NewsBeat

December 2016 NewsBeat 17 How it Would Work 1. Once enrolled, no marked copies would be filed until after the SOO review in October 2017. The U.S. Postal Service may request the publication submit a single randomly selected marked copy (could be from any issue in prior 12 months or from whatever period has elapsed since enrollment). 2. The BME clerk would verify the information provided is accurate and matches that submitted on relevant postage statement(s). 3. If it is determined that the marked copy advertising percentage is less than or equal on the matching postage statement—with a 5 percent margin of error allowed — the verification passes and no further action is taken. 4. If it is determined that the marked copy advertising percentage variance is greater than 5 percent of that reported on the postage statement, the initial verification fails. Four additional marked copies representing issues mailed after the publication was enrolled in the Alternate Marked Copy process may be requested. 5. Information on those four copies will be verified against the applicable postage statements and an average error percentage determined. That error percentage would be applied against all other issues mailed since the enrollment period, if the ad percentage variance determined by the verification is greater than 5 percent. 6. Mailers who disagree with the decision may appeal to the Pricing and Classification Service Center in New York City. If it is determined that the marked copy advertising percentage is less than or equal to 5% of that entered on the matching postage statement the verification passes and no further action is taken. That's it in a nutshell. It is relatively simple, so long as newspapers are enrolled and provide accurate percentages on electronic documentation or hard-copy postage statements submitted with each issue or editions of an issue. NNA will issue a news release on this change once the tests are completed and both USPS and NNA agree that the Alternate Marked Copy process as outlined remains feasible. © Max Heath 2016 MAX HEATH, NNA postal chair, is a postal consultant for Athlon Media Group, publisher of Parade, American Profile, Relish, Spry Living, and Athlon Sports newspaper supplements, and also for Landmark Community Newspapers LLC. Email maxheath@lcni.com — Reprinted fromNNA (October 27, 2016) • The keys: Visual elements, headlines, larger type. (It's o.k. to run a notice in larger type than the minimum required by law. Your readers will thank you.) • Label them as "public notices," not "legal notices." • Promote them on the front page. • Use a visual header with section-header-sized type denoting the public notice section (e.g., type as large as that labeling your sports section, accompanied by a photo of the courthouse, a line shot of the scales of justice, a gavel, etc.). • Publish the contact information of public notice personnel. • Use headlines to break up groups of public notices. • Make lengthy notices more readable with columns and/or subheads. • For auction notices, include photos of the items to be auctioned. (If the sheriff's department has a notice about an auction of its old squad cars, run a photo of one of the cars.) • Publish a map to identify locations of the events promoted in the public notice section. • Publish an index of public notice ads on the front page and/or in the public notice section. • Provide the web address for each notice published in your paper. • Include a "why public notices are important" statement in the public notice section. • Add a glossary of public notice terms on the public notice page. • Place your public notices in the news section with the courts and legal news rather than in the back of the paper. And remember to PROMOTE PUBLIC NOTICES ON PAGE ONE! Ed Henninger's Tips for Better Public Notices (Continued from previous page)

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