Aerospace Modeler Magazine
Postage, Shipping, and Handling
rev 1 Jul 2007

In May, 2007, the US Postal Service (USPS) significantly changed how they do business. They standardized packaging and reduced the number of classes of postage to streamline mail handling.¹ They also implemented new (and significantly higher) rates that reward postal patrons who comply with their new standards and employ modern mail preparation standards (with comparatively lower rates) and penalize those who don’t (with even higher rates).²

We’ve done all we can as a small business to reduce and rationalize postage costs for foreign and domestic subscribers, retailers, and distributors.

• At considerable expense and effort, we’ve secured bulk and periodical mailing permits and we’re using address matching and certification software to verify addresses.³
• We pre-sort our mail and use USPS standard packaging.

Nonetheless, these changes at USPS affect both domestic and foreign mailing and shipping rates and how we pack and ship each order.

Foreign Mailing and Shipping

The price of an AMM subscription is the same, regardless of whether or not we’re mailing it to an address in the US or elsewhere, but we simply cannot include foreign postage and shipping in the cost of something as inexpensive as a magazine. For example, the cost to mail a single 80-page subscription copy to Canada is US$3.76, but the cost to mail a single 80-page subscription copy to anywhere else in the world (outside the US or Canada) is over US$8 and usually closer to US$9, which is roughly the same as the cover price of the magazine itself.⁴ We have to charge postage for subscriptions mailed outside the US.

Likewise, to keep foreign bulk postage to an absolute minimum, bulk shipping anywhere outside the US is done with USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelopes (nominally six or seven 80-page copies per envelope) and Boxes (nominally thirty 80-page copies per box).⁵ Complying with the new regulations and using standardized packaging cuts foreign bulk shipping costs by at least a third (and to some locations, by two thirds) compared to non-standard methods.

Domestic Mailing and Shipping

For the first two years of publication, we’ve fully absorbed domestic US subscription postage in the subscription cost. In fact, to get subscriptions into your hands as quickly as possible, we’ve paid the printer to bulk mail subscriptions directly from their dock at a single copy cost the same as first class mail (almost $2 a copy). Likewise, we’ve absorbed much (and in some cases, all) of the cost to US distributors and retail outlets. We’ve even been paying parcel post (or even first class rates) for multiple-copy packages to retailers and distributors. We simply cannot keep doing that.

Our new periodical permit will still allow us to cover the cost of subscription postage in the US.

On the other hand, shipping rates for bulk orders have to go up. These increases in shipping are offset somewhat by an increase in discounts.⁶

Mailing and shipping are a necessary part of getting the magazine into your hands, and we’ll do what we can on this end to make that as inexpensive and as efficient as possible. Clearly, with the current cost of postage, gasoline, packaging, and labor, we’re not making any money on postage, shipping, or handling.

Likewise, you can do your part. Please make sure your contact and address information is correct in your AMM subscriber, advertiser, and bulk distributor accounts. Please use proper punctuation and capitalization.

Please contact the Subscription and Distribution Manager via the AMM website if you have any questions about these postage, shipping, and handling of if you encounter any problems ordering or receiving your subscriptions, back issues, or bulk orders.

¹For example, there is no more economy ground rate for overseas mail.

²“Lower” and “higher” are relative terms. Although first class letter postage only went up two cents in the US, periodical postage went up disproportionately more – around 20%. You’ll probably see price increases from every magazine you read -- not just AMM -- soon. For those with absolutely nothing else to do (and very high tolerances for bureaucratic pain), the USPS Postal Explorer website provides vastly more detail.

³This has been in the USPS regulations for years, but they’ve recently begun enforcing it by means of their rate scale.

⁴That’s why we would very much like to find distributors in foreign countries and regions. Likewise, if you have suggestions for improving the process or reducing costs, please contact us.

⁵These quantities -- and the rates derived from them -- will necessarily change when we go up to 96 pages per issue.

⁶See details in the Terms & Conditions for Bulk Sellers.