US Postal Service Suggests New Prices for 2025

Penguin Random House’s attorneys responded today to the Department of Justice’s efforts to block its acquisition of Simon & Schuster, attacking the government’s main complaint, that the purchase would “likely result in substantial harm to authors of anticipated top-selling books and ultimately, consumers.” In filing its suit to block the deal November 2, the DOJ said that a combined PRH-S&S, along with HarperCollins, “would collectively control more than two-thirds of this market, leaving hundreds of authors with fewer alternatives and less leverage.” PRH attacks this charge on several levels and begins by calling the theory of a “top-selling” category “fiction,” noting that the government doesn’t even identify what size of an advance it is referring to. “The publishing industry does not divide the market for book rights into distinct categories based on the author’s compensation for the book,” PRH’s lawyers said.” “The royalty advance for a proposed book is driven mainly by the reader demand a particular editor anticipates for that particular book.”

Amazon is set to significantly expand its digital and on-demand printing capabilities after reupping an existing agreement with Kornit, the Israeli manufacturer of high-speed inkjet printing equipment. Over the next five years, Amazon committed to buying $250 million in existing Kornit products, such as digital printers and inks, and $150 million in "future products." The deal totals $400 million. The move is a big one for Amazon, which has been steadily and methodically building its digital printing capacity over the last several years. Most of that capacity has gone toward its Merch by Amazon service, a print on-demand platform that enables sellers to create and sell custom apparel and other merchandise decorated and fulfilled by Amazon. We've covered Merch by Amazon and two related services—Amazon Custom and Amazon Merch Collab—at length, particularly where they stand in relation to the promotional products industry.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $20.03 billion for the retail month of October, the four weeks ended November 3, 2024, an increase of 7.2 percent from $18.68 billion last year. Net sales for the first nine weeks were $44.65 billion, an increase of 8.0 percent from $41.33 billion last year.