Postal system stumbles, newspapers still deliver

Newspaper publishers were recently told that our postage rates are set to increase by 8 percent in July. This is the third rate increase since August 2022, and a total of 35 percent in increases in just over two years.

The cost of printing newspapers has also increased, by 24 percent since the spring of 2021.

Annual subscription rates, meanwhile, at the Independent and Transcript have increased by $6 in the past 8 years I’ve been a publisher. In order to fully cover the costs of printing and postage alone, we would need to increase subscription rates by another 50 percent.

That means advertising must support the salaries of our reporters, photographers and office staff, as well as building overhead and all other expenses critical to office function. In the midst of rising costs in all of those areas, we have kept our newspaper advertising rates relatively flat. We implemented a meager 25 cents per column inch increase in New Rockford when I purchased the Independent to keep our rates consistent.

We’ve aimed to avoid significant price increases because we are painfully aware of the impact they have on local families and small businesses like us. Our goal thus far has been to increase the number of advertisers and subscribers, rather than the cost of each.

It comes down to this – the cost of reading a newspaper has stayed south of $1 per week despite all the above pressures on the news-gathering business. And it got me thinking: what else can you get for a buck a week, consume as many times as you like and even share with your neighbor if you choose? (Yes, we know some of you do this.)

You can also recycle your local newspaper once you’re done reading it, where its pages may likely become another newspaper in another place. In fact, did you know that the pulp from one ton of recycled newspapers can be used to manufacture enough newsprint to print 70,000 pages of the standard newspaper size?

You can cut your newspaper apart and save photos or articles about friends and loved ones, or even bundle it up and use it as a firestarter or toilet paper once you’re done reading it.

Truly, we’re doing our best to keep you informed week after week, and we will do everything in our power to make sure you get your weekly newspaper in your mailbox.

The postal system, on the other hand, could use some work. Service is spotty at best. Supposed “reforms” of the postal system in recent years have been largely overshadowed by declining delivery standards. Every week we get calls from readers who have not received their paper.

If we are paying more to have our newspapers delivered to readers, shouldn’t our service at least remain at the same level? I say so.

I don’t need to tell you, our readers, about delivery standards. You likely have stories of your own about slow and spotty delivery of not only newspapers, but also letters and other mail. Former publisher Allen Stock is an avid reader of many North Dakota newspapers, and he too has noticed that some newspapers have gone missing for a couple of weeks. He expressed his frustration to me last week, and I share the sentiment.

Folks, we do the exact same thing every week. We send our pages and the list of addresses off to be printed on our papers, and on Fridays (well, as long as weather allows) the printed and bundled papers arrive in Carrington for presentation to the local post offices in Carrington and New Rockford.

What happens once they leave the local post office and head to the distribution center is another story.

The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service (C21), a group representing organizations that amass more than $1.6 trillion in annual sales from mailing-related activities, issued a statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. They criticized the Delivering for America Plan that has been implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy since 2021.

The coalition noted that the Postal Regulatory Commission had allowed these major rate increases while having little influence in reversing the productivity declines that have become commonplace within the postal system.

The statement notes, in part, “At the root of the problem is the reluctance of Congress to take responsibility for its role in USPS’s current situation. We have rising rates, declining service and a postal system that is now trying to compete with private package delivery services while it puts its core mail function on the back burner. We have been experiencing the consequences of flaws in the DFA for two years now. It is time for Congress to get back into the postal reform game.”

We could not agree more.

We will keep producing our newspapers every week, and we ask for your support in doing so.

The page count and number of locally-written articles has remained largely the same for the past several years. We plan to keep it that way.

How can you help us? First of all, tell the local businesses who advertise on our pages that you saw their ads and articles in this newspaper.

Second, consider reading the news online. A digital subscription costs $32 per year, and the online edition goes live every Saturday at 7 a.m. We also post breaking news updates when appropriate on our websites, http://www.fosterconews.com and http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com. You will find pdf copies of all our past editions from as far back as 2018 in New Rockford and January 2022 in Carrington. And online access is FREE with a paid print subscription, so you can go there to read the news anytime your paper copy doesn’t arrive on time.

Finally, contact your Congressmen and tell them about the delivery issues you are experiencing. There’s strength in numbers, and if we want anything to change we have to make our concerns known.

P.S. This editorial is in no way directed towards local post office staff in our small communities. We are grateful for our partnership with them, and we know that they work hard to deliver our newspapers to readers on time.