Post Office to squeeze small publications

The postal regulators have quietly agreed to hike postage for small publications:

The Post Office is in the process of implementing a radical reformulation of its mailing rates for magazines. Under the plan, smaller periodicals will be hit with a much larger increase than the big magazines, as much as 30 percent. Some of the largest circulation magazines will face hikes of less than 10 percent.

The new rates, which go into effect on July 15, were developed with no public involvement or congressional oversight, and the increased costs could damage hundreds, even thousands, of smaller publications, possibly putting many out of business. This includes nearly every political journal in the nation. These are the magazines that often provide the most original journalism and analysis. These are the magazines that provide much of the content on Common Dreams. We desperately need them.

What the Post Office is planning to do now, in the dark of night, is implement a rate structure that gives the best prices to the biggest publishers, hence letting them lock in their market position and lessen the threat of any new competition. The new rates could make it almost impossible to launch a new magazine, unless it is spawned by a huge conglomerate.

Not surprisingly, the new scheme was drafted by Time Warner, the largest magazine publisher in the nation. All evidence available suggests the bureaucrats responsible have never considered the implications of their draconian reforms for small and independent publishers, or for citizens who depend upon a free press. [Common Dreams]

Sign the petition to stamp out the rate hikes.

[HT: One Good Move]

Comments

[greensmile]

Damn! Is it too late? Is there no appeal? Time is getting even with me for canceling the subsciption. I didn't know how they'd do it but after I told the nice lady in India for the 10th time that, no, absolutely no, I did not want my AOL renewed in any form, somehow they really weren't done with me.

[greensmile]

Damn! Is it too late? Is there no appeal? Can squawking to my congressman undo the lobbying?

If this hits my science journal subscriptions I will be pissed.

Time is getting even with me for canceling the subsciption. I didn't know how they'd do it but after I told the nice lady in India for the 10th time that, no, absolutely no, I did not want my AOL renewed in any form, somehow they really weren't done with me.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

They already approved the policy, but there's some sort of window of opportunity for public comment until the 23rd of April. You can submit feedback by clicking through the "petition" link above.

[Maldoror]

Going completely digital might be an answer. Save postage and paper and printing costs.

No one wants to pay for digital content, however...

[cfrost]

This is definitely not good for smaller scientific publications and other peer-reviewed academic journals, many of which get by on a shoestring. How big is the threshold separating large and small publications? How will it affect the giant journal publishing companies like Elsevier, Springer, and Blackwell? Will they get the lower or the higher rates? The big publishers might persuade the post office that all their publications be grouped as one and get the lower rate. If they don’t, the cost will be passed on to the consumer and already insanely expensive journals will get a little more expensive. The electronic versions of the journals are not cheap either, and the smallest circulation journals are not set up to publish electronically. I handle the librarian duties at a government lab. I’ve already dropped a few print subscriptions and kept just the electronic subscriptions, but some of the smallest circulation journals only come in print form. Typically, small journals will have achived issues, but the latest issues are mailed.

Here’s a short article in Nature">http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/tenopir.html">Nature adressing journal publishing costs and electronic publication.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

When business and government become one...

Is there no hope for the world?