Five Industries That Still Prefer Print — And Why

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of mailing services price changes to take effect Jan. 21, 2024. The new rates include a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 66 cents to 68 cents. The proposed adjustments, approved by the governors of the Postal Service, would raise mailing services product prices approximately 2 percent. As inflationary pressures on operating expenses continue and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve the financial stability sought by its Delivering for America 10-year plan. The prices of the Postal Service remain among the most affordable in the world.

An increase of U.S. tariffs on Chinese made goods could have a major impact on American consumers’ spending power. That's according to the National Retail Federation’s latest study, “Estimated Impacts of Changes to China’s Tariff Status,” which finds that consumers could lose $31 billion in spending power if U.S. tariffs are raised on common household products like microwaves, t-shirts, toys, footwear and more imported from China. This figure comes out to $240 per household in higher prices for widely-used items. “Many elected officials and others have expressed a growing interest in a number of trade policy and practice changes that would affect U.S. trade with China,” said NRF. “Chief among them is a proposal to terminate China’s ‘permanent normal trade relations’ (PNTR) trade status, subjecting imports from China to ‘Column 2’ tariff rates, which can be much higher than ‘normal trade relations’ rates. Some have even suggested raising the rates higher than ‘Column 2’ rates.”

Barnes & Noble, Inc. announced a new online book portal for schools across the country to get the books and products they need from Barnes & Noble’s extensive catalog. This free portal is an easy, fast, and efficient way for educational institutions K-12 to purchase and track ordering from Barnes & Noble as well as get access to curated book recommendations and personalized support. Educational institutions should look for an invitation to join Classroom by Barnes & Noble from their local Business Development Manager or put in a request by emailing BulkOrders@bn.com. “In a time when online ordering options for educators are essential, we’re so excited to launch Classroom by Barnes & Noble for educational institutions K-12 across the country to access our extensive and trusted catalogue of books,” said Tracy Vidakovich, Vice President, Business Development for Barnes & Noble. “We have been working closely with educational institutions for decades through our Institutional account/discount program and believe this new portal for buying and managing book and instructional material purchases comes at just the right time.”