PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

Pension

Single-Employer Plans

We sponsor several frozen single-employer defined benefit pension plans including The Newspaper Guild of New York - The New York Times Pension Fund, which prior to January 1, 2018, was a joint Company and Guild-sponsored defined benefit pension plan. We also participate in The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Plan, a joint Company and Guild sponsored defined benefit pension plan covering employees who are members of The NewsGuild of New York. Participants in The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Plan continue to actively accrue benefits.

The components of net periodic pension cost were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended
	July 1, 2018								June 25, 2017
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	2,553		$	—	$	2,553		$	2,423		$	—	$	2,423
Interest cost	13,206			1,848		15,054			15,594			1,956		17,550
Expected return on plan assets	(20,591		)	—		(20,591		)	(26,136		)	—		(26,136		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	6,680			1,294		7,974			7,353			1,088		8,441
Amortization of prior service credit	(486		)	—		(486		)	(486		)	—		(486		)
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	1,362		$	3,142	$	4,504		$	(1,252	)	$	3,044	$	1,792



	For the Six Months Ended
	July 1, 2018								June 25, 2017
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	5,200		$	—	$	5,200		$	4,846		$	—	$	4,846
Interest cost	26,357			3,695		30,052			31,188			3,912		35,100
Expected return on plan assets	(41,145		)	—		(41,145		)	(52,272		)	—		(52,272		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	13,442			2,588		16,030			14,706			2,176		16,882
Amortization of prior service credit	(972		)	—		(972		)	(972		)	—		(972		)
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	2,882		$	6,283	$	9,165		$	(2,504	)	$	6,088	$	3,584

In the first quarter of 2018, the Company signed an agreement that froze the accrual of benefits under the Retirement Annuity Plan For Craft Employees of The New York Times Companies (“RAP”) with respect to all participants covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the Company and The Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union of New York and Vicinity. This group of participants was the last group under the RAP to have their benefit accruals frozen. As a result, we recorded a curtailment of $2.6 million in 2018.

During the first six months of 2018 and 2017, we made pension contributions of $4.2 million and $3.8 million, respectively, to certain qualified pension plans. We expect contributions in 2018 to total approximately $8 million to satisfy funding requirements.

Other Postretirement Benefits

The components of net periodic postretirement benefit income were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended						For the Six Months Ended
(In thousands)	July 1, 2018			June 25, 2017			July 1, 2018			June 25, 2017
Service cost	$	5		$	92		$	10		$	184
Interest cost	369			470			738			940
Amortization of actuarial loss	1,184			905			2,368			1,810
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,643		)	(1,938		)	(3,182		)	(3,877		)
Net periodic postretirement benefit income	$	(85	)	$	(471	)	$	(66	)	$	(943	)

As a result of the adoption of ASU 2017-07 during the first quarter of 2018, the service cost component of net periodic pension cost/(income) and net periodic postretirement benefit cost/(income) continues to be recognized in “Total operating costs” while the other components have been reclassified to “Other components of net periodic benefit costs/(income)” in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations below “Operating profit” on a retrospective basis.