Sears to close last store in the city it once called home

The U.S. Postal Service congratulated the leadership and members of the U.S. Senate for its bipartisan approval of the Postal Service Reform Act. The bill, which was approved by the House on Feb. 8, now goes to the White House to be signed into law by President Biden. “With the legislative financial reforms achieved today, combined with our own self-led operational reforms, we will be able to self-fund our operations and continue to deliver to 161 million addresses six days per-week for many decades to come,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “I thank the Senate and our Committee leadership that broke the 10-year logjam which has long constrained the finances of the Postal Service. The Postal Service serves every American every day and so it’s only right that our future is now collectively assured by members of all political parties.” As passed by the House and Senate, the key elements of the Postal Service Reform Act are that it eliminates the unfair, outdated, and burdensome retiree health benefit prefunding requirement, and it integrates our retiree health benefit program with Medicare in a manner that is fully consistent with private sector best practices. The bill also formalizes our obligation to deliver mail and packages six days per-week through an integrated delivery network, and includes accountability, transparency and reporting requirements.

There are countless free newsletters in B2B publishing, as well there should be. Newsletters do great things. They are the number one traffic builder for most niche verticals, since social media and search only go so far in bringing hydrocarbon experts or facility managers to your site repeatedly. Sending daily - or at least weekly - newsletters keep people clicking through to your website, where hopefully you have effective contextual content and offers to get them to stick around. Each one also provides desirable advertising sales opportunities. You can’t have enough sub-niche newsletters in my book. This also keeps your brand vital in your market. If you send less frequently than weekly, your content remains an afterthought.

With the e-book market showing no signs of returning to robust growth, two of HarperCollins’s main priorities in fiscal 2018 are global expansion and broadening its distribution base in North America, HC’s CEO Brian Murray told PW after the release of the publisher’s financial results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017. In the just-concluded year, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $199 million, 7.5% higher than in fiscal 2016, despite a decline of $10 million in sales. Several factors impacted HC’s sales performance: there was one fewer week in the fiscal 2017 than in fiscal 2016, which cost $19 million, and the company suffered from the negative impact of currency fluctuations. Murray said he was “thrilled” with fiscal 2017 from both a publishing and financial standpoint and that the continued decline in e-books isn’t a major concern at the moment. He noted that, in the North American market, gains in print book sales and digital audio made up for the drop in e-book sales and that HC’s print frontlist and backlist sales were almost strong enough to match the revenue generated in fiscal 2016 by Go Set a Watchman. Among the company’s top-selling titles in the year were Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines, and Jesus Calling and Jesus Always by Sarah Young. Click Read More below for more of the story.