Postal Tips

The ability to count electronic subscriptions on the annual postal Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation, PS Form 3526, has been established since 2012. I have not revisited the subject since then, when a third page was added to the form to make counting possible.
Newspapers selling e-subs, as commonly abbreviated, wanted to be able to count them on their sworn statement as legitimate proof to advertisers of the additional circulation. NNA worked for three years through various channels to make it happen.

On May 8, the U.S. Postal Service published a final notice in the Federal Register notifying the mailing community that required mailers that enter full-service mailings at a Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) to participate in Seamless Parallel by June 1. In addition, the Postal Service provides advance notice of its intent: To require all mailers with an authorized Detached Mail Unit to enroll in the Seamless Acceptance Program by May 1, 2021; and to verify all BMEU-entered full-service mailings using only automated sampling and verification processes beginning July 1, 2021.

Recap: I'm summarizing questions to the NNA Postal Hotline of interest to members.
The identity of the questioner and location is withheld.

Q:  I have a question about our periodical permit. All of our advertisers have pulled their ads until at least the first of May. We cannot make it as a small newspaper without these major advertisers. If we take a short recess from publishing for about 3-4 weeks, will we lose our permit? What do we need to do in order to do this? This is crucial for us to stay in business.

The Postal Service’s updated five-year plan predicts mail volume will fall 18% during that period, while delivery points will grow by 5%, or 6.9 million. That, in turn, means revenue per delivery point (household or business) will decline 4%.
Those two projections, combined with ad dollars shifting to electronic channels, means trouble ahead for the Postal Service and its customers, including community newspapers. While privatization is not mentioned, that doesn’t mean forces in other parts of the government won’t be pushing in that direction.