft messages, "but it's up to them."

PHOTO : Nine percent theft rate: Los Angeles Times has 23,625 papers stolen per day