E 10.1 Channels of Subscription Sales

Subscription production shall be classified by channels in Bureau reports designed for farm publications in accordance with the following definitions and instructions.

Paragraphs (a) through (d) apply only to paid subscription circulation. Paragraph (e) applies only to qualified non-paid circulation.

(a) Ordered by mail: Subscriptions produced by a publisher, individually or in behalf of other publishers; department stores; or other media may be classified as "Ordered by Mail and/or direct request" if the subscription order is received through the mail as the result of a voluntary effort by the subscriber or telephone orders initiated by the subscriber.

Subscriptions sent in by mail as the result of solicitation or obtained as a result of a telephone solicitation by a field salesperson shall be classified as "Ordered through salespeople."

(b) Ordered through salespeople:

(1) Catalog agencies and individual agents:
A catalog agency is a concern which publishes in substantial volume a wholesale price list and/or a retail price list, commonly known as a "catalog." Catalog agencies generally accept subscriptions for many and often for all publications. The retail price catalogs are mailed direct to prospective subscribers by catalog agencies. The wholesale catalogs are distributed to subagents such as individual agents, department stores, bookstores, newsdealers, postmasters or others dealing directly with prospective subscribers. Subagents employ various forms of solicitation such as direct mail, telephone, newspaper and periodical advertising and door-to-door canvass. Retail catalogs are usually furnished subagents by catalog agencies for mailing. The subagents or agencies send the subscriptions which they originate to the wholesale catalog agency which in turn clears them to respective publishers. The term "individual agents" is intended to apply to subscription salespeople who are not attached to the staff of a field selling organization such as referred to in (b)(2) below. It also applies to agencies which do not publish a wholesale trade price list and/or a retail price list. Such agents are either part or full time workers who are compensated by either cash commission or merchandise reward. They include individuals and concerns variously described as "pin-money salespeople," "personal effort solicitors," individual salespeople, newsdealers, bookstores, postmasters, etc.

(2) Publisher's own and other publishers' salespeople:
Subscriptions produced by the publisher through:

(a) Full-time field selling employees.

(b) Appointed independent field selling contractors who report directly to the publisher.

(c) A field selling subscription agency jointly owned by two or more publishers shall be shown in Bureau reports as having been ordered through "publisher's own and other publishers' salespeople."

(3) Independent agencies' salespeople:
Subscriptions produced by outside field selling organizations which are totally unaffiliated with publisher except as subscription producers shall be shown in Bureau reports as having been ordered through "independent agencies' salespeople."

NOTE: The distinguishing characteristics of field selling staffs listed in (b)(2) and (b)(3) above are:

That the personal solicitation involved is conducted by professional salespeople who have chosen subscription selling as their principal means of livelihood. These salespeople are usually, although not necessarily, associated with others in crews. These salespeople usually take subscriptions for publications in accordance with authority specifically granted by the publishers.

(4) Newspaper agencies:

A newspaper agency operates under three main methods:

Method (a) Subscriptions ordered by direct mail.

Method (b) Subscriptions ordered through an advertisement in the sponsoring newspaper which carries an order form to be mailed to the publisher.

Method (c) Subscriptions ordered under a plan whereby the newspaper carrier solicits subscriptions to periodicals and in which said carrier collects for the periodical or periodicals when making collections for the newspaper.

The major part of the orders produced by these methods covers subscriptions to one or more magazines and farm publications and the sponsoring newspaper.

Subscriptions produced by organizations such as above described shall be included in the subdivision "newspaper agencies."

(5) Members of schools, churches, fraternal and similar organizations:

Subscriptions in which sponsorship is involved shall be included in the subdivision "members of schools, churches, fraternal and similar organizations" unless specifically provided for elsewhere.

This provision shall apply even though the production of the sponsoring organization is cleared through a catalog agency or any other channel whatsoever.

(c) Association memberships:
Subscriptions received as the result of membership in an association shall be included in the subdivision "association memberships."

(d) The Bureau shall prepare a list of subscription selling organizations as defined by this rule and distribute same to publisher members with appropriate instructions as a guide in properly classifying the production.

(e) Analysis of the sources of qualified non-paid circulation shall be shown in Paragraph 1. Information furnished on sources of qualified non-paid circulation is to appear in the explanatory paragraph and shall exclude statements of a promotional nature and shall be subject to editing by the managing director.

E 10.2 Separate Editions

(a) A farm publication published in more than one edition in which advertising is sold separately in one or more editions shall be required to list the average paid and qualified non-paid circulation for each edition and state frequency of publication in Paragraph 1(a) of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports.

(b) A publisher member may designate certain portions of the distribution of his publication as "editions."

(c) In the absence of specific designations as "edition" or "editions," a publication shall be required to list the paid and qualified non-paid circulation for each portion of its distribution, in which advertising is regularly sold separately and average totals for each in Paragraph 1a of Bureau reports.

(d) A count and analysis of the paid and qualified non-paid circulation for each edition must be made for one issue during each audit period. The figures to be reported for each edition in Paragraph 1a of Bureau reports for all other issues during the period may be based on percentages as determined from the issue analyzed, providing the analyzed issue is representative.

(e) A farm publication reporting geographic editions shall be required to list in separate columns the paid, direct request from recipient, telecommunications and other sources circulation for each geographic edition and totals for all editions in Paragraph 1(a) of the Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports.