Need a Loan? Subscribe to a Magazine

Thanks to the big-data revolution, subscribing to a magazine may help you overcome a weak credit score.

Many lenders are looking beyond credit scores to determine the credit-worthiness of consumers who have limited or somewhat checkered credit histories, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

About 53 million U.S. adults have no credit scores and another 56 million have sub-prime scores, writes the Journal’s AnnaMaria Andriotis.

“Now, revenue-hungry companies are considering metrics both mundane and peculiar, like whether applicants shop at discount stores, subscribe to magazines or pay their phone bills on time.”

That’s the power of data analytics at work – identifying more people who can be loaned money to buy stuff they can’t afford.

Think big! Live large! File Chapter 11!

“TransUnion says it sells alternative data to U.S. lenders that can include whether consumers subscribe to and pay for magazines. ‘It’s an indicator of stability,’ said Mike Mondelli, senior vice president of global data strategy.”

Now you may be wondering, “Do my favorite magazines really sell information about me that helps the banks poke into my spending habits?” Mr. Tree pleads the Fifth.

There’s no indication whether only print subscriptions count as an indicator of stability. But it doesn’t really matter because no one buys digital magazines.

(Editor’s note: Mr. Tree, as usual, is exaggerating. After all, Meredith Corporation, the largest magazine publisher in the U.S. and a leader in the shift to digital magazines, recently reported that subscriptions and single-copy sales for its digital editions represent a whopping “4.5% of our total rate base.” So there actually are a few people who buy digital magazines.)

Quiz: Which of these titles are still in print?

If you're hoping that signing up for a magazine will help you get your hands on that Jaguar you’ve been eyeing, act fast. This gravy train will screech to a halt once the big-data analysts realize that magazine subscription lists have been invaded by the unstable, phone-reading, print-is-dead, ad-blocking, paywall-hopping hordes.

So quick, subscribe to five print magazines (before they shut down), pay your phone bill, and run to the dollar store.

Pop quiz: Of the 11 magazines depicted in this article, which five are no longer in print? Leave a comment with your answer.

Dead Tree Edition's off-the-wall, slightly more offensive commentary on the magazine-media business includes:

• All the news that's fit for spanking
• A kick in the listicles
• The "Bite me" strategy

 

Here's Why We Avoid Four-Color Body Type

Thank you, The Wall Street Journal. You did me and a whole lot of other production managers a huge favor today with your printing foul-up.

Every couple of years, it seems, I have to talk an editor out of going along with a designer's proposal to jazz up a publication by getting rid of boring old black body type in articles. "Ooh, purple would look nice."

It was hard enough way back in the 20th Century to explain why printing 8-point type with four colors of ink would create an illegible mess. At least then most editors and designers had some clue about how printing worked.

Nowadays, you're likely to be dealing with someone who cut his teeth on the web and can't fathom why what he sees on his monitor can't look exactly the same when printed. ("I don't want four colors; I only want purple!" "Well, if the printer can't make the colors register exactly, get another printer.")

Now I have my evidence.

Special Mail Processing of 'Hot' Publications To End Friday

The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it will end preferential treatment for time-sensitive Periodicals mail this Friday, a move that could delay delivery of some daily and weekly publications by a day.

"All Periodicals will be processed efficiently on automated or mechanized equipment where postal facilities have this type of equipment," says a letter USPS officials sent today to "Periodicals mailers" and members of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. "Since all Periodicals (daily, weekly, quarterly, and monthly) have the same processing expectations and service standards, they will be processed based upon arrival times and service standards, not publication titles."

The new procedures are supposed to create a set of national deadlines that dropshipped Periodicals must meet to receive next-day delivery. They are also supposed to put an end to "Hot 2C" processing, as discussed in An End to the Postal Service's Wall Street Journal Subsidy?, and the practice of "squeaky wheel" mail handling that provides the best service to the most frequent complainers.

It's not clear, however, to what extent the Postal Service has prepared mail-handling operations for the new rules and whether it is adjusting reward systems to encourage efficiency rather than the avoidance of complaints.

The standardized deadlines (called Critical Entry Times) will "ensure Periodicals are processed on automated equipment to the maximum extent possible. Maximizing the automation of Periodicals will increase efficiency and reduce the cost to process this mail," says the letter from USPS vice presidents David E. Williams and Susan M. LaChance.

The new CETs will seemingly make on-time delivery of daily newspapers nearly impossible. Even the latest CET -- for carrier-route and 5-digit bundles going to processing centers that don't have Flats Sequencing System (FSS) machines -- will be 5 p.m. I have never heard of a morning newspaper starting up its presses that early for the next day's paper.

The CETs will be six to eight hours earlier for copies going to FSS facilities, which "have a longer processing window" and start sorting as early as noon. As FSS continues to ramp up, a significant number of ZIP codes will be shifted to FSS, and the earlier CETs, in the coming months, the letter said.

An End to the Postal Service's Wall Street Journal Subsidy?

Mail delivery of many newspapers and magazines could soon be delayed a day because of a new Postal Service program to streamline processing of flat mail.

Postal officials believe the changes will significantly reduce the costs attributed to the Periodicals class, which the U.S. Postal Service has targeted for rate increases because the class is supposedly not profitable.

Included in the plan is the end of “Hot 2C” processing that provides expedited – and expensive – manual handling of such time-sensitive publications as The Wall Street Journal and other daily and weekly publications. Another aspect of the plan is nationwide Critical Entry Times (CETs) -- deadlines for drop-shipped copies to receive next-day delivery -- that will supposedly supersede local agreements between publishers and individual postal facilities.

Last month, Dead Tree Edition noted, in How the Postal Service Subsidizes The Wall Street Journal -- and Why It Should Stop, that Hot 2C handling is in essence an indirect subsidy of certain publications.

"Within the Postal Service, the Journal is famous for complaining vociferously if any of its newspapers are delivered a day late, even if the Journal misses the deadline for getting the papers to a postal facility," the article said. "Postal managers generally acquiesce, creating special (and labor-intensive) procedures to expedite handling of the Journal."

Several postal employees submitted comments agreeing with that assessment, including this one: "The mail doesn't leave my plant 'til the WSJ arrives. Spent many nights waiting to tie out and get the trucks on the road, waiting on the WSJ three digit sorts."

One recent Postal Service presentation to publishers indicated that implementation of new standardized Periodicals operating procedures and nationwide CETs would begin July 1. But it's not clear whether that plan is on schedule because little of the outreach to publishers that was supposed to precede implementation has occurred.

The presentation said the CETs would range from 8 a.m. for publications requiring bundle sortation at a Flats Sequencing System facility to 5 p.m. for those entered at non-FSS processing centers and requiring no bundle sorting. All Periodicals mail received in a processing plant by its CET is supposed to undergo automated processing in preparation for delivery the next day.

Postal officials have indicated that eliminating Hot 2C will cut USPS's losses on the Periodicals class by one-third -- if the Postal Service sticks to its guns.

After all, old habits die hard. If a daily newspaper with a history of complaining shows up in a processing plant at 2 a.m., will the new procedures be followed? Will USPS stand behind supervisors who keep costs down by following the procedures, or will it chastise them because of customer complaints?

And will the Postal Service change its mind when publishers threaten to pull their business, or will it realize that it is better off losing a few unprofitable customers?

How the Postal Service Subsidizes The Wall Street Journal -- and Why It Should Stop

In an error-filled editorial, The Wall Street Journal chided the U.S. Postal Service Saturday for not acting more like a business and for being too slow to cut costs. Be careful what you wish for.

"If this were a private business, the obvious response to these losses would be urgent cost-cutting to avoid insolvency," the editorial said in response to USPS's latest quarterly numbers. Good point. Let's start with cutting the Postal Service's subsidization of the Journal.

Within the Postal Service, the Journal is famous for complaining vociferously if any of its newspapers are delivered a day late, even if the Journal misses the deadline for getting the papers to a postal facility. Postal managers generally acquiesce, creating special (and labor-intensive) procedures to expedite handling of the Journal.

"Wall Street Journal gives the USPS all of the addresses that they can’t service with alternate delivery and then expects to receive next-day delivery regardless of the arrival time. I’ve witnessed this first hand at USPS facilities," says an executive for a major Postal Service customer.

Such unofficial "Hot 2C" or "Hot Periodicals" expedited mail-processing programs are a major reason that so much Periodicals mail is sorted manually rather than on machines, according to a recent USPS Office of Inspector General report.

"These informal procedures increase mail processing costs and may distort service performance measurements for Periodicals," the report said.

Over the years, magazine-industry representatives have been nearly unanimous in pleading with the Postal Service to stop such manual processing of Periodicals mail. The added cost helps make the entire Periodicals class unprofitable for the Postal Service, creating pressure on USPS to jack up postage rates for all publishers.

“Periodicals publishers have repeatedly made clear that they do not desire and are not willing to pay for 'hot' processing," Jim O'Brien of Time Inc. wrote in response to the OIG report. But people inside the Postal Service said they would catch hell if they stopped hot processing of the Journal and certain other publications.

If the Postal Service were a private business, it would charge customers for such special handling. If the Postal Service were a private business, it would realize how much money it is losing on such customers. If the Postal Service were a private business, it would conclude that losing such customers would be better than continuing to subsidize them.

(Side note: Critics of five-day delivery have noted that if daily newspapers had to find another means of delivering their Saturday editions, they would probably use that network for other days of the week as well. Is it possible that postal executives are viewing that as a benefit of ending Saturday delivery rather than as part of the down side?)

The Journal editorial was written by someone who hadn't bothered to do much research -- or who purposely misrepresented the Postal Service's situation. It mentions the small pay raises for current employees in the recently ratified contract with the largest postal union, but not the huge savings USPS will get in return -- such as "eat your young" pay rates for new hires and the increased use of part-time employees.

It also calls ending the prefunding (really, overfunding) of postal retiree health benefits "a taxpayer bailout" when no tax money would be involved. And it completely garbles the issue of the Postal Service being overcharged for its share of pension payments to employees who used to work for USPS' government-run predecessor.

If the Postal Service were a private business, it would not be subsidizing The Wall Street Journal.