February Bookstore Sales Dropped 22.3% (publishersweekly.com)

•Total revenue was $122.7 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion, or 4.4%. Excluding currency2, total revenue was $120.7 billion, an increase of $3.2 billion, or 2.7%. •Walmart U.S. comp sales1,2 increased 2.1%, and comp traffic increased 0.8%. •Sam's Club comp sales1,2 increased 3.8% led by comp traffic growth of 5.6%. Tobacco sales negatively impacted comp sales by approximately 140 basis points •The company generated $5.2 billion in operating cash flow. Click Read More below for additional information.

Dear Industry Member: Following aggressive lobbying efforts from the ACMA, its partner organizations the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service and Keep Us Posted, and others with mailing interests, today Rep. Gerold Connolly (D-VA, at right) introduced the Ensuring Accurate Postal Rates Act. If passed into law, the bill will require the Postal Regulatory Commission to conduct a follow-up review of the postal rate-making process. Below is a brief timeline: • In 2020, the PRC completed its mandated 10-year review of the postal rate-making process. The review modified the rate-making process, opening the door for the USPS to increase rates beyond the CPI cap and doubling the number of rate hikes in each of the past two years. • Although completed that November, the review quickly became outdated: A section of the April 2022 USPS Fairness Act (section 102 of Public Law 117-108) canceled unpaid USPS obligations, thereby removing an essential basis for the PRC ruling. • The PRC ruling also did not adquately account for the windfall of business the USPS achieved from the Covid boom in package shipping and other improvements to its financial condition from the pandemic. • Less than a month after the PRC ruling, the CARES Act authorized up to $10 billion in funding for the U.S. Postal Service from the U.S. Treasury. We appreciate Rep. Connolly's sensitivity to the impact of extra-large rate increases on our members. The ACMA will will continue to advocate to build support for this much needed legislation, including how you can work with your own legislators to ensure this bill is passed.

With all major categories posting huge gains, unit sales of print books jumped 22.7% for the week ended Jan. 16, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest gains came in the YA categories, with fiction up 47.6% and nonfiction rising 46.9%. The release of Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, which sold nearly 18,000 copies, helped to lift YA fiction. In YA nonfiction, Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi was the top title, selling more than 4,100 copies. Juvenile fiction sales rose 30.7% over the week ended Jan. 18, 2020, led by Little Blue Truck’s Valentine by Alice Schertle, which sold just over 28,000 copies, and Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club, which sold nearly 22,000 copies. Juvenile nonfiction sales rose 28.8% over 2020. Two educational titles led the way: Crystal Radke’s My First Learn-to-Write Workbook sold more than 7,000 copies, and Big Preschool Workbook sold 6,400 copies. Adult fiction unit sales rose almost 30% over 2020.