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Maximize postage savings & improve delivery for community newspapers

By Max Heath

Postal Tips

Community newspapers have options to save money and improve delivery times under price and rule changes during the past decade, notably in 2007 with the last postal reform bill. From time to time, I like to review these for newcomers to the business or others who may have missed them. Updates to DMM citations and changes are made as well as percentage changes.

 

IN-COUNTY PRICE DISCOUNTS

Newspapers need Postal Service, print remains important

Research from Pew Center supports NNA study 

By Max Heath
Postal Tips

Research from the Pew Center just released showed that in three markets of varying sizes, more than half of the readers depend primarily on the printed newspaper. Studies in Sioux City, IA; Macon, GA; and Denver also revealed:

Increase circulation with mail sampling, and sell extra advertising as a bonus
Using lowest in-county rates available By Max Heath Postal Tips An increase in calls and emails on sampling questions in recent weeks and months caused me to update this topic on the value of sending sample copies to nonsubscribers using your 10 percent in-county “sampling” entitlement. The nonsubscriber rules in the Domestic Mail Manual are there to allow you to promote your newspaper to nonsubscribers and increase your mail delivery.
New rules impact marked copies

New marked copy rules prevent submitting multiple copies if only preprints in editions are different

Q & A: 2016 price increases, service deterioration

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Obtaining refunds for hard copy address changes - NNA
Q. I get multiple copies of the hard-copy Address Change Notice, Form 3579, some months old, at a cost of 59 cents each. Is there any way to get my money back? A. Yes. Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 507.1.5.2 provides in paragraph (f) that “A publisher may request a refund of the fees paid for duplicate address correction notices on Forms 3579 provided by the USPS if the customer submitted a change-of-address order and the first and duplicate notices are provided on magnetic tape by ACS (Address Change Service) or on printed copy by a Computerized Forwarding System (CFS) unit.
A message to printing plants and mailrooms
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1729","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-75 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"179","alt":"max heath column"}}]]The National Newspaper Association has worked with member mailing and delivery issues for many years. I have noticed some common problems that often stem from printing plants and mailing facilities that prepare the mail for their printing customers.
Marked copy elimination tabled
Marked copy elimination tabled because of future cost implications for periodicals
Hub SCF price eligibility expands July 1

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Newspapers that had been receiving the DSCF discount for dropping direct containers of periodicals or standard mail at a former sectional

In-county and carrier-route Standard increases eased
May 31 is effective date, USPS says, but delay is still possible
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