More junk mail coming
The Postal Service, desperate to raise cash, cuts a deal with mass mailer Valassis Communications. Newspapers worry about the resulting loss in advertising revenue.
Valassis distributes the RedPlum advertising circulars through the mail and newspaper inserts. The three-year deal with the Postal Service gives Valassis a discount on new mail as long as the company sends at least another 1 million pieces out over the next 12 months. The Postal Service expects to make as much as $15 million in new profits over three years in the deal, which discounts new mailings from Valassis by up to 34%.
Post continues below.
Valassis sends 3 billion pieces of junk mail every year, so 1 million more isn't going to make that much of a difference. But the deal is irritating newspaper companies, which fear they're going to lose business as Valassis chooses mail distribution over newspapers.
"Junk mailers compete with newspapers," wrote the Seattle Times in an editorial earlier this month. "If this deal goes through, more ads will be delivered by mail and fewer will be inserted into Sunday newspapers. That is a problem for us."
The Washington Post estimated the deal could cost it as much as 12% of its annual print advertising revenue, according to the Associated Press.
The Postal Service responded by basically saying, hey, we're broke and doing whatever we can to survive. "Given our financial situation, continued e-diversion, and increased competition from alternative delivery services, this is one example of how the Postal Service is pursuing innovations and new products to increase the value of mail and retain our business customers," a spokesman told AdAge.
The Postal Regulatory Commission approved the Valassis deal on Thursday. The commission oversees the U.S. Postal Service.
Valassis shares traded at $25.50 Friday, a slight improvement from where they were a year ago.
More from Top Stocks
- Will Murdochs fight after Rupert dies?
- Cheap stocks flirting with new highs
- Surge in gold and silver just starting
| Tags: | Kim Peterson |
Valassis employees 7000 employees. No junk mail - how many employees will they layoff? Any cut in junk mail directly affects the economy. Advertisers lay off employees, printers lay off employees, trucking companies lay off people Then these people collect unemployment and stop buying goods, taking vacations, eating out, etc. which results in more layoffs. Never ending cycle.
From my perspective, the usps is one of the most incompetent organizations on earth. We have a cabin in Ok and spend about half our time there. We forward our mail as some obligations such as property taxes and such cannot always be done on line. The USPS has continually delivered mail which should have been forwarded or forwarded mail which should NOT have been. I have been obliged to pay reconnect chares for utility bills which had been disconnected as bills had been or not been forwarded in contradiction to our directions. They even send us confirmation letters for our instructions and still f it up. When you go down to complain the postmaster informed us that they are NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COSTS OF THEIR ERRORS.
Then the wussy postman pepper sprays our fierce 16 lb dog who approached him with tail waggin on our own property.
Incompetent, uncaring, irrresponsible and grossly overpaid. Not to mention financially obtuse. Let's put our tax dollars to effective use and close down this antidiluvian behemoth
Noone will see any more bulk business mail than they did before the recession. The postal Service did not lose 9 billion dollars They did not pay 5 bilion to fund retire costs 75 years into the future for employees who are not even born yet. The Republican house of Representatives created this cost under Bush and efuses to end this overpayment in order to destroy the universal , consitutionally created service so privte corporations can charge Americans whatever they want to delver mail. A few pieces of bulk rate mail in the mailbox keeps this srvice the cheapest in the world, the same cost no matter where you live and AT NO COST IN TAX DOLLARS!
Noone will see any more bulk business mail than they did before the recession. The postal Service did not lose 9 billion dollars They did not pay 5 bilion to fund retire costs 75 years into the future for employees who are not even born yet. The Republican house of Representatives created this cost under Bush and efuses to end this overpayment in order to destroy the universal , consitutionally created service so privte corporations can charge Americans whatever they want to delver mail. A few pieces of bulk rate mail in the mailbox keeps this srvice the cheapest in the world, the same cost no matter where you live and AT NO COST IN TAX DOLLARS!
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
137 | 298 | 469 | 654 | 591 | 592 | 690 | 490 | 318 | 150 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
Here's a list of ways to profit from the potential move from defensive to cyclical stocks.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.