NEWSPAPER BULK SALES SET TO END?

Earlier this week The Guardian in the U.K. announced it was abandoning the distribution of bulk sales of its newspaper to hotels and airlines.
The move is intended to increase the transparency of its ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) figures. It's also likely to save production and distribution costs. Bulk sales, which are multiple copies sold for a nominal fee (as low as 1p), made up almost 4 per cent (approx. 12,000 copies) of the total circulation of The Guardian.
In Thailand it's just The Bangkok Post which has an ABC audited circulation statement. That reveals that more than 41 per cent of the newspaper's average daily circulation during the last six months of 2008 was comprised of bulk sales. In figures that's an average of 24,006 copies per day from the total average daily circulation of 58,441.
In the U.K. ABC has been conduction investigations into publishers' use of bulk sales to inflate circulation figures. Although these copies are sold, there's no guarantee they are actually being read. I once recall selling 10,000 copies of a weekly newspaper I worked for at 1p per copy to an event organiser as part of a media sponsorship deal. I pretty much doubled the circulation that week, although those copies were never actually printed. There was a paper trail, and at that time that's all ABC needed to see. Things have changed now.
I wonder how long bulk sales will be permitted as part of a newspaper's circulation statement?
For The Bangkok Post there are advantages and disadvantages to being audited. On the one hand everyone can see how many copies they actually sell, for how much and through what channel. But when the competition isn't audited and only claims circulation figures which may or may not be correct, just how beneficial is that level of transparency?