05.22.24

Hoeven, Welch & Rounds Introduce Legislation to Help Ensure Timely Newspaper Delivery By USPS

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven this week helped introduce legislation, led by Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), to help ensure timely delivery of local newspapers by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and limit excessive rate increases. In recent years, USPS has consistently raised rates for periodicals under the guise of increased efficiency and improved service. However, local news has yet to receive those benefits and instead continues to face persistent postal delivery delays.  

“Local newspapers play a vital role in keeping our citizens informed, giving voice to local concerns and building a sense of community,” said Senator Hoeven. “Our legislation is about ensuring the postal service follows through on its commitment to improve newspaper delivery so that subscribers can get on-time news and updates for their community.”

“A vibrant and healthy local press has always been a defining feature of American democracy. Today, local news offers a crucial alternative to online information ecosystems, which are too often distorted by algorithms that amplify disinformation and confine readers to inescapable echo chambers. But surging rate increases and poor service jeopardize local news outlets’ ability to reach readers and supply the information so essential to an engaged citizenry and a vibrant democracy. It’s time for USPS to remember its mission and meet the media’s basic needs,” said Senator Welch. “The Deliver for Democracy Act would help local news stave off extinction by requiring USPS to meet reasonable on-time delivery standards before raising rates.” 

“Local newspapers work hard every day to deliver news on a timely basis, and the U.S. Postal Service should too,” said Senator Rounds. “Periodical rates have cumulatively increased by over 40 percent since August 2021. Meanwhile, the Postal Service’s on-time delivery performances have not improved, leaving local journalists to pick up the slack by handling mail delivery on their own in order to make certain their readers receive their papers on time. Our common sense bipartisan legislation helps protect rural newspapers and consumers from unjustified price hikes by making certain USPS is held to a standard for on-time deliveries.” 

In January 2021, the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission adopted regulations that established three additional forms of rate authority, including one for non-compensatory classes of mail such as periodicals and package services. Under the new regulations, USPS is provided an additional two percentage points of rate authority for any class or product of mail where costs exceed revenue. Since then, USPS has exercised this authority and, if a recent notice goes into effect, will have raised periodical postage rates by over 40 percent.  

Despite such significant rate increases, however, the Postal Service has routinely failed to meet periodicals’ basic needs and achieve the 95 percent on-time delivery performance standard outlined in USPS’s 10-year plan. As a result, local news outlets are simultaneously subject to high distribution costs and poor service. Accordingly, the Deliver for Democracy Act would: 

·      Require the USPS to either achieve at least a 95% on-time delivery rate for periodicals or an improvement of at least 2 percentage points to unlock its 2% surcharge authority for that class of mail;  

·      Direct the USPS to annually report to the Postal Regulatory Commission on its progress in including on-time delivery data for newspapers in its periodical service performance measurement; and 

·      Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on options for alternate USPS pricing schemes to improve the financial position of periodicals. 

In addition to Hoeven, Welch and Rounds, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The full text of the bill can be read here.

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