In the state of Florida, the US Post Office (USPS) designates periodical publications. It is difficult to define what is a newspaper and what is not a newspaper, so the state of Florida deferred to the USPS. The Post Office has a litany of requirements that newspapers must meet to be considered a periodical. However, after a newspaper is designated a periodical by the newspaper, it gains certain rights under the law.
The application process is lengthy and time consuming. The newspaper must keep excellent records of all subscribers, so the post office can confirm that subscriber has paid and there is a valid delivery address and contact information on file. The newspaper must sell a majority of their newspapers. Any papers that are lost or stolen could count against the newspaper’s final percentage unless there is adequate documentation. Newspapers must also account for papers that go unsold, either hiring a company to destroy and document the leftover newspapers or storing them for years, so they can produce the papers in case of an audit. The newspaper must keep records of how many papers are printed for each issue and receipts from the printing company.
Additional documentation includes: individual and bulk orders for subscriptions and nonsubscriber copies, newsstand and vending machine sales and returns, stubs or copies of receipts issued, sales records and returns for over-the-counter sales, cash books, bank deposit receipts, or similar records and records of copies of the publication destroyed. The USPS approved periodicals are subject to an audit by the post office at any time.
The amount of advertising in the newspaper must also be tracked as it is regulated by the post office. A newspaper cannot have over 75% advertising in more than half of the issues published during any 12 month period. A typical Sunday paper stuffed with ads is usually always over the 75% mark, but as long as it only happens once a week, it’s okay. Advertising inserts do count towards the total advertising percentage.
After the initial application is completed, the decision on periodical status for the newspaper could take many months. Once the designation is approved, the periodical can start mailing papers at a significantly reduced rate over first class mailing. However, the periodical must mail over 200 newspapers to be able to get the rate.
Since large newspapers depend on carriers to deliver newspapers to their subscribers, the periodical mailing rate is not so important to them. As a small weekly newspaper we do not use carriers to deliver our paper to subscribers. Mailing the newspaper to subscribers with the periodical rate is definitely a benefit of our periodical designation.
Mailing under the periodical designation is not a trivial matter. Each time an issue is mailed out, a 30 plus page postal form needs to be generated. The computer program that produces this costs thousands of dollars per year. That is why many papers rely on other periodicals who have invested in the software to prepare their mailings. It is possible to fill out the form without the program, but it requires a tremendous amount of mailing expertise.
Another benefit is that being a periodical designated by the post office qualifies you by Florida statute to publish public notices. The newspaper must be designated a periodical for a period of one year and the periodical must publish at least once a week. Hernando Sun will be able to carry public notices at the end of May.
The above requirements are just a single element to starting and running a newspaper. Because of the numerous regulations that often work against small newspapers, it is a difficult business to start.