PRESS RELEASE - April 8, 2005
National Newspaper Association
Web Site: www.nna.org
Contact: Tonda F. Rush, (703) 465-8808

Community newspapers may pay less, not more, for some mail in 2006!

Publishers using within county mail got a piece of good news this week, wrapped inside the bad news that postal rates are likely to go up 5.4 percent in January.

For within county mail, the new rates will be a decrease of 5 to 6 percent, the National Newspaper Association announced April 8. That assumes the Postal Rate Commission will accept the rates requested by USPS.

NNA President Mike Buffington, editor of The Jackson Herald, Jefferson, Georgia, said the new rates were the result of several factors that NNA has worked on for a number of years. He congratulated the Postal Service and NNA's Postal Committee, chaired by Max Heath, vice president of Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc., for a successful campaign to hold down postage for local newspapers.

"Anytime postage costs-which are a huge expense for most newspapers-can be held steady, it gives a local newspaper an opportunity to invest in ways that better benefit their own local communities. We were pleased to have no increases for the past couple of years. Now to have our main class of postage actually go down is terrific news," Buffington said.

Heath said NNA had learned of the possible reduction several weeks ago as it had followed cost statistics for within county mail, but had not wanted to count on the new savings until the news was official.

The United States Postal Service requested new rates with an across-the-board increase of 5.4 percent-which would include a 39 cent first-class stamp. The primary reason for the increase is the failure of Congress to repeal a required contribution of $3.1 billion to an escrow fund made necessary by a controversy over payments to the Civil Service Retirement System. Without the escrow payment, the Postal Service said, the freeze in rates that has been in place since 2003 could be sustained a while longer.

If the rate commission approves the increase, the rates would most likely go into effect early in 2006.

Heath also complimented the Postal Service on proposed reduction. He said three factors are to be credited for the good news.

"First, Postmaster General Jack Potter has done a terrific job in squeezing cost out of the Postal Service. If it weren't for this Congressionally-mandated escrow payment, there would be no increase proposed now.

"Second, local publishers deserve a major share of the credit. This reduction isn't a gift from the Postal Service. It is the result of good cost controls by publishers, who present a highly presorted efficient mailstream in the within-county mail.

"Finally, quite frankly, the credit goes to NNA. The cost formula that led to this good result came out of work NNA has done over the years in limiting the contribution from within county mail to postal overhead-which we think we deserve because our mail is efficient, and important to local communities. By working closely with the Postal Service and with Congress to ensure recognition of this preferred rate of mail, NNA has been doing its part to promote community newspapers and their viability in the mailstream."

The proposal before the PRC kicks off a process that could take as much as 10 months as the costs behind each rate are examined and challenged. NNA will participate in the PRC process on behalf of community newspapers.