Foreign sales

I have been told on several occasions that I am a bit sad when it comes to newspapers. I take it as a fair point, having read one every day pretty much since I was ten years old. First paper of choice was the Mirror, as it was my father's paper of choice in the industrial Midlands' factories of the 1970s, so its funny how life goes full circle now we are working with Trinity Mirror here in 2007

Anyway, I digress. I'm in tuscany, and missing my daily fix of newsprint. My blackberry pearl is happily keeping my emails flying in, including the telegraph 'on the go' headline updates, which I like a lot. Problem is that I can't get the links to work so that I can read it on my phone browser, so its a bit of a tease. Must be something to do with the mobile network connection here.

So, I want to buy an English paper over here in chiantishire. Easy I thought, knowing just how many hundreds of thousands of foreign sales appear on the ABC figures each month, must be piles of them in the shops here.

But no, all I seem to have found today are copies of the Daily Mail. Nothing too wrong with the Mail. As my late grandfather always said, its better than wasting a firelighter every time it gets cold. But nothing else here for me to buy so far

So, it got me thinking. I'm on the database of several newspapers, all of which are investing heavily in CRM and data. They have my email, they want me to hold my hand up so they can recognise and reward me, if appropriate.

They also know where they sell their newspapers, as they have invested heavily in circulation systems. Not quite so easy as in the UK, but not impossible.

So, why can't I just email my chosen paper with my location, and get a list of local retailers here near Montepulciano by automated reply? I'm a customer waiting to pay a high cover price for a paper......

But with the ABC rules counting foreign print as a sale, regardless of it actually being sold, should I be surprised that this isn't possible. Maybe someone with vision, and an acceptance that the rules will change at some point, may be thinking the same way