USPS Connect™ eCommerce to Enhance Solutions for Online Marketplaces and Shipping Platforms

Adobe announced the latest online inflation data for the month of November 2021. Online prices hit a record highat a 3.5%year-over-year (YoY) increase while prices are down 2% month-over-month (MoM) due to holiday discounts. This is the highest YoY increase since Adobe first began tracking the digital economy in 2014, and it marks the 18th consecutive month of YoY online inflation. Apparel was a standout category with prices up 17.3% YoY and down just 0.4% MoM, reaching a record high of inflation. One dollar out of every four dollars* is now spent online in the U.S., making the digital economy a significant component of the overall economy. The Adobe Digital Price Index (DPI) provides the most comprehensive view into how much consumers are paying for goods online. The DPI covers more than 100 million products in the U.S. and is modeled after the Consumer Price Index issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"As our CFO Joe Corbett will explain later in our financial presentation, the Postal Service finished the fiscal year 2023 with a $6.5 billion dollar net loss. When looking back to our DFA projections published in March of 2021, we forecasted that we would break even this year. Our efforts to grow revenue and reduce labor and transportation costs were simply not enough to overcome our costs to stabilize our organization, the historical inflationary environment we encountered, and our inability to obtain the CSRS reform we sought, none of which were accounted for in our forecasts. While we are not happy with this result, we cannot lose sight of the downward trajectory the Postal Service faced in the fall of 2020 after years of neglect and willful indifference by its stakeholders and custodians prior, and of the substantial progress we have made in correcting our condition and our trajectory."

The Hearst Foundations announced that they have surpassed $1.5 billion in grants to over 6,400 organizations since their founding in 1946 by William Randolph Hearst. The announcement was made by Presidents of the Hearst Foundations, William R. Hearst III and Virginia Randt. Operating independently from Hearst, the Foundations are national philanthropic resources for organizations working in the fields of culture, education, health and social service. Grantmaking also includes administering two unique annual programs: the United States Senate Youth Program for high school juniors and seniors as a public service immersion in Washington D.C. and the Journalism Awards Program for undergraduates studying journalism at accredited schools of journalism.