News

From National Newspaper Association

The National Newspaper Association today welcomed a decision by the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors to continue Saturday mail delivery while it awaits postal reform legislation from Congress.

NNA president Merle Baranczyk, publisher of the Mountain Mail in Salida, CO, also warned NNA will oppose increases in postage rates at a time when closing mail processing facilities are degrading newspaper delivery service nationwide.

“The mission of the Postal Service is in its name: it is service. Without reliable service, no price is fair. NNA is working with the Postal Service to do all we can to help newspapers avoid the impacts of the system changes, but we need universal service for our communities and our newspapers. We also believe the ultimate responsibility rests with Congress and we will continue our vigorous advocacy on behalf of community newspapers to pass important postal reform legislation.”

Statement from the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors

“The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service met April 9th and discussed the Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress to fund government operations. By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of August 5, 2013.“ Although disappointed with this Congressional action, the Board will follow the law and has directed the Postal Service to delay implementation of its new delivery schedule until legislation is passed that provides the Postal Service with the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule. The Board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time. The Board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly.

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Q:     How do I update the contact names printing on 3541 Periodical Mail Postage Statement?

A:     To change the contact information that prints on the 3541 postage statement:

1. Select Configure List… from the File menu.
   
2. Click the Periodical Mail or Standard Mail tab
   
3. Click the Contact Information… button.
   
4. Change the contact information as desired and click the OK button to save changes.

From National Newspaper Association

National Newspaper Association President Merle Baranczyk said this week that community newspaper mail service would be further eroded by the U.S. Postal Service’s new announcement of mail plant closings and consolidations. USPS Vice President of Network Operations David Williams announced last week that USPS would accelerate closings originally planned for 2014.

NNA members from 35 states covered Capitol Hill on March 14 to brief Congress about the problems with deteriorating mail service and the need for good solutions for the financially troubled Postal Service. Congress has so far failed to introduce new postal reform legislation. Last year’s Senate passed a reform bill, but legislation died in the House.

A list of currently planned plant closings is available on the NNA website at www.nnaweb.org.

NNA Postal Committee Chair Max Heath said he and his committee have been working overtime at helping NNA members solve new problems cropping up by a tangle of mail service changes. He said it is important for publishers to be aware that USPS may have the option of setting up mail “hubs” in the place of the closing plants, but that some changes in mail preparation would be needed for many newspapers. He will address the options in the May issue of Publishers’ Auxiliary.

Q:     How do I rollback my circulation list?

A:     To roll back your circulation list:

1. Select “Rollback List” from the File Menu.

2. Confirm the date and time being rolled back to is correct. If so, click “Yes”, otherwise click “No” and contact Interlink for further assistance. Note that all changes made to the current Circulation list since the date and time shown will be lost when selecting “Yes”.

3. The rollback may take several minutes to complete, at which time the subscriber list will be shown.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, center, met with the Missouri delegation during the National Newspaper Association’s ‘We believe in newspapers’ summit recently in Washington, D.C. Shown discussing current postal concerns with McCaskill are, from left, Helen Sosniecki, former Missouri newspaper owner and past NNA State Representative, now Interlink Senior Sales and Marketing Manager; Jim Robertson, Columbia Daily Tribune Managing Editor and Missouri Press Association Second Vice-President; Dane Vernon, President of Vernon Publishing, Inc., Eldon, and NNA Region 7 Director; and Trevor Vernon, Eldon Advertiser Publisher and current NNA State Representative.

The group discussed NNA concerns about the possible loss of six-day mail delivery, the Negotiated Service Agreement the U.S. Postal Service has with direct-mail company Valassis which provides Valassis deep mailing discounts, delivery issues, the impact of USPS’ Every Door Direct Mail on some publishers and other postal and publishing-related topics. While discussing NNA postal concerns with Sen. McCaskill, the delegation learned that the Board of Governors of the USPS, a nine-member board, currently operates with only five members.

The Missouri group also met with Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, and with staff members who deal with postal concerns for both McCaskill and Blunt. Sosniecki and Interlink President Brad Hill were among about 100 participants in the summit. Besides making visits to the Hill, attendees heard from Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, USPS Inspector General David C. Williams, Vice President/Network Operations David E. Williams and Manager/Direct Mail and Periodicals Tom Foti.

 

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, center, met with the Missouri delegation during the National Newspaper Association’s ‘We believe in newspapers’ summit recently in Washington, D.C. Shown discussing current postal concerns with McCaskill are, from left, Helen Sosniecki, former Missouri newspaper owner and past NNA State Representative, now Interlink Senior Sales and Marketing Manager; Jim Robertson, Columbia Daily Tribune Managing Editor and Missouri Press Association Second Vice-President; Dane Vernon, President of Vernon Publishing, Inc., Eldon, and NNA Region 7 Director; and Trevor Vernon, Eldon Advertiser Publisher and current NNA State Representative.

The group discussed NNA concerns about the possible loss of six-day mail delivery, the Negotiated Service Agreement the U.S. Postal Service has with direct-mail company Valassis which provides Valassis deep mailing discounts, delivery issues, the impact of USPS’ Every Door Direct Mail on some publishers and other postal and publishing-related topics. While discussing NNA postal concerns with Sen. McCaskill, the delegation learned that the Board of Governors of the USPS, a nine-member board, currently operates with only five members.

The Missouri group also met with Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, and with staff members who deal with postal concerns for both McCaskill and Blunt. Sosniecki and Interlink President Brad Hill were among about 100 participants in the summit. Besides making visits to the Hill, attendees heard from Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, USPS Inspector General David C. Williams, Vice President/Network Operations David E. Williams and Manager/Direct Mail and Periodicals Tom Foti.

By William E. (Bill) Garber

The US Senate passed a nonbinding proposal to test where there is support in Congress to implement sales tax collections across state lines. Its overwhelming support may very well be good for community newspapers. Here is why.

The proposal exempts businesses with sales of under $1 million through the Internet. It is rare that a community newspaper sells $1 million of anything through the Internet that would otherwise be subject to sales tax. This means the vast majority and possibly all community newspapers would be exempt. Otherwise, a community newspaper could be required to pay sales tax on a subscription sold three states over if that state required sales tax on newspaper subscriptions, and a number now do.

If this standard became law, it is possible that community newspapers now required to report sales tax on subscriptions sold to distant destinations within their state could become exempt, ending this annoyance. To become exempt, of course, the state would have to adopt the national policy for in-state sales, exempting transactions of companies doing less than $1 million of Internet sales even in state. This is not likely across the board, but some states may just try to keep everything really simple and have a single policy, particularly if their revenue goes up noticeably overall, which is highly likely.

Finally, if states now demanding community newspapers collect sales tax based on the delivery address were to continue to demand this, collection could be made much simpler and therefore less costly. To qualify for receiving sales tax, each state would have to adopt the national system. This would greatly reduce the cost of implementing sales tax management for every business, as a single system would meet the requirements of all 40-some states collecting sales taxes.

Here is a report directed to the technical community that would be required to implement this proposal.  Click here for link to article.

A new revenue opportunity for your newspaper

By Mitzi B. Welborn
Mailing Solutions Specialist
U.S. Postal Service

With Every Door Direct Mail® service from the U.S. Postal Service®, potential customers can reach the customers who matter most to your business – in nearby neighborhoods. Postage will be as low as $.170 – and you won’t even need to know individual names or street addresses. You can simply identify the neighborhoods you want to target, and your printed piece is delivered to every active address in that target area.

You probably have seen that paragraph on websites, in print media, on television and heard from carriers and/or Postmasters many times. When it was initially launched, many printers and list providers saw the program as competition and not as an opportunity.

However, since then, many of them have become the Postal Service’s biggest sellers of Every Door Direct Mail. Some of the biggest online printers have embraced this program and are offering turnkey programs to both small and large business customers.  Franchise printers like The UPS Stores, PostNet Stores, Minuteman Press, and Allegra printing have added Every Door Direct Mail to their sales menu, along with many others.

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By Cheryl Wormley
President, International Society
of Weekly Newspaper Editors

Back in 1897, James Ross Clemens was ill. Not-so-careful passing on of information resulted in word that Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, was dying in London. When an enterprising reporter decided to check on Twain before publishing his demise, the author responded, “The report of my death was greatly exaggerated.”

Morley Safer, during his Jan. 6 “60 Minutes” report about the newspaper industry, glibly stated, “The facts of life are that newspapers are folding all over the country. It’s a dying business.” His example was the New Orleans newspaper, The Times-Picayune, which recently cut back from publishing seven days a week to three days.

When it comes to newspapers, there are two cousins – large metro dailies and community newspapers. The latter includes weeklies and small dailies (publishing three or fewer days a week). Safer as well as reporters and broadcasters from media giants across the United States and around the world owe it to the public – and to community newspaper owners and staffers – to perform due diligence to determine which of the newspaper cousins is near death and which is alive. Only then, should they should report their findings.

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