Book Sales Post Another Big Weekly Gain (publishersweekly.com)

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has decided to quit it’s micro-blogging site, alongside Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with immediate effect. The company closed down its Twitter and Facebook accounts, which had 44,000 and 100,000 followers, respectively, as well as its Instagram feed, for all of its 900 pubs and head office. It added that recent concerns regarding the misuse of personal data, following the Facebook scandal, and the addictive nature of social media had influenced its decision. Tim Martin, Chairman of the pub chain told the BBC he believes that this action will not affect the business. In fact, after much consultation, more than 90% of the pub managers felt that using social media was not helping the business and the idea of social media as an essential tool to advertising was simply untrue. Click Read More below for additional information.

UPS announced a major expansion to its ocean Less-Than-Container Load (LCL) service with the addition of direct sailings in 130 lanes. The origin and destination countries cover most of the globe, including ports in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, U.S. the Carribean and the Middle East. Customers who do not have enough cargo to fill an entire ocean freight container can still access cost-effective ocean transportation using UPS’s extensive network of capabilities and freight facilities. Customers benefit from an economical way to transport goods versus other modes of transportation while gaining access to a broad portfolio of value-added and alternative services. These services include cargo insurance and financing solutions from UPS Capital, customs brokerage services, supplier management, sea-air service, UPS Preferred ™ LCL, and China-Europe Rail service. Click Read More below for additional information.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $11.26 billion for the month of November, the four weeks ended November 26, 2017, an increase of 13.2 percent from $9.95 billion during the similar period last year. For the twelve-week first quarter of fiscal year 2018 ended November 26, 2017, the Company reported net sales of $31.13 billion, an increase of 13.3 percent from $27.47 billion reported in the twelve-week first quarter of fiscal 2017. While this year’s twelve-week first quarter included one less sales day than the first quarter last year (due to the shift of the Thanksgiving closure this year), pre-Thanksgiving and Black Friday/holiday weekend sales fell into the first quarter this year compared to the second quarter last year. Combined, these factors produced an estimated net benefit of approximately 1.5% in the U.S., and slightly less worldwide.