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

The Postal Service had adjusted loss of $459 million for the quarter, compared to an adjusted loss of $41 million for the same quarter last year. Adjusted loss excludes the impact of the PSRA, retiree health benefits expense, non-cash workers' compensation adjustments for the impacts of actuarial revaluation and discount rate changes, which are outside of management's control, and amortization expenses for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) unfunded liabilities. On a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, the Postal Service had net income of $59.7 billion for the quarter, compared to net loss of $3.0 billion for the same quarter last year, due almost exclusively to the non-cash impact of the PSRA. Marketing Mail revenue increased $324 million, or 9.4 percent, compared to the same quarter last year, on volume growth of 545 million pieces, or 3.5 percent. First-Class Mail revenue was essentially flat, compared to the same quarter last year, despite a volume decline of 620 million pieces, or 5.1 percent. Shipping and Packages revenue decreased $85 million, or 1.1 percent, compared to the same quarter last year, on a volume decline of 92 million pieces, or 5.0 percent, compared to the same quarter last year.

The U.S. Postal Service today released a First-Year Progress Report on Delivering for America (DFA), its 10-year plan to return the organization to financial sustainability and achieve service excellence while maintaining universal six-day mail delivery and expanding seven-day package delivery. “We have made significant progress in the first year of our Delivering for America plan, but our work is far from over,” said Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy. “Our employees are playing an integral role in the advancement of the plan. As we continue to implement components of the plan, we expect to significantly improve on-time delivery performance, operational capacity, precision and efficiency, and to do so in a financially sustainable manner over the coming decade. Delivering for America is helping to drive a new sense of purpose and focus across all levels in the organization.” Key milestones in the first year of DFA include: Reversing decades of losses; Improvements in on-time national service performance; Streamlined organizational functions; Conversion of nearly 63,000 pre-career employees into career positions; New standards to provide service reliability for customers and more

The U.S. advertising market grew 3.8% in the second quarter of this year -- largely due to an 11% gain in digital media. Standard Media Index says this followed a 2.8% increase in the first quarter. National TV brought down the overall results. In the second quarter, national TV advertising revenue was virtually flat -- down 0.8%. This followed a weak 0.8% gain in the first quarter. These current results came amid higher-than-expected upfront advertising revenue commitments for next year’s TV season, starting in September. Upfront revenue growth is estimated at 4% to 6%. Click Read More below for more of the story.