Leeway to cost recovery is narrow

Aug 1, 2023

Since an aggressive new pricing policy was put in place by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2021, Periodicals have seen twice-a-year postage rate increases. Cumulatively, the prices have increased more than 30% for Periodicals. For some types of individual Periodicals and Marketing Mail, increases have soared above 40%. Newspaper distribution costs have strapped publishers. For weekly newspapers in particular, whose subscription prices tend to be locked in a year at a time, the leeway to recover the additional cost through subscriptions is narrow. Publishers operating printing plants are also losing customers in the Marketing Mail business as they cut back print runs to try to survive the postage increases.

NNA and others in the mailing industry have protested the increases to the USPS Board of Governors, who retain the Postmaster General, as well as to DeJoy personally. The response has been negative, with a pledge to continue the increases. USPS is in the midst of a five–year plan to build out a competitive network for package delivery. Much of the new revenue from rising postage is dedicated to these services, not to improving services for Periodicals or newspaper shoppers.

Below, a frustrated publisher shares the disappointment with his readers. Patrick Wood, publisher of MMC Media in Milwaukee, which publishes around the metro Milwaukee and Green Bay areas, as well as small towns in Wisconsin and elsewhere, wants readers to know what is going on.

He offers his letter as a model to other publishers and editors who might wish to do the same. Download the high-res PDF here.