USPS Ends Third Quarter FY23 with an Average of 2.5 Days to Deliver

•Net sales increased 15% for the quarter and 5% for the year, including the additional week •Comparable sales increased 9% for the quarter and 3% for the year, with Hollister up 11% and Abercrombie up 5% for the quarter •Operating income more than doubled to $140.3 million for the quarter and increased to $72.1 million for the year. Click Read More below for additional information.

Dear Industry Executive: We have heard from some companies about their willingness to underwrite our strong opposition to the PRC’s granting of additional rate authority to the US Postal Service. We still need additional funding. Otherwise, we’re in for draconian rate hikes throughout the next decade that could push all of us out of the mail. What Your Pledge Will Help Us Do: 1. A branded digital campaign to activate and engage catalog merchants, industry employees, suppliers, and the millions of catalog shoppers who rely on and benefit from our industry. We will launch a simple constituent outreach tool for widespread use to motivate elected officials with template-driven email and text tools. The tool will also provide all details, op-eds and other materials to both whip up support and be an online destination that will drive pick-ups, retweets and interest beyond catalog-only interests. 2. Aided by the digital campaign, an aggressive effort to convince lawmakers in Washington to pass sensible postal reform legislation that addresses the massive congressionally-imposed cost overhangs that plague the postal system and are the causal factor in the PRC’s ruling. 3. File a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals challenging the Postal Regulatory Commission’s (PRC) overreach that clearly exceeds its authority to make such sweeping and fundamental changes to the rate-setting system.

German media giant Bertelsmann said Wednesday that its Penguin Random House division is buying rival Simon & Schuster in a megadeal that would reshape the U.S. publishing industry. Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, will buy the New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary Clinton and John Irving, from TV and film company ViacomCBS for $2.17 billion in cash. “Simon & Schuster strengthens Bertelsmann’s footprint globally, and (particularly) in the U.S., its second-largest market,” the Guetersloh, Germany-based company said in a statement. The purchase of Simon & Schuster would reduce the so-called Big Five of American publishing — which also includes HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan — to four.