Gannett’s ‘This Week’ Papers Are Closing In Print And Online (mediapost,.com)

The U.S. Postal Service today launched an online service performance dashboard, consistent with one of the operational reforms included in the Postal Service Reform Act. After prompting users to enter only a ZIP Code, the website provides customers with a variety of useful information, including the percentage of on-time delivery for specific mail and shipping products in each USPS district. This data, updated weekly, is based on scans collected when mail enters the network, during processing and at the point of delivery. The dashboard is available at https://about.usps.com/what/performance/service-performance/external-service-measurement.htm.

Total revenues across all categories for June 2023 were down 1.3% as compared to June 2022, coming in at $890.0 million. Year-to-date revenues were up 1.2%, at $5.6 billion for the first half of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were down 0.9% in June, coming in at $633.5 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of June, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 5.8%, coming in at $191.2 million; Paperbacks were down 3.0%, with $246.0 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 39.1% to $13.0 million; and Special Bindings were up 2.5%, with $11.1 million in revenue.

Microsoft said on Friday it will permanently close all of its 83 store locations and will instead focus on its e-commerce business, where customers can visit for support, sales, training and more. The decision comes after Microsoft temporarily closed stores in March due to the spread of the coronavirus. Microsoft said the thousands of workers from these stores have already transitioned to new roles where they're providing sales, training, and support to customers from Microsoft corporate facilities or remotely. Total Retail's Take: Microsoft opened its first brick-and-mortar store in 2009, where people could go to try the company's software and hardware. This decision was made after Apple, its main competitor, was enjoying great success and popularity with its modern, clean retail outlets. Over the past decade, Microsoft expanded its retail presence in an effort to create a shopping experience similar to Apple’s.