Postal
January 6, 2017 at 11:08 am
When the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Staples announced a retail partnership in 2013, USPS said "it’s time to celebrate.” But now, that program has been shut down and it's postal labor leaders who are rejoicing. They're cheering the demise of a program that had been the target of a vigorous campaign by postal unions that…
October 25, 2016 at 8:26 am
The postage rate changes proposed by the U.S. Postal Service on Oct. 12 are to go into effect on Jan. 22, 2017, pending approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission. The good news? This isn’t a flat-out rate hike; in fact, some catalog postage rates may actually decline. The changes include the following: Standard mail flats will…
October 10, 2016 at 5:07 pm
It can be easy for a catalog, or really any type of retail CEO, to overlook things. After all, especially with a catalog operation, there are so many factors that go into running a profitable business, right? Unless you’re a small mom-and-pop shop, wherein you personally oversee everything from soup to nuts, if you can…
July 27, 2016 at 10:15 pm
As August approaches, the back-to-school (BTS) shopping season is on the minds of retailers everywhere. Recently, we covered Target’s college supply registry, which rolled out this year to capture some of the early BTS shopping dollars. However, according to our Shopper Insight Survey, 63 percent of BTS shoppers plan to do the majority of their…
July 26, 2016 at 9:19 am
This is a guest post by Gordon Glazer, director of modal optimization and affiliate strategies at Shipware, a parcel audit and consulting firm. In the interest of full disclosure, Gordon recently took a small short position on Stamps.com after the two reports mentioned were published. Also, Shipware provides access to discounted postage pricing through one…
July 6, 2016 at 1:48 pm
It’s no secret that major changes are occurring in parcel delivery, with parcel carriers increasingly teaming up with the United States Postal Service (USPS). The parcel carries utilize their transportation networks to deliver packages close to its final destinations — often to a local post office — and the USPS takes it from there to…
June 17, 2016 at 12:40 pm
In today’s news roundup, find out why Revlon is buying Elizabeth Arden; the reason Amazon is cutting its shipping fees for certain products; and what a new postal reform bill may look like.
May 16, 2016 at 10:35 am
Postmaster General Megan Brennan called on Congress to enact legislation to help the Postal Service after releasing the agency's second-quarter financial report last week. She called the agency's challenges "serious but solvable." Brennan testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, saying the USPS has worked with stakeholders on several provisions that can…
May 4, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Join us on this educational webinar to hear how marketers are using digitally reactive direct mail as part of their market strategy.
March 30, 2016 at 10:09 am
The U.S. Postal Service fell short of its performance targets for a host of its mailing and shipping services last year, and on-time delivery percentages in many categories were actually worse than 2014, the agency's regulator has found. The Postal Regulatory Commission this week issued a critical report detailing the shortcomings of a broad array of…
