Adult Trade, College Material Sales Up in Q1

Bookstore sales continued their strong rebound from the lows of spring 2020. According to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau, bookstore sales soared 130% in May over May 2020, rising to $632 million. Last April and May saw the weakest bookstore sales performances of 2020, with sales in May 2020 totaling just $275 million. Compared to May 2019, May sales this year were down 9.2%.

The Postal Regulatory Commission approved the price adjustments for the market dominant mail categories, including First Class, Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services Products and related classifications. The new rates take effect on January 24, 2021. As we reported to the membership previously, the rate increase contains a provision for catalog postage costs to increase at 2% more than the Marketing Mail Class average. Since we have now exhausted our remedies with the PRC, we are left only with an attempt to appeal directly to Members of Congress about this ruling and seek interest in pushing for a review of this nonsensical demand. It is not curing the problem, and is in fact making it worse by driving more mail out of the system without addressing the root cause. ACMA is desperately seeking any company with employees or operations in any of the following zip codes: 20069 20070 20109 20110 20112 20119 20120 20121 20122 20124 20136 20137 20155 20156 20168 20169 20171 20181 20182 22003 22009 22015 22027 22030 22031 22032 22033 22035 22038 22039 22044 22060 22079 22081 22082 22102 22116 22118 22119 22120 22121 22124 22125 22150 22151 22152 22153 22156 22158 22159 22160 22161 22180 22181 22182 22183 22185 22191 22192 22193 22194 22195 22199 22308 22309 22312 Please search your contacts, customers, and prospects to see if you can give us the name(s) of companies in one of these zip codes. Rep. Gerry Connolly, from Virginia’s 11th District, which includes Fairfax County, Prince William County, and the City of Fairfax in Northern Virginia, and who is also Chairman of the subcommittee with postal oversight, has demonstrated interest in this matter. If we can find one or more constituents in Mr. Connolly's district, they will be of great help in getting Congressional visibility on the plight of catalog mailers and the poor management of the category by postal policy makers. ACMA will continue to work with USPS managers on flats cost reduction but increasing the pressure from Congress will help motivate officials to faster action. Send an email to action@catalogmailers.org to let us know if you identify any catalog interests in Mr. Connolly’s district.

REI released its 2022 Impact Report and financials results, closing the year with a record $3.85 billion in sales. The co-op ended the year with a strong liquidity and working capital position and continued to invest in its mission of investing in its members, employees, and the outdoors. “I’m incredibly impressed by all we’ve accomplished as a co-op,” said Eric Artz, President and CEO, in a public letter released alongside the report. “Throughout 2022, we invested in our people, in our capabilities, and in the communities we serve. We invested in membership with new and enhanced offerings and held fast to our commitment to distributing our full Co-op Member Reward to more than 23 million members during a year without profits to fund it. As a co-op, we are in the fortunate position to be able to make long-term choices and investments like this, but we do not do so lightly. We remain focused on a path back to sustainable profitability for the co-op to ensure a healthy long-term future.” In 2022, REI focused on investing in the employee experience. Often cited as a top place to work, the co-op remained committed to competitive pay and introduced new industry-leading benefits. In 2022, REI put an additional $50 million toward pay raises for hourly employees and delivered another $92 million toward employee retirement and bonuses.