Ogden Newspapers To Acquire Indiana’s KPC Media (mediapost.com)

Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy today provided details of the next phase of organizational changes he first announced in August 2020, designed to improve efficiency, drive success and better serve Postal Service customers. The next phase of these organizational changes includes the following: *District Consolidation Plan: The existing 67 Postal Service Districts will be consolidated to 50 Districts. New District territories will closely align to state boundaries. *Centralization of Marketing functions: The Marketing functions previously performed at the Area and District levels will be centralized into the Chief Customer and Marketing organization, including Consumer and Industry Affairs and the Bulk Mail Entry Units (BMEUs). *Realignment of Logistics and Processing Operations: To ensure alignment with Retail and Delivery Operations, and Logistics and Processing Operations, a thirteenth division will be created. Processing operations is organized into 2 regions, each geographically aligned with two retail and delivery areas; and divided into 6 or 7 divisions for a total of 13 divisions.

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of price changes to take effect Jan. 21, 2018. The new prices, if approved, include a one cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 49 cents to 50 cents. Postcard stamps and metered letters would also have a one cent increase. Today’s filing does not include any price change for single-piece letters being mailed to international destinations or for additional ounces for letters. The proposed prices would raise Mailing Services product prices approximately 1.9 percent, and most Shipping Services products will average a 3.9 percent price increase. While Mailing Services price increases are limited based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Shipping Services prices are adjusted strategically, according to market conditions and the need to maintain affordable services for customers. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Unit sales of print books rose 7.9% in the week ended Oct. 10, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, with three new titles topping the bestseller list. The two biggest bestsellers were in adult nonfiction, helping to lift unit sales up 7% over the week ended Oct. 12, 2019. Ina Gartner’s Modern Comfort Food sold nearly 129,000 copies in its first week, while Humans by Brandon Stanton followed, selling almost 103,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales rose 11.9%, led by The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan, which sold close to 49,000 copies in its first week. The biggest increase came in the smallest category, YA nonfiction, where unit sales jumped 63.9% in the week.