Small faith-based mailers face crippling postal rate hike

By Philip Turner

Published: June 2, 2007

WASHINGTON — In May, the cost of mailing a first-class letter increased two cents to 41 cents. That's an increase of about 5 percent, a cost many Americans chalk up to the price of doing business.

But July 15, faith-based publications will face increases of at least 11 percent, and some rate hikes as high as 20 percent or more. That's a cost many small magazines say could put them out of business.

"There will be church publications that close, publications that will have to become monthly or quarterly,” said Bob Terry, editor and president of the Birmingham-based Alabama Baptist newspaper.

"We're nickel and diming already, and now I'm going to have to come up with $100,000 more per year for postal costs.”

In short, Terry said, the picture doesn't look good. The sentiment was shared by many at the recent Associated Church Press convention in Chicago, at which Terry gave an update on the rate increases.

"If we cut back on our mailings, we're sowing the seeds for our own destruction because we've cut off our communication with congregants,” Terry said.

The Postal Regulatory Commission determined in March that small religious publications and other nonprofit organizations that conduct mass mailings have had it too easy. While they've paid some of the actual cost of their mail, the balance has been subsidized.

Postal distribution and other institutional costs have been covered largely by big publications such as Time magazine. Time Inc. executives first raised concerns in 1998 when they realized how high mailing rates were across the board despite their attempts to distribute their mail efficiently.

Major periodicals such as Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated have experts devoted to sorting and preparing their mailings efficiently. That allows them to cut their massive postage costs and take advantage of discounts available for mass mailers.

Smaller publications such as the Alabama Baptist have volunteers who prep their mail. For years, they've put their newspapers in mail bags and sendt them to the post office for sorting and distribution. Industry officials say that's the most inefficient and costly method of mailing because it requires extra manpower at the post office. Also, many church periodicals are too small in circulation to take advantage of mass mailing rate discounts.

Jim O'Brien, director of distribution and postal affairs at Time Inc., said major periodicals shouldn't have to front the cost for inefficient mailers.

"We as an industry have to do something about our mailing costs or we're all going to be out of business,” he said. "The difference with the new rate is that everyone is going to have to pay for what they use.”

The Postal Service doesn't want to force anyone out of business, spokesman Dave Partenheimer said, but small publications "have been getting a sweet deal” for a long time, he said.

"It's going to be hard on the little guy, but the fact is that their mail is more costly to handle for the postal service,” Partenheimer said.

Partenheimer urges church publications and other nonprofit groups to begin co-mailing with other organizations. The more bulk sent to the post office, the better, he said.

Also, he said small mailers need to get away from putting their publications into inefficient containers. They can also consider drop mailing, meaning they distribute the mail themselves.

Small faith-based publications say they find the constraints frustrating. There are a 55 prices for periodicals based on container type, entry point and the amount of sorting required. And the people who volunteer in their mailrooms aren't schooled in the ways of efficient mailing.