The Cleveland County Herald will be increasing its annual subscription price for the first time in eight years beginning Jan. 1, 2023, publisher Britt Talent has announced.
In addition, Talent said single copy prices of the Herald will be increasing to 75 cents per copy beginning Jan. 1, 2023.
"Over the past eight years, the U.S. Postal Service has increased the price for mailing periodicals several times but we have absorbed those additional costs without passing it along to our subscribers," Talent said. "Unfortunately, it has finally gotten to the point that we have to increase our rates to keep up." Digital only subscriptions to the e-Herald, the digital replica of the printed newspaper, will remain at $22 per year. The e-Herald is included in the subscription price of the print edition.
Under the new subscription rates, the "local" subscription rate (Cleveland County and all surrounding counties - Bradley, Calhoun, Dallas, Drew, Grant, Jefferson and Lincoln) will be $28 per year; the "in-state" rate for all other counties in Arkansas will be $33 per year; and the "out-of-state" rate will be $37 per year.
Talent said a common question he occasionally gets is why is there a price difference between local, state and out-of-state since a single stamp will mail a letter to anywhere in the U.S.?
Unlike postage stamps, Talent explained that the Postal Service charges newspapers and other periodicals a different rate based on the destination of each piece. The further the destination from the post office from which it is mailed, the higher the price for each piece.
"We recently analyzed the cost of printing and mailing the newspaper, and found that the rates for out-of-county and out-ofstate subscriptions were barely covering our costs due to the increases in prices for printing and postage," Talent said.
"We have tried to keep our prices down, but unfortunately rising expenses have forced us to make this move," he said Talent said the Herald will honor the current subscription rate through Dec. 31 for anyone who wants to renew their 2023 subscriptions early regardless of when the subscription ends next year.
Subscribers can re-new at the current subscription rate by calling the Herald office at (870) 325-6412 through Thursday, Dec. 22; or by going online to clevelandcountyherald.com anytime between now and Dec. 31.