Why some French magazines are suspending their print service to the US

Amidst ongoing postage issues between the US and France, heightened costs have targeted an unlikely product – French magazines.

US customs authorities started considering magazines and newspapers as "goods" this summer, leading to more duties and formalities, according to La Poste. As a result of the change, which took effect in July, shipping costs rose sharply and multiple French publications have suspended their print delivery service to the US.

That led to a surprise this summer for longtime readers such as Mike Cooper. The Georgia resident, 71, is half French, half English, married to a French woman and has long been interested in French culture. He has subscribed to Télérama for more than 20 years and Le Nouvel Obs for three.

When both stopped arriving in his mail this summer he reached out to customer service, which informed him that a change in US customs policy made delivery to his country too expensive.

"It's just crazy," he told The Connexion. "To me it's very strange that a customs restriction that would normally involve a package of value would cover publications."

Mr Cooper, who has also spent periods subscribed to other French publications, said something like this had never happened before.

The heavier delivery burden on French newspapers and magazines comes at a time when Americans recount issues sending letters, ballots and packages to France. Additionally, La Poste told The Connexion in August that sending a letter to the United States with a return receipt requested is now suspended. This is particularly relevant for those sending tax forms from France.

These interruptions to postal service follow the US government ending the $800 de minimis customs duty exemption last August. That policy change led to a temporary suspension of US-bound shipments that was later eased. However, problems persist with letters, packages and publications going between the two countries.

US Customs and Border Protection made these recent changes to certain low value shipments to receive “the information needed to assess admissibility, duty, tax, and other legal requirements,” a spokesperson from the agency wrote in an email to The Connexion. 

“These requirements are not specific to France and generally apply based on the type of shipment and mode of entry, not the country of origin alone,” according to their statement. 

In an email to The Connexion, La Poste wrote that the policy is not a "blanket ban on sending newspapers to the United States."

"Publications can still be shipped using a suitable shipping solution, such as Delivengo, with an electronic CN23 declaration, a paperless customs declaration for the United States, and a barcode affixed to each shipment," according to the postal service.

However, some publications have found these costs too high.

For Télérama, which has fewer than 10 print subscribers in the US, it made more sense to suspend print delivery to these few customers and offer them an online subscription, a member of the magazine's marketing team told The Connexion. Adding to the pressure was the fact that postage costs to the US were already high.

The July suspension decision came after Télérama received a letter from La Poste at the end of June, saying the postal service would no longer handle press deliveries to the US due to the costs and constraints from the American policy change.

While they initially did not intend to stop the service, the new formalities and the need to find another delivery service simply made it too costly, according to the marketing team member. The digital subscription offers all the same content.

Once he realised the magazines were no longer coming, Mr Cooper said Télérama and Le Nouvel Obs were apologetic in explaining the situation. Télérama told him that other Americans had contacted their publication regarding this issue.

Mr Cooper added he is considering writing to the two US senators who represent Georgia about this "frustrating" side effect of the US' newly aggressive tariff policy.

"You're stopping the flow of information from a friendly country," he said. "What is the point of this?"

Le Nouvel Obs, which started its suspension on July 16, told The Connexion there is no end date to the suspension but that "all of our subscribers in the United States are affected."

All of the French press was affected by the decision, which ended the longstanding practice of newspapers and magazines being taxed as letters, Sébastien Bacchialoni, director of subscriptions and mail order at Le Nouvel Obs, wrote in an email:

"In any case, our priority remains ensuring access to our content during a crucial time for the United States (the midterm elections this autumn) and France (the presidential election in 2027), and delivering the print magazine to our readers."

Despite disruptions with his French subscriptions, Mr Cooper said Private Eye and Radio Times – UK publications – are still arriving fine to his US address. That is despite having La Poste indicia (though the overall distributor is Asendia) and passing through France on its way to the US, he said.

The decision to stop or continue shipments to the US depends on the publisher's "ability to adapt its processes to new reporting, operational, and pricing requirements," La Poste wrote.

They could also find a new distributor, but for Le Nouvel Obs, "using a private carrier such as FedEx is not an option because we would still be subject to US customs surcharges, which would result in too high an additional cost for us," Mr Bacchialoni wrote.

While online subscriptions remain an option, the way Mr Cooper sees it, there is something irreplaceable about holding a physical magazine in your hands and flipping through the pages. Not only does it make for fewer on-screen distractions, getting these publications regularly helps support the struggling print media industry.

"I just find it painful," he said of the current situation with French magazines. "In a general, broader view, it's just contributing to the death of print publications."