Postal Service drops plan to raise thin papers' rate

Earlier this month we reported that weekly newspapers were rallying against a proposed U. S. Postal Service rule that would have increased their mailing costs 54 to 78 percent. Now the USPS has decided thin newspapers, or so-called "flimsy flats," will retain the basic carrier-route prices even if they fail the new "droop test," Max Heath, postal chair of the National Newspaper Association, reported in an e-mail. NNA was the only organization "publicly cited during a presentation on the final rule at the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee in Washington Feb. 17 for the reasonableness and quality of arguments." The rule was proposed to ensure new automated USPS sorting equipment could better handle thin papers. For a story from the NNA, click here.