Staff from the Rappahannock Record and members of the National Newspaper Association (NNA) on September 27 met with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) in Washington, D.C., to discuss the impact of recent changes to the mail delivery system on top of ongoing postal rate increases.
Rappahannock Record circulation manager Michelle Smith said the meeting was important because the commission needed to understand “how the changes in routes has affected our business operating costs.” Smith said the paper is incurring thousands in added costs by delivering papers directly to 11 post offices in Lancaster, Northumberland and Middlesex counties to avoid the recently introduced triangle of a delivery system. All mail now goes to the Richmond Processing and Distribution Center, then to the Brook Road transfer facility and finally to the local post office. This, along with a move toward single drop offs and pick ups at post offices each day, has added to delivery times….
