Post Offices ‘Abuzz’ Over Protect Pollinators Forever Stamps

The New York Times and the New York Times Guild have reached a contract agreement that would give union members an immediate 12.5% salary raise. The deal follows two years of often contentious negotiations and events such as a 24-hour strike. “After more than two years of negotiations, we can finally say it: @NYTimesGuild and @nytimes have reached a tentative agreement on a groundbreaking new collective bargaining agreement,” the union tweeted Tuesday. The five-year deal must still be ratified by the union membership. A vote is expected in the coming week, the Times reports.

Despite a drop in sales in 2017 and store closings, the mood was mostly upbeat at the 2018 Diamond Retailer summit, held April 6-8 in conjunction with the C2E2 pop culture convention in Chicago. Many retailers indicated to PW that they are beginning to see a slight upturn in sales in recent months. But this comes after a year in which sales were down in every category. According to figures released by Diamond Comics Distributors—which distributes comics and graphic novels to a network of about 2,000 specialty comics shops around the country—periodical comics sales were down 10% in 2017 compared to 2016, graphic novels declined 9% and the number of direct market stores served by Diamond slipped about 1%. Click Read More below for additional information.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. provided a preliminary update on its expected third quarter performance, following actions taken during the quarter to accelerate the liquidation of inventory. The Company's fiscal third quarter ends Oct. 28. "Based on the encouraging results from a third quarter reset in women's apparel, which expanded our casual and contemporary offering, we made the strategic decision to accelerate a wider transformation of the entire women's department by clearing slow-moving inventory primarily in women's and other apparel categories. Following this comprehensive reset, we saw an improvement in performance, particularly in our women's division, confirming these actions were necessary to drive growth in our women's apparel business," said Marvin R. Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer for JCPenney. For the third quarter, the Company expects that comparable store sales will increase in the range of 0.6 % to 0.8 % and cost of goods sold, which excludes depreciation and amortization, will increase 300 to 320 basis points compared to the same period last year, impacted primarily by a greater sales penetration in major appliances and e-commerce and the decision to accelerate the liquidation of inventory. The Company expects third quarter adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of ($0.45) to ($0.40)1. Click Read More below for additional information.