Newspaper/postal service partnership on the brink

The United States Postal Service is a vital partner to newspapers. We pay them to provide a service, that is to deliver our print editions to every address in America. That partnership, however, is facing new challenges.

I was among a select few representing North Dakota newspapers at a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven on Monday. An article about that meeting first appeared in the Grand Forks Herald on Tuesday, and is republished in this edition of both the Transcript and the Independent.

Cecile Wehrman, Executive Director for the North Dakota Newspaper Association reached out to me late in the week prior and urged me to attend. She cited the importance of the meeting, which we viewed as an opportunity for us to have our voices heard and to advocate for better service on behalf of our readers. I looked forward to a productive discussion, and a chance to introduce myself to people in the Postal Service and open a dialogue about what we can do to improve delivery in our rural places.

It's no secret that mail delivery to our small communities has gotten less reliable lately, as readers of this newspaper have waited as much as a week to receive their copy in the mail. Readers in other parts of the country have gone weeks without receiving their copy of the Independent, and then receive three or four issues in their mailbox at the same time.

We've even had entire print runs go missing for days, this happening with both the Independent and Transcript in the past year. For readers of the Independent, it happened just a few weeks ago.

Readers, I hear you, and I understand how frustrating it is. I want you to have your newspaper in your hand even before the events featured on the front page happen, and as soon as possible after a public meeting is held so you can be informed of the actions taken by your local government officials.

We greatly appreciate the staff at our local post offices, for they too bear the brunt of citizen anger, even though delivery of the mail from the processing centers to the post offices is also out of their hands. If they don't receive a shipment of mail, or if your copy of the newspaper is simply not on the truck, they can't put it in your mailbox.

We work with them to find solutions, and the postmasters send their concerns up the chain. We are grateful for that. Everyone makes mistakes, and we own ours and make corrections as swiftly as possible.

The challenge is that the leadership of the Postal Service believes that they are doing a good job delivering our mail, and they told us that newspapers should not expect delivery the next day when we take our copies to the post office. Next day delivery is considered "early." That has apparently changed in the past two years, because until recently next day delivery was the norm, not the exception.

In fact, the "delivery standard" for periodicals is now two to nine business days. That means the Postal Service has "done its job" if this edition of the newspaper (dated Sept. 2) arrives in your mailbox on or before Sept. 11. Is that acceptable to you? It certainly isn't to us, and we're not quite sure why or where the disconnect happened.

I found this press release on the Postal Service's website, which was published in 2008. I want to share it with readers because it was written by the Postal Service to promote their partnership with newspapers when they issued the American Journalists stamp collection that year.

"The recently issued American Journalists stamps recognize the contributions of journalists to the betterment of American society, exposing and exploring the people, processes, challenges and accomplishments of a country, its people and its role in the world.

"With this sheet of stamps, the U.S. Postal Service honors five distinguished journalists who reported – often at great personal sacrifice – some of the most important stories of the 20th century ... Ruben Salazar, Martha Gellhorn, John Hersey, George Polk and Eric Sevareid. These stamps also serve to remind us of the important role a free press has played throughout our nation's history – a role that flourished through a partnership forged between community newspapers and the Post Office.

"When the founding fathers gathered in 1775 to create our national government, one of the first acts of the Continental Con­gress was to establish the Post Office. Why start with the mail? One important reason was to 'bind the nation together' by delivering free, uncensored news about our fledgling country and the freedom and democracy on which it was built.

"A free press remains one of the cornerstones of our democracy. Individual small town publishers and the delivery of the news and other information by the Postal Service are important reasons why the United States is a beacon of freedom to the world.

"Today, creating and delivering the news is no small endeavor. In 2006, the Postal Service processed and delivered more than 9 billion copies of newspapers and publications ... After more than two centuries, employees of the Postal Service and journalists at community newspapers still help Ameri­cans communicate with each other. Our partnership in binding the nation together has never been more important – delivering news, opinions and information that keeps us informed, and helps to keep us free."

I hope that the current leadership of the Postal Service rereads and takes this to heart. The Postal Service's very existence stems from the importance our forefathers placed on freedom of the press, journalists, community newspapers and local news. Let's renew that spirit of cooperation between the Postal Service and newspapers.

As U.S. Senator John Hoeven emphasized during the discussion and in his follow-up press release, let's work together to find solutions. We don't want to be dismissed and told that the Post Office loses money every time they mail a newspaper, and we certainly don't want to be told that the problems aren't as widespread as we've described. We want to be heard, we want an opportunity to report our concerns as soon as delivery issues happen, and we expect a response from the Postal Service. At the very least we want someone to acknowledge when a mistake is made and then follow through until that issue is resolved.