>From Zine World:
Postal Prices are going up. This is worrying – a lot of ideas fundamental to the internet were seeded on the PaperNet.
This small change in rates raises the price of free expression:
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Jerianne:
At the post office today, I got an ugly surprise: The Postal Service
has discontinued Bound Printed Matter as an option for folks like us. I
mean, they really discontinued it this time (not just telling us
it wasn’t available like they have in the past). Here’s info from the USPS
website (emphasis mine):
DMM Revision: Postage Payment for Bound Printed
Matter Limited to Permit Imprint
In March, we filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission
for a classification change requiring all mailings of Bound Printed
Matter be paid by permit only. The Commission agreed, and we are moving
forward with the change.
Effective September 11, 2008, the Postal Service™ is
revising the Mailing Standards of the United States
Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 363, 364, 365, 366, 463, 464, 465, 466, and
604 for all Bound Printed Matter (BPM). Postage payment for all
BPM mailings: carrier route, presorted, and nonpresorted
(single-piece) flats and parcels, regardless of volume, are
limited to permit imprint. Mailers can no longer affix
postage by adhesive stamps, postage meter, or PC Postage®. BPM will not be accepted at retail counters,
in collection boxes, or by carriers and must be deposited and
accepted at the Post Office™ facility that issued the
permit.
In other words, you can no longer, as an individual, use Bound
Printed Matter for individual mailings sent with stamps or printed
postage. I have more information about how to use Bound Printed Matter,
with permit, posted at the Zine World
website.
Much like the changes made last year for discount mailings for
periodicals (see Zine World
#25 for details), these changes raise barriers for small publishers,
and therefore inhibit dissemination of information by mail. If this
ticks you off as much as it does me, I hope you will contact the Postal
Service and complain:
1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) — select More Options
Policy and Program Development, USPS Headquarters
or
Postmaster General Jack Potter
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260-0010
We will be updating our U.S. Postal
Rates sheet and the Zinester’s Guide to
U.S. Mail within the next few days.
Jerianne
—
Zine World: A Reader’s Guide to the
Underground Press
PO Box 330156 * Murfreesboro TN 37133
www.undergroundpres
s.org
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Zine
World #26 now available! $4 US, $5 Canada
