Subscription and retail of newspaper distribution

Newspaper distribution is divided into two basic ways: subscription and retail:

(1) The subscription method is that the subscriber pays the newspaper subscription fee in advance (1 month to 1 year), and the post office courier delivers the newspaper to the designated place on schedule. Published by the newspaper itself, sent by the newspaper to subscribers, or packaged and mailed to subscribers through the post office. Subscription can be divided into whole subscription and broken subscription: whole subscription refers to whole month, whole season and whole year subscription. Breaking a subscription means missing the whole subscription period, starting from a certain day of the month and subscribing at the end of the month. Some can also take short-term subscription.

(2) The retail mode is that newspaper distribution departments set up several newspaper retail outlets in cities or towns, and readers can choose to buy and deliver cash according to their needs without paying newspaper fees in advance. The newspaper is not responsible for delivery, and there is no fixed supply relationship. Retail methods include: fixed-point retail, mobile retail, reservation retail, foreign mail order, consignment and other services. The earliest newspaper in China ── the official newspaper of Tang Dynasty, etc. Is delivered through post offices set up by the government, including land and water post offices. The distribution period of ancient newspapers was not fixed, such as Xunkan and Wuri. After the Ming Dynasty, it was gradually fixed as a daily newspaper. Ancient newspapers were only distributed within the feudal ruling institutions, and the readers were royal families, government officials and feudal literati who were enfeoffed everywhere. In the Song Dynasty, a kind of unofficial tabloid with strong news appeared among the people, which was sold privately and was repeatedly banned by the court. During the Wanli period of Ming Shenzong (1573 ~ 1620), people were allowed to run their own newspapers by imperial edicts, and local newspapers were reprinted for public sale. In the eleventh year of the fourth reign of Ming Dynasty (1638), wooden movable type or clay movable type printing was started. At this time, the newspaper office published newspapers for sale, which became an open profession, and this was the beginning of private newspapers in China. There is a man named He Guangye in Beijing who delivers newspapers as a profession. He is the earliest professional newspaper deliveryman with a name in the history of China. In the Qing Dynasty, Bao Jing's distribution in other provinces was originally handed over by Tang Bing, but the delivery speed was too slow, and it often took three or four months to reach Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Later, someone set up a bureau for letters and calls in Liangxiang, a suburb of Beijing. After the publication of Beijing Daily, Liangxiang Bureau for Letters and Calls hired someone to deliver it. Because of the high price, all provinces have adopted the method of purchasing Liangxiang Daily and then reprinting it for sale. After Beijing Daily was changed to lead printing, it was printed and sold by Beiyang Bookstore and Jinghua Bookstore. After the appearance of modern newspapers, besides Beijing, there were also newspapers in Nanjing, Jiangling (now Jingzhou, Hubei), Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places, mainly publishing and delivering newspapers, and some newspapers also engaged in postal and printing services. In Beijing alone, there are more than a dozen such as Juxing, Jusheng and Tongshun, most of which are concentrated in some hutongs on Qianmen Street. In addition, there are more than 200 newspapers in other parts of China.

Newspapers and periodicals are distributed through public hawking and subscription. The newsroom employs newsboys to deliver newspapers according to the divided areas, which is very slow, and quite a few subscribers in the city can't see the newspaper of the day. Its distribution income is roughly divided by newspapers and newspapers according to 37%.

Modern newspapers in China were first published by foreigners in China. 1858, China evening news "Chinese and foreign bulletin" was published, with the highest circulation exceeding 10000. Others, such as Huazi Daily, Shanghai New Newspaper, Shanghai Daily, Shenbao, News (China) and The Times, are all newspapers founded by foreigners in China. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, newspapers and periodicals were generally distributed in the following ways: ① The newspaper itself had a set of distribution institutions and personnel, which were responsible for the direct subscription of readers in this city and other places, as well as some retail and wholesale businesses. Most of the wholesale targets are private newspapers, local subscribers are delivered by newspapers rented by newspapers, and other places are mailed by newsprint through post offices. The newspaper only manages the wholesale institutions in this city and other places, and does not handle the specific distribution business of accepting subscribers. (3) The newspaper does not have a distribution agency, and all of them are underwritten by private newspapers. Judging from the above three situations, the publishing institutions of newspapers and periodicals are basically in the hands of private newspapers. In the early years of the Republic of China (19 12), some Beijing newspapers jointly set up a newspaper distribution market in Yongxing Temple, Nanliu Lane, West Liulichang, breaking the monopoly of more than 10 newspapers. The market wholesales and retails through newspapers and vendors, some deliver goods directly to subscribers, some set up stalls for retail, and some walk the streets to peddle. At that time, the distribution scope of newspapers and periodicals was limited to big cities and towns along the railway. This distribution system continued until the early days of People's Republic of China (PRC).

Newspapers published in China revolutionary base areas are mainly distributed by Red Post (Transportation Bureau). 1943 The Popular Daily published in Shandong Anti-Japanese Democratic Base was issued by Shandong Battlefield Post Office. Since then, newspapers published in various base areas have been handed over to local post offices for distribution. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), newspapers published all over the country have been handed over to local post offices for general distribution since March 1950.

In the 1980s, the newspaper distribution system in the world can be roughly divided into two categories: Europe, America, Japan and most third world countries are organized by newspapers themselves; China, the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries implement the system of "postal distribution in one", and the postal department is responsible for the distribution of newspapers and periodicals (see "postal distribution in one"). The distribution of commercial newspapers in modern western countries began with the method of selling in bookstores. By 1622, an Englishman named n Bater published the Weekly News in London. During the period of 1, he hired someone to sell it on the street. 1704, some parts of North America began mailing newspapers through the post office. At that time, almost all the newspapers published by the famous publisher J Campbell were sent by post. In some remote areas, the post office could not deliver newspapers, so he hired jockeys to transport them by horse. /kloc-in 0/754, the distribution mode of hiring newsboys to send newspapers directly to subscribers' homes began to appear.