In March 2007, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) voted for a drastic hike in postal rates for small and independent periodicals.

The new rates proposed by publishing giant Time Warner shift the burden of postal costs from magazines with large circulations and heavy advertising onto smaller political magazines.

While the rule changes are new, the proposal to move costs from large to small publishers is not.

For years, Time Warner, Conde Nast and a handful of other big publishers have been aggressively lobbying for these changes, which favor large publications while hitting small and mid-size publications with huge cost increases.

In the past, citing the public interest in diverse opinion and ideas, the PRC flatly rejected these proposals. But this year, under intense lobbying from the big publishers, the PRC reversed itself.

In 2007, the PRC voted to accept a version of Time Warner's proposal. According to the plan, postal rates will be largely determined by publishers' ability to take advantage of discounts awarded for shipping efficiencies an advantage only available to the largest publishers.

The Time Warner plan, which went into effect on July 15, 2007, disproportionately penalizes small and mid-size publications, raising their postal rates by as much as 20-30 percent while blunting the increase for large publications.

The postal rate hike will impact hundreds of magazines from across the political spectrum, including many of the best known journals of political opinion in the country, such as The Nation, Mother Jones, The Weekly Standard and The National Review. The hike will cost these publications hundreds of thousands of dollars, threatening these vital sources of political opinion and ideas.

The PRC argues that its decision encourages smaller publishers to take advantage of mailing efficiencies such as co-mailing and achieve discounts that will soften the blow of rate increases. Co-mailing involves two or more magazines being printed, sorted, and mailed together.

The problem is that many small publishers don't have the option of co-mailing because of the economic realities of the industry. Short-run printers that work with low-circulation periodicals just can't take advantage of pre-sorting and collating. Only the largest publishers can afford the specialized equipment necessary for co-mailing.

You can help reverse the unfair rate hikes. Click here to send a message to Congress.