shouting loudly

Postal hike may crush small periodicals

When Bob McChesney personally emails everyone in his personal email address book, you know something serious is afoot, and this is no exception. Low-volume periodicals–and not large-circulation magazines–are about to be hit with a postage rate increase of as much as 30%.

To help deal with rising costs, the USPS last year proposed a simple 11.7% rate hike on periodicals. This is regrettable, but fee-for-service government agencies sometimes need to raise rates.

Last month, the Postal Board of Governors ignored the simple USPS recommendation and adopted a 758-page brainchild of Time-Warner, the nation’s largest magazine publisher. Rates will go up regressively, which will drive some of the best independent media voices over the edge of bankruptcy.

To read McChesney’s email, see Siva’s post here (the only hit in Technorati thus far–ahem, ahem). Of course, I’d also recommend that you learn more and take action. Don’t forget to write a customized email; sending the form-letter email doesn’t do nearly as much good.