The Press: Magazines in Jeopardy

The nation's nearly 10,000 magazines face a severe new cost squeeze that threatens to be fatal for some. Reason: huge prospective rate increases by the Postal Service, the main distribution channel for most of the publications. In setting up the service as successor to the Federal Post Office Department, whose deficits were met from Government funds, Congress required that mailing charges should cover most postal costs. The service translated this into a request for a boost in second-class material (magazines and newspapers) that would average about 150% over five years, or 30% annually.*

While...