Eastern Area Focus Group Meeting – Philadelphia PA October 23, 2014 Class Distinctions The State of Today’s Periodicals

Costs Keep Rising – A Little Good News Pricing – No January Increase CPI monthly index remains moderate (1.58%) Exigent (higher) increase still in place Two-year limitation (strong for permanence) Legislation stalled Again Postal Finances still failing

New Launch Process For New Mail Let’s you file for Periodicals with first issue Can be prepared as Periodicals right away You mail while you build subs and get records ready Still pending until approval but more flexible 30-day updates on progress to pass review You have 15 months to get approved.

Supplements Made Easier Than Ever Almost all supplements can be 100% advertising Do not have to say “Supplement To …” Same for magazines as newspapers Separately mailed supplements still need to meet old rules Only a few prohibited items left

Still Cumbersome Recordkeeping But Improving Subscription and requester records still needed Still need 50 percent plus one to qualify Still need to publish four times a year at specific times Still can’t be a book Still Need to identify disposition of all copies

Enter The Electronic Age Up to 10% of copies can be digital if you can’t get above 40% to qualify for issue with application Once approved, digital copies can be included on Statement of Ownership On line orders can qualify CSR-54 has the language you need

Requesters Have More Options Can be nonprofit and get In-County rates Can have some issues with more than 75% advertising Can’t be penalized for all copies for too many ads in one edition Can expand multiple copies to companies without restrictions formerly in place

Items Still Prohibited – Just Not As Many As Before Can’t be called a catalog Can’t have different ISSN or ISBN Can’t be real products Can’t have permit indicia of another class Can’t be another complete publication

New Things You Can Do Can have product samples Fragrance and cosmetic ads can use real product New material such as the “web key” allowed Ads now OK in envelopes in publications More electronic access allowed

More New Stuff! Digitally imbedded ads can be used – called augmented reality QR Code references can be in publications at ad rates Video images allowed (higher postage but worth it!) References to social media expanded

Future Improvements Are Coming The Need To Submit A Marked Copy May Be Gone By The End Of The Year! The Ten Percent Nonsubscriber, Nonrequester Rule Is Being Studied For Potential Modification. The Periodicals Advisory Group Remains A Driving Force In The Industry And With USPS

Discussion and Questions