Publishers are being hit with a 6.8% postage increase, a bigger hike than those planned for Marketing Mail and First Class letters, effective July 12.
Marketing Mail rates would rise
by 4.8%, and the First Class stamp by 4% to 82 cents. The domestic postcard would go from 61 cents to 65 cents.
The new periodical rate hikes would vary as follows:
- Outside County—6.5%
- Within County—9.3%
Presumably, the Within County rates would hurt the most, but newspapers that use the USPS for
delivery increasingly use printing plants in other states.
The News/Media Alliance reports that the new Marketing Mail rates vary from only 1.36% for High-Density and Saturation
flats, to 7.219% for carrier route. Flats will see a 6.9% increase.
The full impact is yet to be determined.
There is some good news on the periodical front: new
workshare discounts, as follows:
- Carrier Route Basic—$0.140, with a passthrough of 85.4%
- High Density--$0.037, with an 86%
passthrough
- Saturation Flats--$0.065, with an 85.5% passthrough.
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“The reasons and analysis for establishing these discounts are to
further the efficient flow of Periodicals through the Postal Service network, just as with the introduction of analogous discounts for Marketing Mail Heavy Printed Matter,” the USPS
states.
It adds, “Again, SCF Pallet discounts will be available for pallets on which all pieces are destined for ZIP Codes served by a single SCF. Delivery Sort
discounts will be available for containers in which pieces, in which pieces are sorted to the 5-digit zip code, to a 5-digit scheme, or to the carrier route.”
The
USPS notes that Outside County Periodicals prices were composed of “a per-pound price for advertising content, a per-pound price for editorial content, a per- piece price, a per-bundle price,
and a container price. The simplified structure implemented in this rate case removes the bundle and container components but maintains the per-piece and per-pound components. As such,
Outside County Periodical prices and Marketing Mail prices will be more similarly structured.”
The new rates were announced last Thursday, along with a plan to
temporarily suspend payments to a governmentwide pension plan, as reported by the Federal News Network.
The USPS reiterated that it is facing a severe financial crisis and rising
operational costs.
“In about a year from now, the Postal Service would be unable to deliver the mail if we continue the status quo.” Postmaster
General David Steiner told legislators in March.
Steiner continued, “One easy action, increasing our borrowing authority, buys us
time. Time that we can use to best determine what the Postal Service should do to best serve the American public.” Steiner also asked for authority to raise postage rates.
"Since August
2021, even with a price cap in place, news and magazine publishers are seeing price increases that are 254% above the rate of inflation, which at that level is unsurprisingly leading many small, local
newspapers and magazines to cut staff, shutter titles, or close their doors entirely," said Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, at that time.