Q2 Publishing Sales Rose 27.6% at IDW (publishersweekly.com)

The American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA), a trade group whose members rely heavily on a healthy national postal service, applauds President Trump’s recent formation of a task force to craft recommendations to reform the US Postal Service and return it to a durable business model. Meaningful change will require Congress to pass postal reform legislation. History has shown that reform initiatives are always difficult to get enacted into law and are virtually impossible without broad support from the key stakeholder groups (postal customers, postal management and postal labor groups). Any meaningful recommendations need the support from as many of these stakeholders are possible. The ACMA hopes the Task Force work will include hearing all of these perspectives and needs. Click Read More below for additional information.

The study, released by the influential marketing analytics specialists, states that Advertisers should re-evaluate the use of traditional media such as radio, newspapers and magazines based on new research by the independent marketing and media consultancy. In the first report of its kind, Re-evaluating Media reveals radio, newspapers and magazines perform significantly better than they are perceived to for brand building campaigns. TV and radio are by far the strongest advertising media for brand-building followed by newspapers, magazines and out-of-home. Yet it discovered that industry decision-makers believe that online video and social media are the second and third most effective media after TV. Click Read More below for additional information.

REI Co-op is putting a new distribution center that will operate as a zero-waste facility. The specialty outdoor retailer is building a 400,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in Lebanon, Tenn., to support its continued growth on the East Coast and in the Midwest and South. Expected to open in fall 2023, the building and its operations will proactively address the employee experience, community engagement and environmental impact, according to REI. Al. Neyer is the retailer’s architect and general contractor partner. Situated on 41 acres in Wilson County, the facility will be one mile from I-40 and three miles from downtown Lebanon. The location will considerably reduce shipping times to fulfill customers' online purchases and be able to support more than 70 REI stores. Nearly 5.6 million REI members live in the service area of the new distribution center.