As others see it: Deal would hurt local media

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As the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service struggles to reinvent itself, it is being creative in its efforts to stabilize its revenue flow. While we applaud this creativity, the Postal Service should not utilize its own postal rule making role to unfairly compete with private businesses.

The Postal Service has reached a proposal with advertising aggregator Valassis Direct Mail Inc. to provide postal discounts that would not be available to other mailers — newspapers and other direct mail businesses.

This latest proposal from the Postal Service — a quasi-public corporation — is offering postage discounts to Valassis. This Valassis proposal adds to an earlier Postal Service program called Every Door Direct Mail, which calls for postmasters to solicit newspaper advertisers to send out ad mail directly from the post office rather than advertising in local news media.

Both of these efforts seek new revenue for the Postal Service, while the USPS controls the mailing regulations and delivery of competing ad delivery businesses, such as newspapers and other direct mail companies.

These special contracts between the Postal Service and large national mailers are directed at local advertising marketplaces are discriminatory and unfair. Citizens should be concerned about this as this unfair competition can negatively impact their local newspapers and harm local marketplaces across the country. ...

Tags: opinion, editorials, business