USPS Reports Consistent Performance Across All Mail Categories

Bloomberg Media launched Bloomberg Green, a new quarterly print magazine focused on climate change solutions. The latest offshoot of the “Bloomberg Green” brand, which first debuted in January, the print edition complements an existing web vertical and daily newsletter of the same name. Spread over more than 90 pages (of 100% recycled paper), the debut issue includes a cover story about how stimulus spending to help the economy emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic can be used to combat climate change, an opening column by Mike Bloomberg and a feature well that dives into Australia’s water crisis, plastic waste and an assessment of Disney’s impact on a Peruvian rainforest, in addition to data- and infographic-heavy regular departments that will look at both current climate-related news as well as emerging issues and solutions.

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), announced that Shutterfly, Inc. is moving its infrastructure to AWS—going all-in on the world’s leading cloud to power its Cloud Transformation initiative. Shutterfly chose AWS for its reliability, scale, and breadth of services that are already helping the company be more agile and flexible in meeting the needs of millions of consumers. Shutterfly is migrating all of its core production applications and its more than 75-petabyte image library to AWS, and is continually building new cloud-based applications. Shutterfly’s next-generation platform is also being developed on AWS, where it can leverage a wide range of AWS services, including machine learning and analytics, to deliver a more streamlined customer experience. “We evaluated all the major cloud providers, and chose AWS for its unmatched security, reliability, and breadth of services which allowed us to quickly migrate key assets, build cloud-based applications, and run our core services with ease,” said Satish Menon, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Shutterfly, Inc. “We are especially excited about using AWS’s machine learning services. For example, we are currently experimenting with Amazon Rekognition for image classifications and metadata enrichment and Amazon Cognito for identity services. The cost savings we expect to see by running on AWS will enable us to put more resources towards innovation and developing our next-generation platform.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Passed (in France) in 2020, the Anti-Waste Law For A Circular Economy (AGEC) dictates that receipts will be printed at the customer’s request, except in special circumstances. Since then, several “start-ups” have aligned themselves to electronic receipts. Taking advantage of the new law, which has been postponed several times, they have developed communication campaigns highlighting the environmental interest of not using paper receipts. Faced with this flood of greenwashing, Two Sides France submitted two case complaints that seemed fitting for the Advertising Ethics Jury. On January 31st 2024, the jury agreed with Two Sides on those cases. Aside from the fact that it’s hard to see how, if a consumer doesn’t need a paper ticket, giving them a digital ticket would be more virtuous, the communications from these companies frequently resort to clichés commonly employed to endorse digital “solutions.” Consequently, an excess of statements has emerged featuring generic ideas and sweeping statements praising the merits of avoiding paper, while omitting the environmental consequences of digital alternatives, claiming forest conservation, and asserting the positive aspects of an eco-friendly digital receipt allegedly in compliance with the above mentioned AGEC law.