PRWeek, which is switching to a monthly magazine with the June issue, may have been in violation of U.S. Postal Service regulations by offering its $249 Contact directory of about 400 pages free to those who subscribe or renew the magazine, which has a subscription rate of $198.
PRW is a general publication enjoying the low postal rates given to publications that register as a periodical, printing ownership, management and circulation information in the October issue each year.
Section 6.1.2 "Circulation Standards" of the "Qualification Categories" of the USPS rules say that for a subscription to be "genuine," it must be "separated from all other business transactions as to constitute a distinct, voluntary and independent act."
Any premium that is more than 70% of the annual subscription rate appears to be forbidden.
The value of the premium is determined by its recognized retail value, or its represented value, whichever is higher.
The 2009 Contact has a price of $198 on its spine and $249 on the first inside page.
PRW Contact |
PRW Says Offer is Proper
PRW president Lisa Kirk said, "PRWeek is an integrated subscription service. PRWeek Contact is not available for sale separately to PRWeek magazine. If someone wishes to purchase PRWeek Contact they may do so by purchasing an annual subscription to PRWeek. Please note that we only publicize one consistent full price at $198. The price includes the print magazine, PRWeek special reports, full access to prweek.com, e-newsletters and PRWeek Contact."
PRW’s announcement yesterday said that the subscriber "package" will now include the monthly print magazine; full access to all contents of PRWeekus.com, daily PR Week Breakfast Briefing, weekly digital edition, and annual PRWeek Contact directory.
PRW’s ad page rate is currently $9,419 for a full page for one week.
PR Society Boosted PRW
PRW arrived in the U.S. in November 1998 with a major boost from the PR Society.
Ray Gaulke's Letter on behalf of PRWeek in 1998. Enlarge |
COO Ray Gaulke of the Society wrote to many of its advertisers and to PR executives that "finally the business of PR will be served by a publication that honors PR in the same way that Business Week and the Wall Street Journal honor business."
The letter, dated Aug. 12, 1998, noted that Gaulke and 1995 Society president John Beardsley had gone twice to London in an effort to convince the Haymarket Group to start PRW/US.
The letter said, "We could introduce them to leaders in the business, help them meet our advertisers, we could encourage our members to subscribe and we could launch some new products down the road."
Steve Pisinski, Society treasurer who was president in 2000, said the Gaulke letter was an improper intrusion of the Society into the marketplace.
Pisinski said the assistance to PRW was "neither board initiated nor approved" and that the Society "should not be in the position of favoring or appearing to favor any industry publication."
The Society’s 18,000 membership became the circulation of PRW for an unknown number of issues.
First PRWeek/U.S. Lasted 8 Months
The first U.S. publication called PR Week was started in April 1988 by Geoffrey Lace, who had owned PRW in London, and investors who included five principles of Dewe Rogerson, the U.K. PR firm, and Formay Group, a private group headed by Frank Madden, a board member of First Funding Corp., which was affiliated with Shandwick, headed by Peter Gummer. Circulation of 61,000 was promised.
Publication ceased with the Dec. 5, 1988 issue.
Paul Holmes, who became publisher in the last months of the initial PRW, said shareholders had agreed to liquidate the company under a Chapter 7 proceeding. |