Free Press does have a way to act against the postal rate hikes for small and independent magazines. This is from our Web page, “Stamp Out the Rate Hikes:”

“In an unprecedented move, the agency that oversees postal rates in the United States has quietly attempted to unravel much of what the founders accomplished. Earlier this year, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead they opted to implement a complicated plan submitted by media giant Time Warner. (Click here to read the decision and click here for a timeline)

Under the original plan, all publishers would have a mostly equal increase (approx. 12 percent) in the cost for mailing their publications. The Time Warner plan overturned this level playing field to favor large, ad-heavy magazines like People at the expense of smaller publications like In These Times and The American Spectator. It penalizes thousands of small- to medium-sized outlets with disproportionately higher rates while locking in privileges for bigger companies.”

You can go to this link for more info and to act.
http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html

Thanks for blogging about this. It’s an extremely important issue that will have a negative impact for all small media, and publishers and groups across the political spectrum are coming together on this one. Yet — as with so many other important issues affecting media today — it is getting very little press.