As the Executive Director for the Saturation Mailers Coalition (SMC), I am glad to tell my members that we will not see a postal rate increase in 2010. But that does not mean our work is over. There are still many “to dos” and pressures facing the Postal Service and our industry. Here are some of the challenges SMC, and our members, will be facing this year.

For immediate Release: October 23, 2009

Before the national circulation narrative turns to gloom and doom next week, there's plenty of reason to celebrate right now at the community level. Audit data for the first half of 2009 has just been crunched by Circulation Verification Council (CVC), and their MEDIA FACTS RELEASE details continued circulation stability across the community and niche publication sectors. Even better news, lots of actual gains!

The Postmaster General issued a statement on October 15, 2009 that there would be no general rate increase for market dominant products in calendar year 2010.  He went further to state there would be no exigent, (emergency) price increase for market dominant products.

By John Cribb ~ Cribb-Greene

The "popular wisdom" that small and mid size newspapers are going to vanish is ridiculous. Here's why. 

The primary product newspapers create is local news and information. The public's appetite for local news has not diminished; in fact, it has increased in recent years. The growth of available information on the Internet has increased the need for "quality news" - news that is gathered, formatted, and fact-checked by professional journalists.