• by January 3, 2002

As Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) president and CEO Nina Link announced today, the MPA and other mailers have agreed to a settlement of the current postal rate case. The proposed rate increase was initially announced on the morning of September 11th and negotiations were undertaken within a few weeks at the direction of the Chairman of the Postal Rate Commission.

According to the announcement, the MPA successfully negotiated for three key positions that were included in the agreement:

1. - a June 30, 2002 implementation date for new rates as opposed to an earlier one proposed by the Postal Service;

2. - a reasonable "back-end" assurance that the Postal Service does not intend to file another rate case earlier than fall 2002, meaning that rates would not go up again at least until October 2003; and

3. - explicit inclusion of an enhanced mail preparation (i.e., "pallet") discount agreed to and supported by the MPA, ABM, and other representatives of periodicals mailers.

"We believe that the agreement negotiated is in the best interest of our members and the magazine industry," said Link. "As a result, we have agreed to sign."

The MPA says that if this case were to be litigated to a conclusion under normal procedures, periodicals almost certainly would be facing the prospect of a rate increase in the range of 15% going into effect on Labor Day 2002. Instead, under the terms of the settlement agreement, the average increase for MPA members will be under 10%, effective June 30, 2002.

On the matter of the "back-end" assurance about the timing of the next rate filing, Postmaster General Potter has issued a written statement to all parties making it clear that the Postal Service's plan (subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances) is not to file another rate case until October 2002 at the earliest.

The settlement agreement must now be submitted to the Postal Rate Commission for approval. Barring any indication of significant opposition (notices must be filed by January 18), approval of the agreement is expected.