04/06/2015

Postmaster General personally agrees to help The Budget

by Keith Rathbun, ONA Vice President

USPS Postmaster General Megan Brennan addressed the National Newspaper Association’s Leadership Summit in Washington DC last month. During a Q&A following Brennan’s keynote address, Keith Rathbun, publisher of The Budget and ONA’s vice president, asked the PMG how it was possible for a periodical late delivery issue to Michigan to continue for over 18 months with no resolution to the problem. Brennan answered that she was “appalled and embarrassed” by the situation and she vowed to see it get resolved.

Afterwards Rathbun (right) enjoyed a one-on-one conversation with the first female PMG. Brennan revealed to Rathbun that she delivered The Budget (see paper in her right hand) to many Amish readers along her rural route in Lancaster, PA in her early days at USPS. She remembered how important timely delivery of The Budget was to subscribers there.

A USPS representative visited The Budget office last week to begin research on the newspaper’s delivery problems in general, but to Michigan specifically, on “word coming directly from the PMG’s office to his boss.” He said his directive is to identify the problem and create a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to permanently resolve it.

After past-PMG Patrick Donahoe’s apparent disdain for the newspaper industry, PMG Brennan’s interest is a breath of fresh air.

(Also pictured: Max Heath, center, NNA Postal Committee chair.)