Until recently, Postal Service executives talked about periodicals as “the anchor in the mailbox.” But lately, says one publishing executive, it seems that “the USPS just tied us to the anchor and threw it overboard.”
With the demise of “Aunt Minnie mail” (personal letters), USPS officials talked about magazines and newspapers as the key to “the mailbox moment” when people excitedly check their mail. But in recent months publishers have grown increasingly nervous about their reliance on a nearly insolvent Postal Service that seems ready to jettison them, including a recent proposal to abolish the Periodicals class altogether.
“What’s a publisher to do when the mailbox is in danger of collapse?” the MPA (AKA The Association of Magazine Media) asks in a description of its Feb. 2 Postal Summit. The brochure reflects what seems to be the entire magazine industry’s feelings about USPS these days -- and why publishers everywhere are saying, “How the hell do we get more of our subscribers switched over from print to the iPad, or the Nook, or whatever?”
“Bankrupt. Bailout. Broken business model. Words once used to describe Wall Street are now regularly linked to the United States Postal Service, the medium by which ninety percent of magazines are delivered.” That’s a lead-in to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe’s speech on “What Does a Modern USPS Look Like?”
One session will address the question, “How do our magazines get delivered by a smaller, slower and potentially more expensive Postal Service?” The brochure states that “As the Postal Service retools for the future, service and prices as we know them could be radically different. New entry and delivery timelines could radically change the magazine production schedule – earlier editorial deadlines, printing schedules – the works.”
More than any other USPS customers, publishers are feeling under the gun because USPS claims it loses money on the Periodicals class. Its latest numbers show that Periodicals revenue covered only 74.9% of the class’s costs in Fiscal Year 2011, down slightly from 75.4% in FY2010.
Another session will focus on the 10 Percent – the magazines not delivered by USPS. “For some titles, the changing Postal Service may no longer be the ideal method of delivery, leading publishers to consider alternatives.”
There’s no mention in the program of the Flats Sequencing System (FSS), which many in the magazine industry once hoped would help the Periodicals class’s profitability. Publishers have faced too many delayed deliveries and damaged copies caused by what some call the Flats Shredding System to have much faith in that solution any more.
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I currently subscribe to one magazine and I get it in digital format. Shows up on my Nook and I read it, no post office needed.
ReplyDeleteThere is the solution.
The U.S. Congress long ago tied an anchor to the U.S. Postal Service by not permitting it to adjust its pricing to accurately reflect inflation and its rising overhead. I certainly don't want to pay more for postage, but in the face of losing the service all together, it's time to face pricing realities. The same is true for publishers who've been getting a sweet deal for decades. It's time to pay up or find another way.
ReplyDeleteThe Nook is not a solution. It is only a solution for one person. Not everyone who subscribes to a periodical is going to buy a nook, can afford one, or choose to read this way. I like a hard copy magazine. This is just one person's answer and not a well thought out solution. The Postmaster General needs to be fired and replaced with one who is going to preserve the service, not cause its death spiral by making service worse. There are still many who use the mail system and do not have the finances nor capability to turn to technology.
ReplyDeleteTHE MANAGEMENT IN THE POST OFFICE HAS NO CLUE ON HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS. WHY DON'T THEY GET RID OF THE ADVO CIRCULAR THAT WE MAKE NO MONEY ON? THEY SPENT OVER 1 BILLION DOLLARS ON THE F.S.S. MACHINES AND NOW THEY WANT TO DO AWAY WITH MAGAZINES.
ReplyDeleteWHAT FOOLS.......
It's so much cheaper to use the internet for this stuff. I pay about 60 bucks a month for access and use it to pay all my bills and read a few dozen newspaper/magazine articles a month. Sure is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying stamps!! Wonder how much I'd spend on postage if I paid my bills by mail.
ReplyDeleteI love ppl who come to articles like this and make it about "you." I understand saving money but let's try to help eachother out in times like these. Maybe pay 75 percent of your bills online but realize that some of us need to put food on the table too-If we all tried to help one another out a lot more we wouldn't be in situations like we are today.
ReplyDeleteI know how to change my oil and do practically everythin to my car-but on occasion I take it into the shop-those guys need jobs too-they need food on the table for their families.
LIFE ISN'T JUST ABOUT you FOLKS!!
"I pay about 60 bucks a month for access and use it to pay all my bills and read a few dozen newspaper/magazine articles a month."
ReplyDeleteThat comes out to 136 stamps per month. You must have a whole hell of a lot of bills
Lets see, I send out about 6 bills a month at 44 cents each. Thats about $2.64 a month. So expensive? Its cheaper for me to buy my newspapers and send my bill via mail rather than pay $60 a month....GET REAL !
ReplyDeleteI've been calling it the Flats Shuffler Shredder since March 14, 2006. Before postal FSS we had walk-sequenced flats with zero variation in size or thickness. After postal FSS? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteNot everything can be eMailed or viewed on an eReader. If we lose the Post Office the prices with the alternatives will go up and the choices will go down. We lose the one thing that connects every person in this country; the ability to mail something to anyone, anywhere, for very little money. Competitors will not deliver to areas unless they are lucrative. Mailing something coast to coast will cost more than across the state. Until tangible items can be mailed or shipped with a "Beam it up, Scotty", we should do our best to keep the Post Office. It does not discriminate; everyone with a valid address can get mail.
ReplyDeleteFor all who espouse the wisdom of "doing everything on the internet"....what's to stop these wonderful companies that accept your e-pay from saying" hmmmm now that the USPS is not an option, let's start charging for the transaction". you the consumer are trapped...and end up paying more than you would have if still using the USPS. Please don't for a second think that companies won't go down that path because it is always about the dollar!!!
ReplyDeletePersonally I see digital reading devices, be it a Nook, Kindle, whatever, the wave of the future. Prices keep dropping and soon I won't be surprised to see them in the sub $50 range for a good one. I won't even be surprised to see them being given away as "free" at some point. Instead of getting that free phone or with a SI subscription, get a free e-book reader with a 2 year subscription.
ReplyDeleteAs for needing the post office? I get maybe one package a month delivered by the post office, and only because they were the cheapest option for shipping. No bills for me come via the postal service, and I don't mail any payments through them.
Can everyone do this? Nope? But in the not far off future I see more and more people doing this , either through some type of computing device (computer, tablet, smart phone, etc.).
Publishers aren't the only ones who have been "thrown overboard." Retirees are receiving "interim" payments (approx. 1/2) while OPM takes 5-11 months to get around to paying a full annuity.
ReplyDeleteCan I predict it or can I predict it?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/NOOK-Bundle-NYT/379003397/
To the Anonymous who thinks companies are waiting for the Post Office to fold just so they can charge for online payments -- Sorry, but they're not waiting; they're doing it already. For example, my water utility offers ePay & phone payments, but when I use those methods, I get smacked with a $4 convenience fee. My electric utility charges a $2 fee and a former mortgage company charged $12.
ReplyDeleteAnd even though there are lots of companies who don't charge such fees as line items on your bill, they are folding those charges into other areas, raising prices while lowering quality.
Apparently, circumventing the USPS to pay your bills more efficiently is perhaps one of the most expensive luxuries in the First World.
Another sign that the USPS has abandoned Publishers: The National Postal Forum in Orlando 4/1-4 is offering only TWO sessions on Periodicals- and both are offered on the "Mail Preparers" track. The USPS doesn't even consider us as "Mail Creators". Since when are newspapers and magazines created by "mail preparers"?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog
ReplyDelete