Brief: A Catholic magazine with a global readership

The Word Among Us started in 1981 in a garage, with copies stapled by hand. More than four decades later, the Catholic devotional magazine prints more than 600,000 copies in a typical month and about 900,000 during Advent and Lent.

It publishes in English and Spanish, and in-country subsidiaries print and distribute editions in Japan, Poland, and other markets. Its Partners arm funds donated subscriptions to prisons, military personnel at APO addresses, and hardship ministries. A college edition reaches campuses, and the team is exploring podcasts, short-form video, and influencer outreach to connect with younger readers.

For an organization like this, every issue that goes missing is a reader cut off from the mission.

Problem: Opaque billing and rising costs for international magazine mailing

The Word Among Us shipped its international mail through another vendor, but the bills were hard to read, and the costs kept rising. Expenses climbed high enough that the team moved its Canadian single copies back to its printer.

Katie Zanchettin needed a partner she could trust to handle international distribution without constant follow-up.

“ePost Global made international mailing the easy part of my job. Doug calls before I ever have to reach out, the billing is clear enough that our CFO notices, and when something goes wrong with a delivery, they fix that one piece instead of making us change everything.” Katie Zanchettin, Word Among Us

Solution: A simpler international magazine mailing process

After Thanksgiving 2025, Doug Smith, National Account Manager at ePost Global, reached out to Katie. The Word Among Us switched.

Today the process runs on a simple rhythm. ePost Global picks up each issue from their global printer in Burlington, Wisconsin, while Katie sends the mail file at the same time. ePost Global now handles its Canada bulks to prisons and parishes, and their foreign singles and bulks throughout the rest of the world.

Katie points to a few things that set ePost Global apart:

• Competitive pricing that brought costs back under control
• Proactive communication. Doug calls before Katie has to reach out.
• Clear, PO-based billing that The Word Among Us's CFO singled out for praise
• Flexible problem-solving. ePost Global trials changes on individual pieces instead of overhauling entire files.

“Before, we couldn’t always tell what we were paying for. With ePost Global, every invoice ties back to a PO, so it’s clear and easy to reconcile. Our CFO actually called it out.” Katie said.

That flexibility shows up when a delivery goes wrong. When Australia Post had trouble delivering issues, ePost Global moved those copies to USPS commercial ePacket, which added tracking. When a subscriber in Singapore didn't receive an issue, the team investigated, confirmed the address and dispatch were clean, and traced the likely cause to pilferage or a communal mailbox. ePost Global converted that subscriber to tracked ePacket service.

ePost Global also helps keep address data clean. International postal administrations often set aside pieces when address formats don't match their standards, so the team flags issues in the mail file before they turn into missed deliveries.

Outcome: Reliable international magazine distribution, issue after issue

The handoff from the printer to ePost Global runs like clockwork. Non-delivery complaints are rare: one or two per issue for The Word Among Us, and about one per month across ePost Global's subscriber base.

The proactive service goes beyond phone calls. When the late Advent issue was missing a file update, the dedicated customer service representative at ePost Global caught it and flagged it before Katie had to report it.

“Working with ePost Global feels like having an extension of our own team. Every issue runs like clockwork, and when something needs attention, they catch it first.” 

The relationship is still growing. From hand-stapled copies in a garage to readers on six continents, The Word Among Us now has a partner that makes sure its message arrives, issue after issue.