Newspaper vending picks up
Dec 30, 2002
MANY vendors who were chased off the streets by Kampala City Council (KCC) have turned to the newspaper vending business
By Herbert Ssempogo
MANY vendors who were chased off the streets by Kampala City Council (KCC) have turned to the newspaper vending business.
But old timers in the business are not happy with the new entrants. Some who spoke to The New Vision on Sunday, said the business is no longer profitable.
“We are now very many. It is impossible to sell. We basically have to fight for the customers in order to make some sales,†Emmanuel Katongole, who has been a vendor since 1986, said.
“I used to sell over 300 papers daily, but things have become so hard now. My sales have dropped as low as 50 papers per day.â€
Rose Nakayiza who operates at Market Street said, “These people are driving us out of business, because they even hire out papers to some readers for about sh100 or sh200, which is illegal.â€
“They have no respect for the trade because they even take the papers to people’s homes totally interrupting with their privacy!â€
She recommended that a regulatory policy be put in place. But New Vision Circulation Manager, Tom Wasswa said this was premature.
“Some of them work only in the morning and leave, so it is these new guys who work later on in the day to serve clients who do not leave their homes very early in the morning,†he said.
MANY vendors who were chased off the streets by Kampala City Council (KCC) have turned to the newspaper vending business.
But old timers in the business are not happy with the new entrants. Some who spoke to The New Vision on Sunday, said the business is no longer profitable.
“We are now very many. It is impossible to sell. We basically have to fight for the customers in order to make some sales,†Emmanuel Katongole, who has been a vendor since 1986, said.
“I used to sell over 300 papers daily, but things have become so hard now. My sales have dropped as low as 50 papers per day.â€
Rose Nakayiza who operates at Market Street said, “These people are driving us out of business, because they even hire out papers to some readers for about sh100 or sh200, which is illegal.â€
“They have no respect for the trade because they even take the papers to people’s homes totally interrupting with their privacy!â€
She recommended that a regulatory policy be put in place. But New Vision Circulation Manager, Tom Wasswa said this was premature.
“Some of them work only in the morning and leave, so it is these new guys who work later on in the day to serve clients who do not leave their homes very early in the morning,†he said.