News coalitions ask court to halt postage rate increase, say it will irreparably harm papers that are struggling financially

A coalition of news organizations and other mass mailers petitioned a federal appeals court Friday to stop the U.S. Postal Service from hiking rates Aug. 29. Petitioners, including the National Newspaper Association and the News Media Alliance, argue that the rate increase will hurt newspapers already struggling because of advertising lost to digital platforms and the pandemic. Many small dailies now circulate mainly by mail, not carriers.

"The motion for a stay is the second attempt to halt the rates, brought in a lawsuit challenging the Postal Regulatory Commission’s authority to allow rate increases beyond the inflation-based cap in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act," according to an NNA press release. "Before USPS announced the August increase, the mailers’ groups had asked for a judicial stay, but were turned down because the size of the rate increase was not yet known."

The rate hikes are now known—nearly 9 percent for periodicals—and petitioners say that will do irreparable harm unless the court halts the increase until the end of the lawsuit, the press release says. Read the petition here.