May 2006: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) submitted an omnibus proposal to increase postal rates to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The proposed rate increase included a provision that would raise the periodical rate by 11.7 percent — a cost increase that would impact all publishers more or less equally.

February 2007: After a 10-month comment and testimony review period, the PRC released its 758-page recommendation to the Postal Board of Governors. To the surprise of many, the PRC rejected the USPS proposal in favor of a plan submitted by Time Warner, which shifted the burden of the postal rate hikes from larger circulation magazines to smaller periodicals.

March 2007: The USPS allowed just eight business days for formal responses to the 758-page PRC recommendations. Moreover, the Time Warner proposal was so complex that smaller publishers couldn’t adequately assess how the rate change would impact them. On March 19, the Postal Board of Governors issued the final decision, adopting the PRC’s recommendations.

July 2007: The rate increase for periodicals went into effect on July 15. The postal rates for many of this nation’s most important political magazines increased by 20 to 30 percent.

October 2007: The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia holds a hearing on the unfair rate hikes.