Magazines dumping the Postal Service, dumping issues on doorsteps
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Saving Money, Shopping
It's another nail in the Postal Service's coffin. Magazines are ripping a page from newspaper tradition and are ditching the U.S. Mail and contracting with cheaper delivery services to hand-deliver their issues. The change further dents our national mail's bottom line. It's also bringing back the paperboy.Unfortunately, the switch to cheaper labor means customers may not be getting their money's worth anymore. In New York City, hand-delivery subscribers no longer receive their magazines in their mailboxes, safely behind locks, but instead find the latest issue left on the doorstep of their buildings, where theft and weather can take their swift toll.
Two major publications that have made the switch are The Week and the New York Observer. Steven Kotok, president of The Week, explained why his magazine has dumped the U.S. Mail in favor of hand delivery.
"It's really the oldest delivery method in the world," said Kotok, whose publication has been dabbling in hand delivery services for five years. According to Kotok, the Postal Service has been chipping away at the value of bulk rates to the point where magazines with medium-size subscription bases pay more than those with large numbers.
The bulk-rate changes, which went through in the Bush Administration, were widely criticized in 2007 as favoring big business over small business.
"Publishers of large magazines do all the lobbying, so they get the rules written," he said. The inequity of bulk postage rates slammed his budget. "We did a projection of postage rate increases, and the reality was so much worse than even our most extreme projections."
The result: If The Week had fully relied on the United States Postal Service, postage rates would have accounted for 20% of his magazine's total cost, including rent and payroll.
So Kotok's publication has turned to cobbling together cheaper delivery by finding services in several cities. Home delivery requires local knowledge, so there's not a national service. "If we did it in 10 different cities, that would be 10 different systems to set up," said Kotok. "We've talked with newspapers about tag-teaming with them."
So far, the lack of a national service has stymied a speedier switchover, but Kotok says that even the theft- and damage-prone doorstep method is preferable to the Postal Service, which despite skyrocketing rates is still notoriously unreliable. "We've had them lose a city's worth of magazines before," he said.
Currently, hand delivery is most cost-effective in high-density areas, while suburban and rural areas are better candidates for the increasingly antiquated Postal Service method. In New York City, The Week contracted with the Mitchell's service, and the publication may soon expand hand-delivery to Chicago and Los Angeles.
Areas of high-residential density are also more prone to theft, and delivery services don't have access to locked foyers and mailboxes, so issues are usually left lying unsecured outside apartment buildings. To compensate for loss, Kotok says his publication will switch customers to postal delivery if they request it.
When I called The Week's subscription-fulfillment contractor, I was told a switch to mailed delivery was not possible. Two weeks later, after my interview with Kotok, I telephoned the subscription line again and was permitted to switch.
The Observer wouldn't respond to WalletPop's requests for the logic behind its own switch from the Postal Service and whether it has adversely affected the successful receipt of issues by its subscribers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-21-2010 @ 4:41PM
Killendo said...
I don't see how people are ever going to see their magazines if they are just left in front of buildings in Manhattan
Reply
10-21-2010 @ 12:30PM
Jeannette said...
This information isn't entirely accurate.
I know, because I get deliveries via Mitchell's every day (daily newspapers), and this includes The Observer.
I live in NYC and we don't have a doorman so I totally understand what the writer is referring to; not only can strangers steal your stuff, but also your neighbors.
However, Mitchell's has the key to the front door in our building and the papers are delivered to the apartment door each morning (I believe Mitchell's has bonded delivery people. They have incredible customer service.).
Sometimes they are left in the interior lobby (you must have front door key to access or be let in), which is actually as much of a problem as leaving in the lobby that is open to the public, before the locked door. (Our building has rules about nothing being left in lobby and some overzealous neighbors trash papers even though they have names on them. Same with magazines. Others just outright steal them.)
Now, delivery to apartments is probably is NOT possible in all buildings (we're a relatively small building with not that many folks getting daily deliveries) and as noted in the article, that does create problems.
In this day and age, you'd think a publisher would make it simple for you to choose how you want something delivered.
Right now, it seems that either option (USPS or a local delivery service) cannot ensure timely delivery as needed.
If Mitchell's were not as good as it is, we'd be up a creek with our subs.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 10:22AM
jason.cochran said...
Jeanette,
Mitchell's does not have a key to most buildings. It's up to each building's management to issue a key to the delivery service. I personally would never agree to give a copy of the key to my home to the unknown employee of a private business that is thriving because of its competitively low wages.
Jason Cochran
10-22-2010 @ 11:44AM
Kate said...
Our tax payer dollars do fund the USPS.... and they run a billion in the hole. No business could operate with continual losses like the USPS. USPS had cheaper rates then UPS so I thought I might save money using the USPS. I shipped two packages with them. One they delivered; one they lost. The one USPS lost was $400.00 my cost! I was told it would take 30 days before USPS would reimburse me (they wait 21 days to see if the lost product shows up) So I had to ship another $400 sink to a customer (UPS 3 Day) and eat the added freight bill and cough up the money for the second faucet. That was our one attempt to use USPS for shipping company product. And as far as snail mail goes, USPS can take up to 7-10 days to go back East (West Coast) or longer. I pay online, other wise I run the risk of getting late fees with credit card companies. USPS needs a complete overhaul.
10-21-2010 @ 5:18PM
grapost said...
IT WON'T WORK! Media giant Time-Warner tried this 25 years ago and gave up on it. They couldn't get enough people to take the job at the low wage they offered and the customers complained about their stuff blowing away, getting wet, and getting stolen. The low wage employees turned out to be unreliable, not interested in working in bad weather when the can get an indoor job for the same money.
Reply
10-21-2010 @ 8:20PM
BIGTEX said...
Absolutely- the USPS has been trying to wind down it's Universal Postal Service for some time now. Recent lobbing to shut down 10% of it's network shows their continuation of these plan (suburban areas targeted). From a purely outsider's view. Dump any segment that private sector (UPS/FedEx) doesn't want to service. Turn over high density areas to private companies.
Kill government option. Stop USPS from setting market rates "at cost".
That leaves West coast (Ca), Eastern board, Gulf Coast & Chicago corridor (maybe Florida). That is 80% of the nations population.
Reply
10-21-2010 @ 9:45PM
dryMAILman said...
Another proud moment for Northrop Grumman, FSS, and the USPS's flats strategy.
Reply
10-21-2010 @ 10:32PM
jon said...
This has happened in Cincinnati with the Cincinnati Enquirers Saturday coupons. They switched to their own delivery about 2 years ago and have had massive complaints about these papers. No one wants them anymore because now they're thrown in the yard, in the street, the wind blows them down the street and into creeks etc..... I haven't gotten one in about a year now, either that or they're blowing away!.....
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 7:02AM
Diandra said...
This cheap form of delivery is bad for the consumer. Now I am getting the heavy fall issues of fashion magazines with just the cover and no inside because the magazine company is saving money by not putting it in a plastic wrapper anymore. People in other states are getting the NY Post the next day instead of the day the Post comes out. IMO if the magazines don't care if the subscriber gets the product or not even when paid for then I don't care enough to subscribe to their magazine and they can keep it. The NY Observer is overpriced. It is a much smaller paper now and even the delivery service is bad.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 8:56AM
notjeff said...
i don't understand why the post office is losing so much money. Granted letters and bills are now brought to us by facebook and email. But with the astronomic growth in online buying with heavy hitters like Ebay and Amazon, and just about every chain with a ".com" address how can the USPS be losing money, let alone losing so many millions?
I know they've got compatition with FedEx and UPS. but they've been competiters for decades, with all being successful in their own right. I don't hear phone companies whining about Twitter and facebook.
Maybe I'm missing something. But I think audits are called for.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 9:24AM
Rocki said...
This is only the beginning of the end of the postal dept and next step
would be private enterprise. For ages they have run poorly and even
today the do not even come close to efficiency and raise their rates
to overcome. With bill paying online, shopping on line, things are
changing rapidly and more people are getting smarter on how they spend
their money. Then, its government run so we should expect total
failure and fanstastic losses.,
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 8:10PM
Phil Bittle said...
Rocki: FYI the U. S. Postal Service is prohibited by law from making a profit. They also handle some 450,000,000 pieces of mail every 24 hours. Try "profiting that and watch your rates go sky high". As it is now, the Postal Servie is a career ... go private and it will be just another dime-a-dozen job. You'll have different rates for different areas rather than one rate for the whole country. You've seen what "private" banking has done to the country ... just wait for private mail delivery. The career I spent with the Postal Service, I found it to be the most efficient operation I have ever worked for ... by far ... I can't even think of a close second. YOU'LL BE SORRY!
10-22-2010 @ 9:38AM
lisa said...
thats called littering
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 10:54AM
zimm said...
Only postage paid mail can be placed in a mailbox!
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 11:02AM
HD & Mail user said...
I use HD extensively, and am familiar with the TIME experiment.
They had more silly rules than the USPS.
Hand delivery is probably not good for residential and suburban,
but EXCELLENT for business addresses and urban areas.
The theft and damage count/percent is LOWER than USPS complaints,
and easier to fix than USPS e-Publication Watches which rarely work.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 11:18AM
Meg said...
This isn't really about stolen magazines, it's about inflation. And yes, the US Postal Service has lost a huge dollar figure in lost customer service, partly due to the advance of technology; ie, paying bills online. But another big hit they took was the 'no junk mail' list. Every piece of mail they no longer handle is lost income for them. Consequently, they've raised their costs to accomodate these losses and still cover payroll and other expenses. Those who still use the Post Office are now suffering the higher costs of shipping.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 11:18AM
andylibby said...
The solution to the spiraling costs at USPS is simple: Cut residential deliveries to 3 days per week. You'll either get mail Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Who couldn't live with that? If a person needs more frequent deliveries, let them rent a PO Box that will still get daily deliveries. I have a friend who's a Postal Inspector and he told me in one word why my idea will never happen: UNION. The Postal Worker's union will never permit laying off large numbers of letter carriers even if it means saving taxpayers billions of dollars and making USPS profitable.
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 11:42AM
Joe said...
ANDYLIBBY BABY:
And what about BUSINESSES - do you really think the BUSINESS WORLD can live with a potential TWO deliveries a week on TUES & THURS? Cause most non retail companies are CLOSED on SATURDAY!
YOU and your BUDDY (BOTH GOP'ERS PROBABLY by your UNION CRACK) didn't think this through too well!!!!!!!!!
And what are you going to do have separate delivey services for business and residential? And what about people who run businesses in their homes?
Go back you your lime Kool-Aid with the strips of bologna in it!
10-22-2010 @ 11:36AM
Joe said...
The problem with private delivery services is that BY LAW ONLY the USPS can use your MAILBOX! That is why they have to leave your magazine on the ground or in the lobby! They ALSO BY LAW can not put that magazine in a slot in your door!
You as a CONSUMER OF COURSE can get a second box and label it for NON USPS deliveries like I see with many newspaper delivery services in rural areas!
Reply
10-22-2010 @ 11:44AM
jim said...
If I was someone paying to advertise in these mags, and paying rates based on distribution, I would certainly need to know that the product was being delivered to the consumer.
Reply