Magazines, Newspapers To Adjust To USPS Canceling Saturday Deliveries

Magazines and newspapers will have to adjust as the United States Postal Service cuts Saturday deliveries.

The agency announced Wednesday that it will stop delivering mail on Saturdays starting August 2013, though it will continue to deliver packages six days a week. The change will hit some weekly titles, which normally deliver copies to readers by the weekend.

Poynter, for example, reported on The Week, which currently closes its issues on Wednesday night and gets them to most subscribers by Saturday. Steven Kotok, the magazine's president, told the site that the loss of Saturdays will leave the magazine with two "not-great" options: "Close earlier, which means you’re gonna miss a little bit, or give up on the weekend thing and get it to them on Monday."

Time magazine will also be affected by the change, according to Poynter and AdAge. Most subscribers currently receive their copies on Fridays and Saturdays. "If the postal schedule changes, we will explore all options to maintain pre-weekend delivery," a spokesperson for the magazine told AdAge.

Businessweek will also see changes, with head of distribution Bernie Schraml estimating that a quarter of readers will "see their delivery move from Saturday until Monday."

The Association of Magazine Media weighed in on USPS' proposal on Wednesday. "While we have actively participated in conversations around postal reform, and in particular, five-day delivery, we did not expect the USPS would act unilaterally, without Congressional approval, and we await Washington’s reaction and more details," the organization said in a statement.

The MPA said that the proposal would require "substantial preparation" from affected magazines," but noted that it has said that it would be "willing" to go along with the changes if they are a part of a larger package of USPS reforms.