Post Office Plans Rate Welfare for Time/Warner, Killer Rates for Small Publishers

Ann Friedman at TAPPED reports: The U.S. Postal Service is considering a new rate plan that would burden smaller publishers (like The American Prospect, as well as other great publications like Mother Jones, The Washington Monthly, The Nation, etc.) with higher postage rates while unfairly locking in the best prices for the largest media companies. The rate increase -- which was proposed by Time Warner Inc. (the nation's largest publisher) -- would push many smaller magazines into bankruptcy, and make it almost impossible to launch a new publication. Here at TAP, our postal costs would increase by 21 percent -- tens of thousands of dollars per year. That's money we'd rather be spending on content. Free Press, a national media reform organization, has a convenient form you can fill out to tell the Postal Board of Governors that it's unfair to burden smaller publications with higher rates. If you care about independent media like TAP, please take a few moments and express your opposition. Teresa Stack at The Nation has written a letter to James C. Miller III, Chairman, Postal Board of Governors. Please sign the petition at Stamp Out the Rate Hikes.