NEWSPAPER EXECS RELIEVED OVER POSTAL RATE HIKES

By: Todd Shields Postal Service's Hikes Reduced By Postal Rate Commission





WASHINGTON - Under Montana's big sky, people and goods travel far for even routine transactions. Each week, for example, the Hungry Horse News and its sister publications traverse thousands of square miles to reach readers - often via the U.S. Postal Service.



Little wonder, then, that Hungry Horse Publisher Jim Rickman braced for bad news as Washington moved to increase postal charges, a leading cost for his Lee Enterprises publications.



Yet Rickman and other newspaper executives expressed relief when the presidentially appointed Postal Rate Commission slashed the hikes sought by the Postal Service. The decision announced last week will boost rates for in-county newspapers by 6.8% (compared with a Postal Service request for 8.6%) and for newspapers that cross county lines by 9.9% (compared with a requested for 14.2%).



Among newspapers, the changes will have the greatest impact on 10,000 or so weekly and community papers, shoppers, and specialty publications. Such organs rarely can afford the networks of distributors who handle metropolitan dailies.



Rickman, who oversees seven weeklies and a shopper with a total circulation of about 50,000, said he had planned for the worst as the postal rates evolved. At $150,000 to $160,000 a year, postage ranks as the second- or third-leading expense for the Hungry Horse News group, behind only compensation and perhaps newsprint. "I cringe anytime one of our costs goes up by almost double-digits," Rickman said. But, he added, "The Postal Service is still the most cost-effective alternative."



The new rates are to take effect in January after approval by Postal Service governors.



Senny Boone, an officer with the National Newspaper Association that represents smaller-circulation newspapers in Washington, said rates include price breaks for newspapers that thoroughly sort their press run. "If they don't," said Boone, "it could as much as double their rates."



At the Hungry Horse News, that message has resonance. Rickman said, "We're going to have to look at technology" to find ways to sort papers and cut postal costs.







Todd Shields (tshields@editorandpublisher.com) is the Washington editor for E&P.







Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.