FOLIO: Personalities -- The Blog People Page

While there has been recent speculation that the U.S. Postal Service is close to raising First Class stamps from 44 cents to 50 cents or seeking an “exigent increase” of 2 to 3 percent in order to improve its dire financial outlook, there are a couple of actions that it will probably take before getting to that point, according to postal consultant Ed Mayhew.

“The Postmaster General would rather bite the bullet than go for an exigent increase because even as revenue would go up, volume would go down,” he told FOLIO:. “They don’t want to drive customers away.”

â–  The Office of the Inspector General recently hired More...

When it comes to rate base adjustments, this week has arguably been the antithesis of the entire first half of 2009.

While titles including Newsweek, New York, Reader’s Digest, Prevention and Vibe (which later folded) announced that they were reducing their rate bases between February and June 2009, Food Network, Life & Style Weekly and Parenting School Years all announced just this week that they were raising their rate bases.

Is this perhaps a sign of better times ahead, or an attempt to reel in skittish advertisers?

“Circulation has been trending in a very positive direction for Life & St More...

MIAMI—According Cosmopolitan editor Kate White, the opening keynote speaker at the 2009 MPA Retail Conference here Monday, the magazine industry has quite a bit to learn from Harlequin book industry, which over the past few decades has continued to survive and remain popular with classic themes of “heaving bosoms and Fabio-like hunks.”
 
When it comes to connecting with consumers and trying to anticipate their changing needs, White says it doesn’t pay the print industry to “throw the baby out of the bathtub,” or get rid of print and focus only on the Web and other digital properties.
 
While providing the More...

Industry associations are feeling the economic pinch as much as publishers these days. Events are being scrutinized as one area for consolidation or cutbacks. After high-profile cancellations from MPA and ABM, the DMA has made another round of cuts, as well as some trimming of its event portfolio.

Below is the letter that president and CEO John Greco sent to DMA members yesterday, which states that the organization will have "less dependence on the more volatile parts of our traditional revenue stream, especially our large portfolio of conferences and events.”

TO: DMA Members

As the recession worsens, the economic activity of business and cons More...

CHICAGO—During a session at this week’s CM Show, Jennifer Armor, audit manager at Verified Audit Circulation, argued that free magazines are the future of the business.

She riffed off a quote from Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson: “From the consumer’s perspective there is a huge difference between cheap and free. Give a product away and it can go viral. Charge a single cent for it and you’re already in an entirely different business.”

Armour thinks this idea can, and will, eventually extend to the magazine industry. (Broadcast radio and TV have been offering it since their inception, after all, and the More...