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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.
By the end of 2008, revenue growth in the radio industry is expected to have fallen 7%, the second year of negative growth for the medium, according to estimates in a report from from BIA Advisory Services, writes MarketingCharts.
BIA estimates that…
Next in the long list of companies cutting jobs comes Tribune Co., which is slicing positions at The Chicago Tribune.
About 12 employees at the Trib were given the rest of the week to clean out their desks; more cuts…
Target is one of the first brands to create an iPhone application. The Target “gift globe” allows iPhone users to shake their phones to launch a snow-fall effect.
When the snow clears, a gift idea from Target is revealed. Users…
NBCU is launching its latest round of layoffs, with up to 500 jobs, or 3% of its work force, expected to be cut.
NBC News bureaus in Dallas and Los Angeles will be affected, writes TV Newser. L.A. correspondent John Larson,…
A Specific Media study finds the presence of display advertising significantly affects click-through and search style across both paid and organic searches.
In the “travel and tourism” category, display advertising engendered a 274% lift on both paid and organic search.…
Today’s Wall Street Journal is running a cover wrap for Dell. The ad covers a third of the front page and all of the back.
Though the New York Post and the Daily News commonly use cover wraps, the move…
