PRC Hosts Technical Conference to Consider UPS Petition on Proposed Changes to USPS Costing Models

Before the era of online shopping, the department store Sears published its first holiday catalog in 1934. It started a tradition of kids circling pictures of toys they wanted from Santa and had adults bookmarking jewelry, appliances and more gift ideas. The nostalgic trend is being kept alive after Amazon began sending out its own toy catalogue in 2018 and is bringing it back this year. NBC’s Harry Smith reports in this week’s Sunday Spotlight. more at: https://www.today.com/video/holiday-store-catalogs-are-returning-reviving-a-classic-tradition-127345733612

Looking more closely at Meredith's fiscal 2018 first quarter compared to the prior-year period: •Local Media Group revenues were $154 million, operating profit was $41 million and EBITDA was $49 million, all record highs for a non-political first quarter. Non-political advertising revenues increased 4 percent to $88 million, led by growth in the Atlanta, Phoenix and St. Louis markets. Digital advertising revenues grew 14 percent. Other revenues increased 24 percent, primarily due to growth in retransmission-related revenues. •National Media Group revenues were $239 million. Operating profit grew 17 percent to $28 million. Excluding the special item in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, operating profit grew 4 percent to $25 million, driven primarily by lower operating expenses in Meredith's magazine business. Circulation revenues grew slightly compared to the prior-year period. •Total Company digital advertising revenues were a fiscal first quarter record. Traffic across Meredith's digital properties increased to 83 million average monthly unique visitors. National Media Group digital advertising revenues accounted for 30 percent of National Media Group advertising revenues. Click Read More below for additional information.

I'm excited to report the Senate passed the Postal Service Reform Act tonight, with a strong bipartisan vote of 79-19. The legislation marks the most significant overhaul to the USPS' operations since the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), signed in 2006. The Postal Service Reform Act now heads to the desk of President Biden, who has previously indicated he will sign it. On behalf of ACMA, I would like to thank our members and others for your continuous advocacy and engagement efforts both in the House and Senate. At this critical juncture in Washington, the legislation would not have passed but for engagement from the industry and stakeholders. We worked diligently with other industry groups to engage you and others in the mailing community and you stepped up. Here are some highlights of the bill: • ends the requirement (from PAEA) that the Postal Service prefund retiree health care expenses and requires postal retirees to enroll in Medicare; • retains six-day delivery for mail and packages; and • requires the Postal Service to develop a service performance dashboard