BPA Asks Industry Whether USPS's 24-page Minimum Requirement for Controlled Circ Publications Should Be Rescinded
May 8, 2009
In light of the advertising decline facing the industry, the BPA has sent a letter to its members asking whether they think the USPS's 24-page minimum requirement for controlled circulation publications should be rescinded. BPA is seeking input on this topic from publishers. Here is the full letter:
Dear BPA Member,
Is your magazine less than 24 pages?
Ever since the USPS gave requested (controlled circulation) publications postal rate status equivalent to that of paid publications, a 24-page minimum rule has been imposed on requesters that is not imposed on their paid counterparts.
The rule was put in, and has been kept there, based on the idea that the Periodicals class would be somehow cheapened if, for example, four pages--one of which was editorial--could be mailed at the same rate as, and with the same "status" as, other periodicals with far greater ad and edit page counts.
With the decline in ad pages, there are some requester publications that have had difficulty in the past few months reaching 24 pages with paid ads and quality editorial, but they are forced to spend scarce dollars producing and mailing additional pages to maintain the Periodicals rates.
Would you like to see the USPS rescind the 24-page rule? What do you think about changing the rule? Should it be maintained? Eliminated? Changed to some lower number of pages but not eliminated altogether?
Please post your comments to the BPA Blog.
Dear BPA Member,
Is your magazine less than 24 pages?
Ever since the USPS gave requested (controlled circulation) publications postal rate status equivalent to that of paid publications, a 24-page minimum rule has been imposed on requesters that is not imposed on their paid counterparts.
The rule was put in, and has been kept there, based on the idea that the Periodicals class would be somehow cheapened if, for example, four pages--one of which was editorial--could be mailed at the same rate as, and with the same "status" as, other periodicals with far greater ad and edit page counts.
With the decline in ad pages, there are some requester publications that have had difficulty in the past few months reaching 24 pages with paid ads and quality editorial, but they are forced to spend scarce dollars producing and mailing additional pages to maintain the Periodicals rates.
Would you like to see the USPS rescind the 24-page rule? What do you think about changing the rule? Should it be maintained? Eliminated? Changed to some lower number of pages but not eliminated altogether?
Please post your comments to the BPA Blog.
Companies Mentioned:
 |
