A Brief Note of Appreciation for the U.S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685)
They come but once a year, the U.S. Postal Service statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685). But when they do, my gears shift, my interest peaks, and my mind turns to the coming year. Usually printed in the December issues of most magazines -- the statements are required for periodicals that want to qualify for second-class mail privileges -- these ephemeral, esoteric snapshots of a magazine's scale, scope, and success are quite intriguing.

It's not that I collect them, per se, but I do clip them out for perusal. Other than the insights the U.S. Postal Service statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) offer in terms of total number of copies printed, sales through dealers and carriers, free distribution, and copies not distributed, I'm fascinated by the different design approaches magazine's take in presenting this required data.

Because the information is required to be published, most magazines err on the side of less is more. The least amount of real estate the U.S. Postal Service statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) take up, the better. Look at Down East. That magazine basically reduces the actual forms they filed to fill about a sixth of a page, making the information almost illegible. What is Down East trying to hide? That one of their executives is named Koester? That they only sell 10,000 copies on the newsstand? Full disclosure, Down East. Full disclosure!

Meanwhile, Fitness follows a suitable, streamlined approach, separating the comparative data -- preceding 12 months vs. single issue published nearest to filing date -- into orderly columns for easy reading. No workout on the eyes, no sir! YM adds a pleasing plum shading to its statement of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685), asserting that not only is math not hard, but young women should be concerned about the circulation of their magazines -- as well as their own.

Details opts to constrain its statement of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) in a box, ensuring that the dastardly data will neither muss Leonardo DiCaprio's hair nor threaten the correspondent from California. Columbia Journalism Review employs a nasty typeface that is ill-suited for use in a journalism trade magazine, much less in a civilized society -- at the same time deciding not to offer the comparative data side by side but to segregate the two sets of numbers in linear presentation.

Nature Conservancy selects an almost Harper's Index- or McSweeney's-like approach to its statement of ownership, management, and -- get this, quarterly -- circulation. The New Yorker employs a classic -- and classy! -- serif typeface, mirroring its overall design sensibility and offering what might be the clearest parallel to the magazine's general look. And Rolling Stone -- the rebels! -- sticks it to the Man and runs all of its statement of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) in a single line of text without break or columns... refusing to be oppressed, repressed, suppressed, or whatever it is that the Man does to Rolling Stone.

I love these statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685), and I like to think that they think kindly of me. For, is it not true that they keep coming back year after year, almost as though to see if I'm still reading, how I'm doing, and if I'm still in circulation? I am, little statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685), and I can hardly wait until next year to see how your ownership, management, and circulation has changed -- for the better or worse.

Oh, yeah. Don't let the fate that befell George Schultz befall you. Faithfully file your statements of ownership, management, and circulation (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) or the U.S. Postal Service will revoke your second-class mail privileges. I think it's safe to say that we all agree that this -- shudder! -- is a fate worse than death.