The Trading Post was a classified advertisement newspaper first published in Melbourne in 1966, named for the generic concept of a trading post. After changing hands a number of times, in 2004, the company was bought for $636 million by Telstra. In April 2009, it ceased printing altogether and moved to an online format only.
History
Melbourne
The original founders of the Trading Post, Charles Falkiner and Margaret Wilkins, started the newspaper in 1966 using an initial outlay of $24,000. In 1968, the newspaper expanded operations in both Sydney and Brisbane, and the Adelaide, Perth, Tasmania, Darwin, and ACT editions were established during the 1980s and 1990s. It first went online in 1996, then changed hands numerous times before being purchased in 1998 by Trader Media, a Dutch-owned company.
Adelaide
A suburban Adelaide edition, selling or buying used goods, was published fortnightly under various names for 41 years:
The Adelaide Private Trader - from edition number 95, it was subtitled "incorporating Adelaide Trading Post" which had existed as a separate rival publication since 5 September 1968.
Adelaide Trading Post
Weekly Trading Post - from 2002, when the rural edition ceased, it was subtitled "Adelaide and country SA".
Trading Post
A number of rural South Australian editions, using the same format, were also published:
In March 2004, the Trading Post Group company was bought by Telstra's Sensis directories division for $636 million. At the time of sale, the company had grown nationally to 22 print publications and five related websites. In October 2009, in the face of a massive shift to virtual advertising, it moved to being a website based publication only. At the time of transition, it had an average of 469,000 readers a week while the website received 1.8 million unique hits per month. According to Telstra at the time of the sale, "the most popular Trading Post categories are pets and horses, household furniture and goods, wheels, tyres and parts, home renovations, rural and machinery, gardens and outdoor living, business and office, and sport, leisure and recreation." The shift, however, resulted in 279 positions across nine locations being made redundant.
