Postal Hiked Up My…

I received this correspondence in response to my letter writing to express concern for the fate of the small press if postal rate hikes were to go into effect. Bottom line is: rates went up, and the “incentive” the postal service means to provide is a euphemism for “screw ’em.” Any publishers/small press folks out there want to respond – please write me and I’ll post commentary here – maybe I’m way off on this, and we’ll all be just fine…

(Oh, and my favorite part of this was undergoing gender reassignment…)

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UNITED STATES
POSTAL SERVICE

June 12, 2007

Mr. Denise R. Hill
Editor
NewPages
Post Office Box 1580
Bay City, Ml 48706-1580

Dear Mr. Hill:

This responds to your recent letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter concerning the approved rate increase for Periodicals.

While most United Postal Service price changes and new mailing standards went into effect on May 14, 2007 (including the 41-cent price for First Class Mail stamps), the Postal Service Board of Governors delayed the implementation of new Periodical prices and mailing standards until July 15, 2007. The delay will give mailers and the Postal Service more time to prepare for the new pricing structure recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The United Postal Service has proposed revisions to the Periodical (magazine and newspaper) portion of its mailing standards that will accompany the new Periodical pricing that will go into effect on July 15, 2007. Periodical mailers will have new incentives to use efficient containers and bundles, and copalletization (publishers/printers merging bundles from separate publications or titles on the same pallet) becomes a permanent offering to encourage more publishers to combine mailings.

You may visit our website at www.usps.com for the proposed revised standards. This site also contains rate charts and other helpful information for mailers.

You can be assured that we will continue our efforts to keep our cost as low as possible while continuing to provide the American public with consistent, reliable, and economical mail service.

Sameatria Morton
Consumer Research Analyst
Reference: HQ31719362

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Is it just me, or does “copalletization” sound smutty?