(57) The invention is based on the recognition that by a systematic data processing of returned newspapers, which carry a bar code identifying the daily edition number and/or the sales district, it will be possible to plan the production and the distribution for minimizing the returnings. However, in practice this will require the use of a destacker which can operate with a very high capacity and handle papers of widely different thicknesses. Previous destackers have had to be adjusted to a specific paper thickness when a high operation speed is required, e.g. 3-6 copies per second. The invention provides for a destacker which can operate at high speed with both thick and thin copies, based on the clamping parts (28,30) gripping the single copies (22) and drawing these out from the bundle with high speed are held together by the use of a suitably high spring force with a pronounced soft spring characteristic, preferably by the use of compressed air cylinders (52).