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USPS wants to toughen rule on periodical 'droop'
From staff reports
It was supposed be a quiet time for news from the U.S. Postal Service.
Late in 2009, word came that Postmaster General John E. Potter had said there would be no price increases on periodicals mail in 2010, and the newspaper industry was relieved not to have to worry about distribution costs rising in the difficult economy.
But then came two more bits of news with implications for newspapers.
First, in an appropriations bill for federal spending, Congress once again mandated that the USPS maintain six-day mail delivery. President Barack Obama signed the bill in December. The action stifles any talk of dropping Saturday mail service, at least for the short term.
More troubling, however, is a proposal that would toughen the "droop" rule for periodicals by shortening the length a periodical can droop from 4 inches to 3 inches when tested by dangling it off a flat surface.
Newspapers that fail the test by drooping more than 3 inches could be pushed into delivery categories with higher postage rates. The tougher rule could take effect in June.
The National Newspaper Association has already filed an objection to the rule change. "These punitive rates would deny newspapers the benefit of carrier route discounts even when they do their proper carrier route sorting, and the rationale for doing that is not very well supported. This deflection or ‘droop' test is really about machinability, not manual handling. NNA hasn't seen any evidence than one inch of ‘droop' more or less is going to affect handling costs one iota," said NNA Postal Committee Chairman Max Heath. "Frankly, this seems to us to be a rate case in disguise."
Heath said he expects mailers in the magazine industry to object to the rule change too.
For more information, visit www.nnaweb.org. |
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