Before the era of online shopping, the department store Sears published its first holiday catalog in 1934. It started a tradition of kids circling pictures of toys they wanted from Santa and had adults bookmarking jewelry, appliances and more gift ideas. The nostalgic trend is being kept alive after Amazon began sending out its own toy catalogue in 2018 and is bringing it back this year. NBC’s Harry Smith reports in this week’s Sunday Spotlight.
more at: https://www.today.com/video/holiday-store-catalogs-are-returning-reviving-a-classic-tradition-127345733612
Related Posts
Sixty people have been charged in a magazine fraud scheme that took advantage of seniors. According to a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the federal government says the telemarketing scam defrauded 183,000 people across the U.S. for more than $335 million over a 20-year-period. Many victims were elderly. Fourteen defendants are described as owners of companies involved in phony magazine sales. Another 16 were call-center managers, 10 were telemarketers and four served as lead brokers, who sold lists of consumers to call.
The Commission published its annual Financial Analysis report, which carefully analyzes the Postal Service’s finances using a number of well-known financial parameters. This report meets the Commission’s financial reporting responsibilities and responds to the continued interest from policymakers and stakeholders in the Postal Service’s financial health. The Analysis provides greater clarity, transparency, and accountability of the Postal Service’s financial data and trends. At the end of FY 2024: The Postal Service recorded a net loss from operations of $1.8 billion and a total net loss of $9.5 billion. The Postal Service’s operating revenue was $79.5 billion, $1.2 billion higher than the previous year. Revenue from Competitive products increased by $0.5 billion and Market Dominant revenue increased by $0.8 billion in FY 2024, resulting from price increases. Total operating expenses were $81.8 billion, $0.6 billion higher than the prior year. There was a notable decrease in highway transportation expenses, which decreased by 8.2 percent from network optimization efforts as a part of the Delivering for American plan. Furthermore, air transportation expenses decreased by 20.8 percent from a shift in package volume from air to highway transportation. The Postal Service is a labor intensive organization. Labor costs account for 76.4% of total expenses and in FY 2024 total personnel operating expenses increased by $1.4 billion from FY 2023, resulting from increases in salaries, retirement and employee health benefits.
Revenue at Hachette Book Group USA fell 2.8% in the third quarter ended September 30, compared to the same period in 2016. Parent company Lagardere attributed decline to unfavorable comparisons with last year’s third quarter. Lagardere said that last year HBG benefited from strong sales of new releases like Two by Two and Woman of God. Lagardere added that the Perseus publishing properties, which were acquired in March 2016, had a solid quarter. In a statement, HBG CEO Michael Piestsch said despite the sales dip in the third quarter, the company’s revenues through the first nine months of 2017 were “solidly ahead of 2016.” He cited growth in downloadable audio sales and a strong performance from the company's distribution side as high notes. Click Read More below for additional information.