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Matt Paxton
Inflation has been taking a bite out of everyone’s wallet over the past couple of years. We’ve heard what the economists claim are the big drivers of inflation: supply chain bottlenecks, fuel and grain costs related to the war in Ukraine, bird flu in the case of eggs, and rising wages, among many factors. One driver not mentioned but certainly affecting our newspaper is the dramatic increase in postal rates.
The Postal Service, under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering For America Plan, is increasing postal rates twice a year, with increases way beyond the increase in the Consumer Price Index.
On July 9, postal rates will increase again for the second time this year. First class stamps go up 3 cents to 63 cents for the first ounce. The cost to us to mail your copy of The News-Gazette will go up an average of 8.8 percent, on top of a similar increase in January 2023. That’s an over 16 percent rise in mailing costs to us since the first of the year.
So, effective July 1, our subscription rates will be going up an average of 11.5 percent. That’s a big increase, I know, but it’s still 5 percent less than the increase in postage we’ve experienced since January. My thinking is that, even with another increase in postage rates scheduled for next January, we won’t have to raise subscription prices again until this time next year.
You may ask if we’re just passing these postage increases on to our readers. We’re trying to keep subscription rate increases below the rate of postage increases, if at all possible. We are actively looking at ways to save on our mailing and other costs, and at opportunities to grow revenues in areas other than subscriptions. We’re fine tuning our press orders from our printer to minimize waste. We’ve started a new twiceyearly magazine in Augusta County in partnership with the Greater Augusta Regional Chamber, which benefits them and us both. We’re always looking at new ideas to increase our advertising both in the paper and online and better serve our ad customers.
Delivering the newspaper by mail is still the best option for us. We’re blessed with wonderful USPS employees here in Rockbridge County and they make sure your paper gets to you on Wednesdays like clockwork. We have very few delivery problems locally. And, even with the relentless increases in postage, mail delivery is very price competitive with having a force of newspaper carriers, with much less managerial headaches.
You may have seen that six Virginia daily newspapers are going to fewer print days, and that they will be moving their distribution from carriers to the mail. For papers distributing less than daily, using the mail really makes sense, if you’re able to leverage the hacks that allow papers to essentially get same-day local delivery. That’s something we perfected decades ago.
No business likes raising prices. Business owners resist it as long as they can by absorbing added costs, but eventually, the business has to raise prices in order to stay in business. I wish Postmaster General DeJoy could be persuaded that double-digit postage increases are not the answer to fixing the USPS’s financial situation – that in fact, these rates are driving mailers out of the mail and into other delivery methods. I doubt, though, that he will be swayed from his course.
Thank you to all of our loyal subscribers, and know that we understand that nobody likes price increases. But, we know that you value your local newspaper, and hope that you continue to see the worth in your subscription. We, and I speak for our entire staff, appreciate you.
