Why is the US POSTAL Service taking orders from TIME WARNER? Smaller mags affected?

[Nikki Stone1]

I just got a notice that some smaller magazines are costing more to send than large scale ones like "Time". Is this what the new postal rates are all about?

From a notice received this morning from MS.

The future of independent magazines like Ms., Mother Jones, The Nation, etc. is at risk with a massive new postage hike!

The U.S. Postal Service has accepted a Time Warner proposal that would significantly increase postage rates for smaller magazines, while reducing costs for the nation's largest publishers like Hearst and, you guessed it, Time Warner.

Ms. is working with Free Press, a national non-partisan organization working to reform media, and the Media Consortium, including Mother Jones, The Nation, American Prospect, The Progressive, In These Times, and other independent media to send a massive number of letters protesting this unfair postage hike.

Please take a minute now to cosign a letter demanding that the rules are changed.

Time Warner's plan was chosen - with almost no public awareness - instead of another proposal that would have imposed a more equitable increase for all magazine publishers. If and when it is implemented as scheduled in July, the Time Warner plan could force many smaller publications out of business.

This proposal unfairly hurts smaller, cutting-edge publications like Ms., at a time when we need independent media more than ever. You can count on Ms. magazine, not "big corporate media," for the real story on the issues affecting women in the U.S. and worldwide.

Don't let Time Warner and the corporate media win - please cosign a letter demanding that Congress step in to stop the unfair postage hike and save independent media!

[Nikki Stone1]

1. Here's a link to the letter to sign (if you're interested)

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/feministmajority/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11086&t=ms.dwt

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Does anyone have a link to the rationale used to support the new rate structure

The USPS should have its reasoning on this published somewhere

[Nikki Stone1]

4. Just to the website: http://www.usps.com/prices/

They're claiming efficiency

[Moochy]

10. And while that may be true in one context

Achieving "efficiency" at the cost of hurting small businesses is not efficient in a macro sense. It's unfair competition, and that is not good news for the consumer. It degrades the quality and diversity of the publications available, and it will cause many small magazines and periodicals to go out of business. Which is naturally the reason why Time Warner came up with the rate structure it did.

[Nikki Stone1]

13. I agree with your take on it

But I think there are more sinister political implications

[CBGLuthier]

3. not enough information, please read before taking a stance

I still can see the side of the smaller publishers but there is no
info at all in this post about what TW's plan is and why they get a break.

This lengthy article explains it somewhat better.



The plan is so complex that "seemingly only a handful of people on earth understand it," said Bob McChesney, a Madison-based media analyst, author and communications professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Moreover, many of the cost-effective streamlining tactics, such as co-mailing with other publications or shipping from multiple locations around the country, are simply not feasible for smaller periodicals, according to many publishers.

"Somebody could give me five bucks to dunk a basketball, but I still can't do it," analogized Straus. Publishers who can't, for instance, practically coordinate their release dates and pallet-packing with other magazines will be "collateral damage, like the civilians in Iraq."

And often, this means small, independent publishers, not powerhouse publishers like Time Warner (Time, People, Sports Illustrated) or Conde Nast (Vogue, Wired, GQ).



http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/134155

[Nikki Stone1]

5. Good link. Thnx.

;;;

[Nikki Stone1]

7. The Postal Commission rejected a plan from USPS and accepted a plan by Time Warner

"The commission rejected a proposal submitted by the Postal Service last May, instead giving a stamp of approval (with some tweaking) to a plan drafted by media conglomerate Time Warner. The Postal Service, along with publishing groups like McGraw-Hill and American Business Media, argued against Time Warner's plan, contending that it socked the publication industry with too many changes all at once.
In response, the commission delayed the implementation date and reduced the impact of Time Warner's proposal on smaller publications, but publishers across the country, including some in Madison, say it's not enough."

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/134155

[Solo_in_MD]

12. That article is more rant about the impacts and not why the rates were set the way they were

Apparantly the big guys can do things that lower costs for the USPS that the smaller guys can not. My question is what are those factors and how do they drive USPS costs.

Assuming the new pricing model reasonably represents true costs, its saying that the larger periodicals are subsidizing the smaller ones significantly. That those who are losing the subsidy are complaining is not surprising. To somehow claim it is unfair seems pretty weak.

[Moochy]

6. Govt. By the Corporations, For the Corporations

Writing policy is hard, and if you get it wrong you may anger your corporate overlords. Might as well just have the corporations set the rates and write the laws themselves... It's just a more efficient system!

:eyes:

[Nikki Stone1]

8. I just wonder how Time Warner got in on it...and how much their contractors were paid

to enrich themselves and screw others.

[Blackhatjack]

9. One possible explanation put forth years ago....

TWC and others wanted to have government approval to implement 'electronic stamping' of email. It was believed that the minimal costs to individuals would be insignificant, but the mass mailers would raise huge sums of money if they converted to electronic mailing.

It died at that time because of the cost of snail mail was not high enough to force mass mailers to turn to electronic mailings.

When the costs of snail mail reaches the level where it threatens the mass mailers' existence, they might obviously consider going to electronic delivery --creating the possibility that email stamping may be raised again.

[Nikki Stone1]

11. Email stamping? Good God!

I'll bet that's coming though

[SOS]

14. Related issue...

The USPS also got rid of M-bags on May 14.
An M-bag is a mail sack which book dealers can use to ship books overseas.
Small book dealers use this service to ship internationally at a good rate. It was about a dollar a pound.

Now they got rid of M-bags, except for...AMAZON!

The big guys can continue to use the service, but all small bookstores are shut out.

Combine this with the Time/Warner deal and we see who's running the Postal Commission now.

[Nikki Stone1]

15. Wow. How come we don't hear about things like this?

Grrrrrrrrrr

[earth mom]

16. Everyone should be aware that * & Co is trying to privatize the Post Office.

That's why I see this as sabotage on the part of * & Co, not on the part of the Postal Service to hurt the public. So please let's not be so quick to point fingers that the Postal Service is out to get anyone. Criticizing the Postal Service only serves to give * & Co more ammunition to gut it.

FYI-hundreds of thousands of people in this country work for the U.S. Postal Service and those are Union jobs we're talking about.

[SOS]

17. True

The USPS is indeed a good organization which provides union jobs and delivers with great overall reliability.

The question arises at the Postal Rate Commission, which rejected the USPS proposal on magazines.

I just had a look at their site. There are 5 commissioners. Here are excerpts from the bios of three of them:

1. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Hammond was Executive Director, as well as Finance Director, of the Missouri Republican Party.

2. Mr. Acton served a year in New York City as Deputy to the Chairman of the 2004 Republican National Convention

3. From 1998 through 2001, Mr. Blair served as Senior Counsel to Senator Fred Thompson

Looks the Republican/Wall Street gang managed to insure a 3-2 vote for themselves.