Statement by NNA on plant closings

Apr 1, 2013

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.