The spirit of the magazine industry is strong, despite being in the most difficult time since the 1930s, according to Steve Forbes, president/CEO of Forbes Magazine.
Forbes, in a lunchtime presentation at The Direct Marketing Association’s Circulation Day 2002, said the Web channel should be treated as a distinct medium.
Forbes said that even as bandwidth expands, and consumers become able to stream between two and three billion bits per second (compared with the 50,000 bits now) print will have value-added properties. But there will be shakeout between now and then.
Regarding the U.S. Postal Service, Forbes said he would close some postal centers and privatize it. He added he would eliminate the USPS’s monopoly on first class mail.
“When you know you can always raise the price, the price will go up. We are in a deflationary environment. In a monopoly, there is no pressure from a deflationary environment for innovation,” Forbes said.
Postal Service needs systemic changes, Forbes said. Until there is a willingness to make hard decisions, the post office will continue to fob off costs on its customers.
Forbes also took Washington, DC-based economists to task, denouncing the theory that national economies must balance inflation and employment levels, and that low levels of both are not achievable. They are, Forbes said, if the government loosens the money supply in addition to providing low interest rates.
Forbes also cautioned the audience against believing that his economic philosophy was valid merely because he has his name on a magazine. He quoted his grandfather, B. C. Forbes, as saying that “You make more money selling advice than following it.”
Circulation Day 2002 was held Wednesday at New York City’s Marriott Marquis hotel.
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