Postal Regulatory Commission Releases Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Justification

Barnes & Noble is thrilled to announce their selections for The Best Books of the Year (So Far). The list is a compilation of categories hand-selected by the B&N bookselling team, each featuring several titles that represent the crème de la crème of books published since January of 2024. From household names to debut authors, picture books to memoirs, the Best Books of 2024 (So Far) captures the brilliance of publishing in the first half of this memorable year. These 12 unique collections encompass a wide range of genres, highlighting books that will surprise and delight a broad readership, including: *Horror Rewind: 5 VHS Thrills and Chills; *They Write, We Score: 10 Sports Romances We Cheer For; *Micro to Macro: 7 Science and Nature Titles to Explore and more.; *The Cutting Edge: 8 Spredges We're Obsessed With.

Fourth-quarter service performance for July 1 through July 16 included: *First-Class Mail: Delivered 89.3 percent of First-Class Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of nearly 2 percentage points from the third quarter. *Marketing Mail: Delivered 92.0 percent of Marketing Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 1 percentage point from the third quarter. *Periodicals: Delivered 83.0 percent of Periodicals on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of nearly 4 percentage points from the third quarter. The Postal Service’s continued improvement despite seasonal effects from the Independence Day federal holiday anticipated during for the period of July 10 to July 16.

Consumer expectations regarding personalized content and experiences have significantly increased in recent years -- as have their expectations for immediacy and choice. Consumers expect personalized experiences, and marketers seek meaningful customer interactions. At the same time, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, trust and data privacy are becoming a major consideration. Addressing this new aspect of competition, Bertelsmann is leveraging data and AI to deliver personalized, brand-safe content as well as tailored and efficient learning experiences, ultimately lowering costs to consumers and business partners alike. This follows a strategic mandate by Bertelsmann’s Executive Board to magnify efforts in technology and data-driven business models, setting a clear agenda as Tech & Data Alliance to drive partnerships, build platforms and connect people and skills throughout the group. Microsoft, with its deep expertise in cloud-based computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and platform development, will support Bertelsmann to power this new generation of data-driven models, bringing even better value, experiences, and products to Bertelsmann’s customers, both in business-to-business as well as consumer-facing offerings.