2010 October

V I S I T U S A T W W W . S A P A T O D A Y . C O M

Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association (931) 490-0400 (931) 490-0488 fax 1

SAPATodayAdvancing the free paper industry by providing resources for success and venues for sharing ideas.

Board of DirectorsThe leadership of SAPA is in good hands. The board of directors, director, and assistant are listed with contact information.Page 3

Selling Ad Frequency John Foust teaches us how ad frequency brings better results for the advertiser and makes best use of our sales time. Page 3

Conference SchedulePlan today to join us at the fabulous Wynfrey Ho-tel in Birmingham, AL on July 15 & 16, 2011.Page 8

New Graphics SeriesEllen Hanrahan has been kind enough to start a monthly column for our Graphics folks. This is the second segment.Page 5

Rid Your Company of Sales ParasitesLandy Chase of Char-lotte, NC explores how the front office and sales can just learn to get along. Page 6

In The MailboxDonna Hanberry talks about the different programs and policies at the US Postal Service and how they will effect you.Page 9

by Bob Berting

“Marketing is the act of buying and sell-ing in a market with activities like adver-tising, packaging, and selling involving the transferring of goods from the pro-ducer to the consumer.” The word mar-keting sometimes is a fuzzy word in the newspaper industry. To some, it’s sales promotion. In many cases marketing can be advertising sales. At newspaper conventions “marketing” to many pub-lishers has a lot of different meanings in relation to the workshops they attend.

Marketing Your PublicationMaking Emotional Connections

THE LONG TERM SUPERCEDES THE SHORT TERM

To make marketing work, we must move your publication from one com-pletely dependent on sales and promo-tions as a priority, to one that practices “real marketing”. That means customers are really primary and that products and services are adapted to fit the chang-ing needs and behaviors of customers. Sounds pretty basic, but the reality is that we don’t really watch and recog-nize the changing needs and behaviors of our customers. It also means we must be more patient in the development of

branding techniques and not go around throwing stones through advertising prospect windows yelling “buy from me today!”

BRANDING NUTS AND BOLTSA brand is what a customer perceives of a publication. In its most simplistic form, branding is “emotional connections be-tween a newspaper and the market it serves.” Let’s examine some successful ways to make emotional connections in the marketplace:

Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FREE PAPER INDUSTRY OCTOBER 2010



Marketing Your PublicationMaking Emotional Connections

SERVICE CLUBSJoin a Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimist, or Lions Club. The relationships you can build in these organizations is very im-portant. This exposure is a true top of mind awareness experience and can be invaluable to you and your publication. Also go speak to service clubs about your publication. They are looking for speakers and you can’t ask for a better captive audience of business people. Don’t tell me you can’t afford the time to meet once a week at a service club meeting.

UNITED WAY AND OTHER CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS

Your publication needs to be perceived as a helpful publication that is willing to run United Way articles and ads at no charge. Charity connections are impor-tant and even participating in public TV auctions and fundraising is a high pro-file activity in your marketplace.

OPEN HOUSE EVENTA few years back, a regional weekly newspaper association decided to have an open house event for their inactives, regulars, and prospects. They decided on a provocative theme “Once a week does it.” Plastic buttons with the theme copy were made and worn by all mem-bers of the association weeks before the open house. The open house happening had the following arrangements:

All personnel wore their button---the

setting was a popular hotel with a pool, where the festivities took place—there was live music by a popular trio, champagne punch fountain, hot hors d’oeuvres, and a wine bar.

Local dignitaries were invited includ-ing one state senator and the mayor of the host city. Invitations went to 400 people and 245 attended. Each paper had a colorful display booth and their key personnel were present to give in-formation and answer questions. Most of the expense was traded off. It was wildly successful.

PROMOTIONAL POINTERS A progressive newspaper needs a mem-orable memory hook, a slogan that stirs the imagination and can be put on all mastheads, sales materials, sides of de-livery trucks, etc. Advertising special-ties are great reminders and the great-est items are ones that can be used in the kitchen of your customer’s homes. They include yardsticks, jar openers, sponges, and magnetic signs that go on refrigerators. Your logo should be on re-frigerators in your market area.

Internet marketing

The big issue is promoting your pub-lication website. This seems obvious but it’s surprising how many times it’s overlooked. You must be patient with expectations for your website. The flow of communication goes from making a

prospect a friend, then a customer, and finally a loyal customer who will come back again and again to your website. This process is enhanced by a system of indoctrination, teaching the viewer about your publication, in effect telling the story of your publication.

FINAL THOUGHTCreate an integrated marketing plan that ties together all the various strate-gies, marketing vehicles, and objectives into a long range program. Branding pre-sells the product and as such, is a more efficient way to sell things. And finally, remember that branding can mean emotional connections to the marketplace.

Bob Berting (Mr. Community Paper) is a professional speaker, newspaper sales trainer, e-book author, and publisher mar-keting consultant. Bob’s website is www.bobberting.com. He can be reached at 800-536-5408 or [email protected].

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There are three things you leave behind: your photographs,

your library, and your personal journals. these things are

certainly going to be more valuable to future generations

than your furniture!

Time is our most valuable asset, yet we waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it.

Jim Rohn



PresidentRussell

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Vice PresidentTony OnellionBargains PlusSlidell, LA

985-649-9515

Past PresidentGreg Ledford

Shelby Shopper & Info

Shelby, NC 704-484-1047

TreasurerAlan Lingerfelt

The Piedmont Shopper

Danville, VA434-822-1800

Board MemberWill ThomasExchange, Inc.

Fayetteville, TN 931-433-9737

SecretaryCaroline

QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun

Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969

Executive Director

Douglas FrySAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-490-0400

Board MemberJW Owens

SGS Publications, Inc.Keystone Heights,

FL 863-634-8499

Past PresidentGary Benton

Peddler ADvantageParis, TN

731-644-9595

Administrative Assistant

Vickie BeldenSAPA Headquarters

Columbia, TN931-490-0400SA

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Lead

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ip Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.

Brian Tracy

By John Foust, Raleigh, NC

I was talking to Vic about the challenges of selling frequency. “In today’s economy, advertisers are looking for ways to trim costs,” he said. “Frequency is one of the first places they look. No matter how many ads they have run within the past year – a hundred or a dozen – they are putting everything under the microscope.”

Vic explained that his position as sales manager puts him on the front lines with his ad staff. “The thing I emphasize is that all of our newspaper’s clients are trying to justify frequency, whether they bring up the subject or not. This means that we’d better be prepared to address the issue.”

It all comes down to this: Why is it better to run more, not fewer, ads? And how can we show penny-pinching decision makers that the money they spend on more advertising will pay big dividends?

Selling AdFrequency

continued on page 4



Here are two reasons to advertise as frequently as possible:

1. Daily market changes. “Years ago, I heard about Dan Gaynor’s thin market concept, and that changed the way I see the role of advertising,” Vic said. “About half the time, a typical consumer makes the decision to shop and buy on the same day. At first that was hard to believe, but when I looked at my family’s buying habits, I realized that it’s true.

“What this means is that the market for any given product is small in the short term and large in the long term. In other words, if you’re advertising tires today, your message will be relevant primarily to those people who are thinking about tires today. If you want to reach the entire market for tires, you have to advertise all year. Otherwise, you’ll miss most of your prospects.”

2. Top-of-mind-awareness. “In addition,” Vic said, “businesses have to advertise consistently in order

to break through the clutter in the marketplace.”

Vic is right. I used to quote research which showed that the average consumer is exposed to 2,000 selling messages every day. But in recent years, the numbers have climbed much higher; some estimates put the number closer to 5,000 commercial messages per day. No matter how you slice and dice the figures, that’s a lot. And all of those messages are competing for consumers’ attention.

How many commercial images are in your field of vision at this moment? Probably too many to count. Look around your office and you’ll see logos and slogans on pens, pencils, computer screens, mouse pads, coffee mugs, and the papers on your desk.

I may not be in the market to buy a new home today. But when I do enter the market, I will naturally think of companies that come to mind quickly. How do they become familiar? By keeping their names and their selling

messages in front of me all year long. Familiarity creates top-of-mind-awareness.

Frequency is more than a word on a newspaper’s rate card. It’s a solid advertising strategy to generate more customers.

(c) Copyright 2010 by John Foust. All rights reserved. E-mail John Foust for information about his training videos for ad departments: [email protected]

Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you

need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do

the things you want to do when you want to do them!

Positive thinking will let you use the abilities, training and experience you have.

Zig Ziglar

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Back to SchoolI’m back at the high school where I be gan those long years ago. This time in the Business Department as a long-term sub, teaching 9th grade computer skills in Microsoft Office 2007 and Web Design using Adobe Dreamweaver! Who knew! This was very last minute. I think I was “plan D.” Hired August 26th and in the classroom September 1st. Talk about teaching an old dog new tricks (it can be done, but you better have a big bowl of water and a really comfy blanket for that “old dog”). But, I only need to survive until November 5th. In the meantime, we have design to discuss!

LAST MONTH I HAD A HEADING ON THIS PAGE CALLED “BACK TO SCHOOL?” LITTLE DID I KNOW HOW MUCH TRUTH THERE WAS TO THAT SIMPLE PHRASE…

Ellen entered the publishing business after nine years as a high school art teacher and taught software pro-grams at the technical school level. She also writes a graphics column for The Independent Publisher. Reach her at: [email protected] Hanrahan ©2010

A solicitationIf you have any ideas, or even ads that you would like to see with another solution… email me at the address below. Maybe we can come up with some other effective results for those ads that just need “a little extra help.”

Right out of the boxThere are a couple of ways to take our pho-tos out of the box. One example is to vignette the photo . Before I would take it into the Photoshop application and feather the edges following the contour of the head. Now, because the photos were so light to start with, I just made a clipping path in each photo in the InDesign program. I then created a soft outer glow (Object>Effects>Outer Glow). The resulting effect seems to create more space around the photo and I do not have to exit the InDesign program. The photos at the top of this column are the same size as my originals, but less busy and easier on the eye.

It was easy for me to take this new group and apply an outer glow to the entire group. I then went back into Effects and applied a directional feather width of 9 on the bottom to try to eliminate the “glow” on the bottom edge and to get rid of the “outline” effect… not too effective, however. But this again, easy to do without changing the program that I am using. There are other effects to try as well.

In a ditherUsing these same photos, I’ve gone just a little more “artsy” to show that you don’t always have to stick to the usual half-tone image. The top photos had the Threshold modified and they look more like bitmap images. The bottom group of photos were posterized andchanged to a bitmap image with a Diffusion Dither applied. The number of effects that the current Photoshop program can apply is amazing. So once you have found a distinctive look for the photos, you can generate a consistency in all the photos used. By the way, “distinctive” isn’t necessarily good! Look for photos with a nice contrast, but even light photos can be used effectively.

In summationUsing a box to contain small photos can be effective, but because space is limited, try to eliminate details and make the face as large as you can. Eliminating the picture box for photos opens up more options that may help to elim-inate clutter and distraction in the ad, especially in the case of realtors who usually have a number of homes featured as well. The idea is to work efficiently and the more time you can spend in your layout program, the better. With the new arsenal of tools packed into InDesign (and probably QuarkXPress too), revamping older ads and photos can be a whole lot easier. Just remem-ber that some effects will just work better than others.

The more the merrierSince these photos were save as .psd files, it is easy to ad the clipping path (Object>Clipping Path>Options) and choose the best path or follow the path I made in Photoshop. So if a new member is added, it’s easy to put them into the lineup. Try to organize the individual photos, keep them about the same size and line up a distinctive feature—in this case, the eyes. Our eye tries to perceive visual “balance.”

I am allowed to cheatMy photos are clear, straightforward shots, nothing like the ones you have to deal with. My intention is to show different ways to han-dle these “mug” shots. Some effects require more work, but these photos usually run week after week, so the time is worth the effort. The photos above work as a group be cause the head sizes are about the same size so they seem similar. I aligned the eyes of each person to be on the same level so the look from one photo to another is consistent. I cropped the photos slightly below the neck area. When you have small photos, try to keep the face large, and crop a little below the neck. Below, faces are enlarged by another 30%. The cropping is a little tighter, but I don’t have to show the top of the head for the photos to be effective. Eyes are still on the same level.

A heads upThey are everywhere, just not so obvious. But you’re bound to notice—eventually—all those little headshots of real estate brokers, physicians, insurance agents and others, sit-ting in a corner of the ad, usually at the bot-tom. They all appear to be the same, mostly squarish in size, but a few are rectangular with a half point or one point border around them.

Escapees from a toothpaste ad?



Sales & Operations: Can’t we get along?by Landy Chase

Most of you in sales relish your role as soldiers on the front lines of business. Certainly, if anyone can claim the title of “company warrior”, it would be you. In our current economy, maintaining existing business and growing new revenue is a constant battle.

I find it interesting, though, that many of the battles that you choose to fight are with the people on your own side - that is, those individuals within your own organizations who support your selling efforts.

My experience has been that, in most companies, the sales department has a poor, even contentious, relation-ship with the other departments with which it interfaces. Some of this fric-tion is unavoidable, and has its roots in the different objectives that Sales and Operations typically have within companies. Consider the following fundamental differences:

SALES:- Is under enormous pressure to

achieve clear, numerical targets;

- Is judged almost entirely by its ability to meet these numerical targets;

- Often benefits by creatively “cutting corners” to meet its targets - such as negotiating prices or manipulating company policy.

OPERATIONS:- Is often judged by criteria based on factors other than hard numbers;

- Performs tasks that in some cases are not tied to revenue or profits;

- Usually lacks the need to cut corners - and therefore finds it easier to go “by the book” when it comes to following established guidelines.

These perspectives are neither good nor bad; they are simply different. As such, they inevitably create a natural degree of friction between these two areas of a company. It is what is done, or not done, to control and minimize this friction that determines the basic work culture of most businesses.

Unfortunately, too often this natural

friction becomes greatly exacerbated by an atmosphere of mistrust and con-frontation. Both sides typically have an opinion on the root causes for these interdepartmental problems. Since most of you reading this article are sales people, I will consider your posi-tion first. Below is a laundry-list of the most prevalent complaints that I hear from sales people when it comes to their operations partners. Take a look at the list below, and see if this doesn’t describe how you feel about those people in Accounting, Sales Support and/or Customer Service:

The people in Operations don’t share my commitment to customer satis-faction. They don’t share my sense of urgency when it comes to making cus-tomers happy.

1) The people in Operations have no real incentive to do a good job. Be-cause they aren’t paid on commission, they don’t suffer the negative financial consequences of a lost customer - and therefore don’t care.

2) The people in Operations have a negative attitude about the sales de-partment, and don’t want to cooperate with me.

3) I cannot depend on Operations to take care of my customers; they can-not be trusted to deliver. Therefore, I

continued on page 7



must stay involved at all times.

4) The people in Operations don’t un-derstand selling, and therefore don’t respect, or appreciate, the value of what I do in the company.

Sound familiar? If you’re in sales, you’re probably thinking, “Wow! Fi-nally, someone understands what I have to put up with here”.

NOT SO FAST.I won’t speculate on the accuracy or validity of the above issues as they pertain to your situation. However, I do suggest that, before you pin all of the blame for your problems on some-one else, you objectively benchmark your own behavior against my other list – the one that I have compiled about you, from the people that you just complained about.

- Do you make promises that your company cannot possibly keep - then leave it up to Operations to cope with the problem you created?

- Do you sell to questionable or unde-sirable customers - then leave it to Op-erations to live with the mess that you brought in the door?

- Do you submit incomplete or illegi-ble sales orders - thereby tying up oth-

er people’s valu-able time in deciphering your work?

- Do you fail to communicate special customer requests or conditions - and create unnecessary crises for the peo-ple who support you?

- Do you follow company policy in pricing and discounting procedures, or do you create accounting night-mares for those who process your or-ders?

- Do you show maturity and restraint in resolving customer complaints with Operations people, or do you wield a machete on your forays into their work space?

- In short: Are you a buttress of coop-eration, or a butt-head?

Perhaps this will make you feel bet-ter: the most consistent point that those in Operations make about these characteristics is that they represent individuals, not teams. Isolated sales people - not the sales department – are the source of most of the frustration. Predictably, however, the behavior of these isolated few serves to taint the entire group.

Additionally, several sales people are typically cited who do an outstanding

Sales & Operations:Can’t we just get along?

continued from page 6

You are always free to choose what you do first, what you do second, and what you do not do at all.

Brian Tracy

Partners in Printing Since 1900

David C. ZehPrint Sales Consultant

mobile: 770.722.0076 email: [email protected]

www.waltonpress.com

402 Mayfield Drive • P.O. Box 966Monroe, GA 30655

toll free: 800.354.0235 local: 770.267.2596 fax: 770.267.9463

job of working with their Operations peers. These individuals sell clean business, turn in complete paperwork, and communicate special requests consistently and effectively. Not sur-prisingly, they enjoyed an excellent working relationship with their sup-port people - and were also the most well-paid and successful. They also move up in the company quickly.

We can arrive at two conclusions from this feedback: (1) You, as an individ-ual sales person, have both responsi-bility for, and control of, the quality of this relationship, and (2) your per-sonal success is greatly enhanced by being a good steward of the needs of your Operations partners. Good sales people know how to “sell” within the company as well as outside of it.

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Landy Chase, MBA, CSP is an expert who specializes in speaking to corpora-tions and associations on advanced pro-fessional selling and sales management skills. For more information, visit his website at www.landychase.com or call (877)550-2655.



SAPA Annual Conference: Birmingham, AL July 15 & 16, 2011: SAPA always has the best conferences in the industry. Next year’s conference at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama will be no exception. Great speakers, enjoyable time to mingle with your publishing friends, and opportunities

Conference Schedulesto network make this conference another “must attend” event. The Wynfrey Hotel adjoins a huge shopping experience so you might want to plan an extra day or two. Now, more than ever, you’ll benefit from attending this upcoming conference. Call Douglas Fry at 1-800-334-0649 for more info.

AFCP/CPF Annual Conference: St. Petersburg Beach, FL May 5-7, 2011. AFCP and the Community Papers of Florida team up to present another HUGE joint conference May 5-7, 2011 at the beautiful Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach. If you can’t make the SAPA Conference in Birmingham on July 15 & 16, 2011 this would be a close second.

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by Donna Hanbery

FREE PUBLISHERS ASK PRC TO DENY POSTAL RATE INCREASE

In Comments filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) in August 2010, the Saturation Mailers Coalition (SMC), and several individual publishers, asked the PRC to deny the request of the Postal Service for an “exigency” postal rate increase.

SMC advanced a two-fold position. First, SMC asserted “While we are very concerned about the Postal Service’s financial condition, we believe the Postal Service’s exigency proposal should be denied and that Congress should instead be urged to make the difficult but necessary reforms to insure longer term postal viability. This is not the time to be raising rates.” SMC urged the Commission to deny the exigent rate request and to report the dire financial circumstance of the Postal Service to Congress with a recommendation that Congress take action to correct those conditions that are hindering postal viability. The most important recommendation the PRC should make is to ask Congress to correct the estimate for postal retiree obligations, including pension obligations, and to provide relief from the excessive retiree health care prefunding requirements required by current law.

Although SMC, like other parties to the proceeding, believes that “extraordinary or exceptional” circumstances, so as to justify an exigent rate increase, do not exist, SMC advanced a second, alternative position.

In the event the Commission finds that “extraordinary or exceptional circumstances” exist, SMC asked the Commission to reduce or eliminate any increase for saturation mail.

SMC’s members did the talking to demonstrate the harm that would be caused by the Postal Service’s proposal to increase postal rates by five percent. In its Comments filed August 17, 2010, an Appendix of 16 statements by individual publishers, and mailers, about the impact of a five percent increase was attached. Here are some of the compelling testimonials:

JEFF DEMERS, PUBLISHER C&G NEWSPAPER, WARREN, MI

C&G Newspapers, a family owned business in Warren, MI, publishes three local newspapers that are mailed to 95% of the homes in our distribution area. Our newspapers are the only source of local news available to the vast majority of the cities we serve . . . Given the current state of the economy, the effects of a 5% increase in postage will be devastating for our business . . . If we try to pass along this increase to our customers we will lose much more revenue due to ad down-sizing and less frequency.

This will force us to consider making some drastic changes that may include down-sizing circulation, going to private delivery, closing marginally profitable newspapers and publishing less frequency.

C&G Newspapers provides a valuable service to the communities it serves. It’s not just the new we bring that helps bind more than a million residents to the 47 communities in which they live. It’s also our contribution to the success of

local businesses.

STEVEN SILVER, PUBLISHERTHE YANKEE PENNYSAVER,

BROOKFIELD, CTA 5% increase will be deadly to our business. The Pennysaver’s clientele are small business owners.

The economic down turn has been and continue to be a disproportionately harsh on the small business owner.

Postage is currently our largest single expense. It is just under twice the cost of printing and salaries. In order to keep our small business and advertisers our rates are the lowest rates in our 17 year history. WE HAD TO LOWER OUR RATES AN ACCEPT LONGER PAYMENT TERMS IN ORDER TO STAY IN BUSINESS.

By increasing rates [the USPS] is going to encourage every business and individual to look for alternatives . . . Increasing rates would have the same effect as an airline raising their ticket prices and getting more per passenger and only having half the seats sold.

MONA GARWOOD, GENERAL MANAGER

VINTON LIVEWIRE, VINTON, IACurrently 75% of our total distribution is delivered by USPS. We have been directed to look at developing our own private distribution system and leaving the Post Office all together due to this recent proposed increase.

SHARON MCROY, CO-OWNERTODAY’S ADVANTAGE, ALTON, IL

We have been unable to raise our rates in years due to economic conditions . . . At this point, “hoping” for no postal price increase is not the point . . . praying is.

SHARI RAPONE, CIRCULATION MANAGERGENESEE VALLEY PENNY SAVER, AVON NYOver the last few years we have converted over 20,000 pieces of weekly mailing to our own

USPS Update

continued on page 10



adult carrier delivery system. We are currently switching two areas over from the mail system to our own adult carrier delivery system . . . We will continue to convert from mail to carrier as we can see that postage rates are continually rising.

I can understand that the postal system is also feeling the tough economic pressures . . . We simply ask the USPS to hang on to the customers that are loyal to them and would continue to use the postal system if it was affordable . . . Welcome the idea of “Simplified but Certified” and open the door to new business and keep the current ones from migrating to other means.

BILL DERBY, PUBLISHERTHE JOHNSON CITY NEWS &

NEIGHBOR, JOHNSON CITY, TNWe converted our 31,000 mail to carrier three years ago this August. [When the Postal Service started charging for detached address cards] we put our conversion plan into action converting our distribution route by route over a three month period.

There was no way we could pass [postal rate] increases to our customers. [With private delivery] we have been able to hold our ad rates over the past two years without increases keeping us very competitive with the local daily.

Many of our national customers, grocery chains and ad agencies are asking for rate discounts and added value programs. Now we have a little room to negotiate insert rates with these customers since we are not locked into postal weight rates.

With our good carrier system we have the ability to deliver other products.

WILLIAM COTTER, MAJOR/NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR

TRIB TOTAL MEDIA, PITTSBURGH, PAWe are currently mailing over 800,000 pieces weekly in the Pittsburgh market. [An increase in postage] would force us to scale back our mail quantity to keep our weekly costs with the USPS flat.

We are working with an alternate delivery company currently that is assisting us to deliver 280,000 bags over the weekend so they are certainly an option if our postal rates continue

to rise.

Our negotiations with our customers center on “flat rates” and discounted rates for more frequency or more pieces. To just increase rates +5% is absurd and not reality with today’s market and economy.

SCOTT PATTERSON, PUBLISHERCAROLINA MONEYSAVER, MONROE,

NCWe were forced to cease publishing our 170,000 weekly direct mail publication. We simply could not handle the postage expense in this economy. Many of our customers are small businesses who are struggling to stay afloat, others have already closed. Since we ceased publishing, we have had dozens of calls from small business owners who needed our publication, and are now concerned that they will go out of business while they struggle to find other viable ways to advertise. We have a new company with smaller circulation. The new company cannot sustain a postage increase. The small businesses who now rely on us will not accept an increase of 5% - when they have no way to raise their prices by 5%. In today’s economy, no private business has this kind of pricing power!

Our daily paper is migrating its TMC program from the mail to carrier delivery. This drastically lowers their delivery expenses and guarantees them a flat rate regardless of weight. They are now selling inserts at pricing we cannot compete with using mail. A rate increase from the post office just makes the gap larger.

MARCIA HULETTHE DANDY DOLLAR, OTTUMWA IA

Our competition is offering cut throat rates. This postal increase will only hurt us more.

I am looking at the costs associated with private delivery . . . I may actually save money by going to private carriers.

We have changed printers and company executives have taken drastic pay cuts due to postal increases.

TOM LOURY, PUBLISHERTOML PUBLISHING LLC, DUNNELLON,

FLI will have to figure out how to change my method

of delivery, probably carriers. I prefer the mail but they keep raising prices I will change.

SHANE GOODMAN, PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER

BIG GREEN UMBRELLA MEDIA, DE MOINES, IA

We are deeply concerned. Margins are slimmer. There is not much room to cut any where. We will not be able to pass a price increase on to customers. We must hold prices or we will lose business.

We will need to heavily explore carrier delivery and rack distribution to replace mail if there is a 5% price increase.

JANELLE M. ANDERSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

WISCONSIN COMMUNITY PAPERS, FOND DU LAC, WI

Our customers are demanding that we lower prices. They don’t care what the postal rates are. If there is a 5% postal rate increase we will need to cut back.

SMC’s Comments and the testimonials of its members, demonstrates that an increase in prices will not result in the Postal Service getting more money or business. SMC warns that an increase for saturation program mailers poses a double danger. While every high contribution postal product can argue that the Postal Service is hurt if it switches to other media, the loss of saturation program mailers from the Postal Service is more harmful. When a saturation program mailer sets up its own private delivery network, it not only takes margin from the Postal Service but it also begins to compete with the Postal Service for distribution of hardcopy. As the testimonials above suggest, the Postal Service faces the demonstrated risk that its excessively high rates will result in lost contribution and the impetus to create new, lower cost private carrier competitors that will compete with the Postal Service for the delivery of saturation advertising mail.

Final Comments from interested parties were submitted to the PRC on September 2, 2010. The Commission’s decision on the case is expected to be released in early October.

USPS Updatecontinued from page 9



by Brian GayAs this is being written we are preparing for the PaperChain strategic planning session on September 25th and 26th. There will be thirteen PaperChain committee members in attendance along with Dr. Andy Hoh as the facilitator. There will be much more about this in the next update.

Three members of the PaperChain committee, Dick Colvin from TCNA, Jack Guza from CPM, and Brian Gay from MFCP, are working on promoting PaperChain to various Political Action Committees (PACs). We first sent out a letter and have followed up with a phone call. We received another list from Jim Haigh, the industry lobbyist and have sent a mega post card to the people on that list. Each one has also received a phone call. The goal is to make sure PAC’s know about PaperChain and the free paper industry. S i n c e c o m m i t t e e members are doing t h i s , t h e c o s t i s extremely low.

A t t h e S A P A /IFPA conference in Nashv i l le, TN the Paper Chain booth was set up and many people stopped by to check their Standard R a t e a n d D a t a S e r v i c e s ( S R D S) listings. PaperChain participated in the VENDOR BLENDER

Report

and explained to the attendees about the goal and mission of PaperChain. Every five minutes we had a new group of up to eight people. Several people we talked to during the session stopped by later and checked their SRDS listing. There were more success stories that publications can attribute to the listings in SRDS. Some actual success stories will be included next month.

In the past PaperChain has attended tradeshows to explain who we are and what we can provide to interested parties. This year we experienced almost a 300% increase in participation in the shows we had attended in the past. Gary Rudy is in charge of tradeshows and would welcome any suggestions that you might have for possible national tradeshows for PaperChain to attend. Gary will check out your suggestion and report back to the committee with his findings and the cost to attend. Like all of you, PaperChain is watching the expenses. Often a national tradeshow opportunity is outside of our budget. “Link and Learn” is the monthly sales magazine that PaperChain sponsor. Thanks to Jim Bush and Janelle Anderson for their hard work on this project.

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2010 October

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