Rules & Resources
Newspaper Support Center

Single-Copy Promotions Guidebook—U.S. Newspapers

Combination Sales

A single-copy combination sale is defined as:

  • The sale of a single issue of two or more different publications as a package.
  • Each publication in the sale is a priced product.
  • The combination package is sold for a single price.

A newspaper may be sold in combination with another newspaper or a periodical.

Three-stack Policy

For all single-copy venues where a newspaper is sold in a combination package, ABC requires each publication be made available for purchase separately.

This requirement is often referred to as the “three-stack” policy. There would need to be three stacks from which the consumer may choose – 1) combination package, 2) Publication A separately, 3) Publication B separately.

This three-stack policy applies to all of the various types of single-copy outlets where the combination package is sold including retailers, vending machines and hawkers.

Pricing

The selling price of the combination package must be at least:

  • 100 percent of the selling price for the publication with the highest individual selling price during the time of the promotion.
  • 25 percent of the basic single-copy price for each additional newspaper and one cent for each additional periodical in the sale.

In addition, the selling price of the combination package cannot equal less than 25 percent of basic prices for each newspaper and one cent for each periodical in the sale.

Promotional Material

All promotional material must:

  • State the publications involved in the combination.
  • State the selling price for the combination package.
  • Reflect a qualifying price.
  • Exclude any reference to any of the publications in the package as being free, no additional cost, bonus, or other synonymous language.

Examples—Combination Sales

Reporting

Circulation generated from single-copy combination sales is reflected in Paragraphs 1A, 2, and 6B of the ABC Publisher’s Statement.

In Paragraph 1A, the circulation is classified as Single-Copy Sales under Paid for by Individual Recipients. For individually paid circulation, ABC requires a newspaper to delineate between circulation sold at 50 percent or more of basic prices and circulation sold at less than 50 percent, but at least 25 percent of basic prices. Therefore, for the newspaper involved in a combination sale, the single-issue sales should be included in the appropriate price category based on the value of the newspaper.

For reporting purposes, the value of each subscription in a combination sale must be determined. The monetary value allocated to each subscription may be determined in one of two ways:

  1. The value of each publication in a combination package as stated, if stated in the offer.
  2. A pro rata of each publication’s basic single-copy prices, if in a combination package no individual values are stated. (For periodicals, you would use the publisher’s suggested price that is typically the cover price.)

    For example: Publication A and Publication B are sold in combination for a price of $2.25. Publication A and Publication B have single-copy basic prices of $1.00 and $2.00 respectively. This means the combination has a basic price value of $3.00. Publication A represents 33 percent and Publication B represents 67 percent of the total package value. Since the combination package sold for $2.25, then the value for reporting purposes of Publication A is 75 cents (33% of $2.25) and Publication B is $1.50 (67% of $2.25).

In Paragraph 2, the circulation is classified as Single Copy (Individual), based on the specific ABC zone where the sale to the consumer occurred.

Paragraph 6B will include a description of the combination sales programs. For each program, the description will identify the name of the publications involved, the price(s) at which the combination package was sold, and the average number of copies included in average paid circulation.

See also Rule C 5.3 Combination Sales



<< Return to main Single-Copy Promotions Page