Religion Print Sales Up 12% in First Half of 2024 (publishersweekly.com)

Sears Holdings Corp.'s second-quarter earnings beat the Street as it benefitted from cost-saving initiatives. But it continued to struggle with weak traffic and declining sales, and added 28 more locations to its long list of store closings. Sears reported that its second-quarter loss narrowed to $251 million, or $2.34 per share, in the quarter ended July 29, helped by cost savings resulting from the streamlining of operations and store closings. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.16 per share. Analysts had expected a loss of $2.48 per share. Revenue fell 23% to a better-than-expected $4.37 billion in the period. Same-store sales were down 11.5%, worse than the expected 7.1% decline. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Informed Delivery users can now view images of their household’s incoming mail and manage their package deliveries, the Postal Service announced today. More than seven million Informed Delivery users who opt-in to receive email notifications can now view their mail in their daily digest emails and also see tracking information about the expected delivery of their packages. Also, users are able to track package deliveries, leave delivery instructions and schedule redelivery from the online Informed Delivery dashboard. Click Read More below for additional information.

Since the campaign began in 2010, globally, Two Sides has successfully challenged over 970 organisations that subject their customers to repeated greenwashing messages which are damaging to the paper, print and mailing industry. With huge pressures on the economy; banks, telecom providers, utility companies and even governmental organisations are increasingly focused on switching their customers from paper to digital services to cut costs. All too often their customer communications attempt to mask these cost-saving efforts, justifying the switch with unfounded environmental marketing appeals such as “Go Green – Go Paperless” and “Choose e-billing and help save a tree.” “Not only are these greenwash claims in breach of established environmental marketing rules, but they are hugely damaging to an industry which has a solid and continually improving environmental record,” says Two Sides Europe Managing Director Jonathan Tame. “Far from ‘saving trees,’ a healthy market for forest products such as paper encourages the long-term growth of forests through sustainable forest management. Many of the organisations we engage are surprised to learn that European forests have actually been growing by 1,500 football pitches every day.”