New USPS Diktat: Mailing Labels To The Top Of Magazines

Boring but important news time.

If the United States Postal Service has their way, magazines will be required to move their mailing labels to the top edge of the magazine on either the front or back of the cover. As per Folio:

One of the biggest changes would be to mailing labels. Under the proposed terms, labels would need to be either parallel to and within three inches of the top edge, or perpendicular to and within two and a half inches of the top edge, on either the front or the back of the magazine. The “top” edge, according to the Federal Register, is the upper edge of the mailpiece when the spine is vertical and to the right. In other words, labels will need to be upside down at the foot. Address font size would need to be at least 8 point, Arial preferred, and the leading would need to be at least .028 inches.

Yeah, we’re sure Graydon Carter is super-f’ing-excited about the idea of subscription labels totally obscuring Vanity Fair‘s shrinkwrapped logo.

On the bright side, if you work on the layout/design staff at a magazine and are on an hourly wage… you’ve got a lot of overtime coming up from this. A lot.

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