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Following January’s 5.4 percent rate increase, prompted by rising fuel and health care costs, the U.S. Postal Service filed yesterday a request to increase postage rates by an average of 8.5 percent - including a three-cent hike in the price of first-class stamps - writes BtoB. Provided the absence of a set timetable for rate increase requests, the USPS also proposed to create an annual rate adjustments cycle.
The announcement did not please industry players. “Postal rate increases are never good news for organizations that rely on the mail to get their messages and packages out, and this latest increase would mean millions of extra dollars in costs for commercial mailers and nonprofit organizations,” said Jerry Cerasale, senior vp of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association. The increase “highlights the desperate need for postal reform,” he added.
“Today’s announcement by the United States Postal Service of yet another increase in postage rates, and the prediction of further increases beyond that, illustrates the need to enact postal reform legislation currently pending in the United States Congress,” said Gordon Hughes, American Business Media’s president-CEO.
The USPS said it would give business mailers incentives to use more efficient mail pieces, based on shape and weight.
The Spanish Radio Association says Arbitron still has not addressed its concerns and research questions regarding the PPM and how “Hispanics are recruited and represented, and how the PPM panel is maintained.”
The SRA has been working with Arbitron in…
The Chicago Tribune’s new design will launch on Sept. 29, Tribune Co. chief operating officer Randy Michaels says. No details on the redesign have been released; the paper has already been decreasing its editorial pages to create a more even split…
Teens are not the best demo to target with cell phone advertising, according to a new study from comScore. Though they are cell phone-savvy, most of them - 70 percent - have their phones paid for by parents, which means…
CNN won its second night of coverage of the Democratic National Convention Tuesday. The network averaged 3.41 million viewers in the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. time slot, despite the fact that Fox drew nearly even for the night.
Fox…
Generation Y is the most self-indulgent, Generation X is the most innovative, and Boomers are the most productive, while the “Silent Generation” and the “Greatest Generation” are the most admired, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive, writes MarketingCharts.
Conducted for…
To encourage shoppers to buy more back-to-school items, retailers often implement “loss leader” strategies: that is, selling items at a loss or even giving them away in hopes that the reductions will attract shoppers who will then buy other, more…
