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Postal Tips by Matt Paxton

Matt Paxton is NNA Postal Chair and a member of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee for NNA, along with Brad Hill of Interlink and NNA's Tonda Rush.

Increase circulation and save postage

If you’re looking to increase your subscription rates, you might be inclined to leave your out-of-county rates alone, or increase modestly. 

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Do it now!

We’ve been submitting our mailing statements electronically for several years now, but if our newspaper was still using hard copy forms, here’s how I would make the change.

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USPS’ new network and how the changes will impact newspapers

The Postal Service began talking about re-inventing its delivery network about this time last year and has already embarked on making changes to a number of processing plants around the country.

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Marketing Mail rates soar for heavier pieces

Because the rate tables were not released until a few days before my deadline for the July issue of Pub Aux, I did not have a chance to analyze the changes in Marketing Mail rates. The bottom line is that ...

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Rates rise again in July; Here’s the break down

As you undoubtedly know, the next postal rate increase takes effect July 9, unless some problem on the Postal Service’s end delays implementation.

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How to get help from USPS

Perhaps the most common issue is the issue of slow service to a subscriber or group of subscribers. There was a time when you could get your local post office to put what was called a publication watch ...

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Changes are happening; be ready

The eDoc submission process includes confirmation that Move Update standards for address correction have been met and that the carrier route accuracy standard has been met for each address in the mailing.

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Converting from Sacks to Tubs

By this publication, if you’ve been mailing your non-DDU or Exceptional Dispatch newspapers in sacks, you’ve had to convert to using flats tubs for that mail.

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Make money and gain subscribers by saturation mailing your newspaper

We tried something new for us last month for Thanksgiving week, which, of course, is one of the biggest retail periods of the year. 

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October ruling says subscription lists must be certified more often

Previously, you could use a list for up to 180 days from the date of certification. A new rule put in place Oct. 1 makes the time you can use a list before re-certifying much shorter.

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USPS delivery network changes might affect you

There are a lot of changes coming at USPS, and not just to rates. Starting this summer, we were made aware of changes coming in some larger metro areas involving consolidating carrier routes into large ...

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Protect your mailing permit

The postal team at NNA recently got a question from a member asking what specific postal regulatory violations would trigger the revocation of a Periodicals permit. We thought other members might benefit ...

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Here's the lowdown on USPS’ other permit — Marketing Mail

Those of you publishing shoppers or TMC papers in addition to your regular newspapers are probably quite familiar with the ins and outs of Marketing Mail, which used to be called Standard Class or bulk ...

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Streamline your production process with Alternate Marked Copy

In a recent Max Heath Postal Institute™ webinar, there was quite a bit of interest in, and questions about, the Postal Service’s rules on marked copies and the Alternate Marked Copy process.

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Protect your Periodicals permit

When you’ve been mailing your newspapers for a while and your systems are in place for maintaining your subscriber list, your single-copy vendor records, file copies for verifying ad percentages ...

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With NMA partnership, we expect that our combined voice on Capitol Hill will be greater

This move recognizes that all three organizations have areas of strength but that resources are tight in our industry. By working together on public policy and in sharing training resources and technical ...

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What we can do to help our out-of-town subscribers receive the print edition faster

Our circulation people hear it all the time: “I haven’t gotten my newspaper for three weeks.” “I got two editions the same day.” “Some weeks it takes three days; sometimes ...

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Is the mail still the best distribution option for community newspapers?

The past 18 months have not been happy ones for the U.S. Postal Service and its customers. Delivery service, particularly for out-of-county newspapers, has been alternating between mediocre and outright ...

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Gaining new subscribers through sampling

A good way to increase your mail subscriptions is by sending sample copies of your newspaper to non-subscribers letting them see what they’re missing by not regularly reading the paper. Many publishers ...

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Ready or not, Seamless Acceptance for Full Service Mailers is coming

Now, it appears that all Full Service mailers entering currently through their local BMEU, likely their local post office, will be verified using only automated sampling and verification processes beginning ...

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