The United States Postal Service's flats sequencing system (FSS)—a $1.3 billion mail-sorting system for magazines and catalogues—was billed as a revolutionary advancement when it was first unveiled a decade ago, to the point that its rollout even included a slickly produced, Hollywood-style movie trailer. "Consistent, reliable, and on-time delivery," "affordable mail service," "intelligence through technology"—what's not to love? Ten years and 100 installations later, FSS is "still falling short of expectations," according to a new report from the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which raised eyebrows upon its public release earlier this month for its uncharacteristically frank assessment of the postal service's operations. "More troubling," the OIG writes, "is that it's unclear whether processing flats on FSS machines is more cost-efficient than using AFSM [the automated flats sorting machine, FSS's precursor]." While the OIG regularly makes recommendations to the postal service based on its assessments, this felt different, says Rita Cohen, senior VP of legislative and regulatory policy at the MPA (the Association of Magazine Media). “They said they don’t even understand the operational and financial impact of the system," Cohen tells Folio:. "They don’t know that this entire system is less expensive than what they were doing before, which included manual processing." The USPS, in its own strongly worded statement, disputed the OIG's audit, which it called... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The United States Postal Service's flats sequencing system (FSS)—a $1.3 billion mail-sorting system for magazines and catalogues—was billed as a revolutionary advancement when it was first unveiled a decade ago, to the point that its rollout even included a slickly produced, Hollywood-style... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh did not fully disclose the $500,000 business relationship she started in 2011 with the University of Maryland Medical System during the time she was a state senator, a period during which she sat on the hospital network’s board of directors and oversaw issues... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In its look at Q1 2024, the American publishers' StatShot tracking analysis sees children's and YA books under pressure in March. The post AAP StatShot: US Book Industry Flat in First Quarter appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-05-16 18:51:38 UTC ]
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Trade publishing sales saw declines in the first quarter, precipitated by drops in the adult nonfiction and children's/YA categories, although audio continues to be a bright spot. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the last few days, heightened solar activity (and those heady geomagnetic storms) led to outages in the GPS navigation systems that guide some modern tractors from John Deere and other brands. 404 Media reported farmers have been told to pause using high-tech tractors that use GPS systems... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-05-13 11:15:58 UTC ]
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Before releasing new memoir "Down With the System" on May 14, Tankian spoke about why he's optimistic about Armenia, and whether we might see another album from System of a Down. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-09 21:29:13 UTC ]
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‘If all things were equal, what were we even doing here? Why weren’t we lying on our living-room floors, watching the dance of the dust, today and every day?’ Memoir by Noreen Masud. The post A Flat Place appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2024-03-18 17:23:09 UTC ]
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Gains in both the children's/young adult books and religion categories were enough to offset declines in the other major segments in November at the 1,225 publishers that report sales to the AAP. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Imperium Press, whose blog fosters a worldview it calls ‘folkishness’, has become an intellectual resource for the far right, but its works are widely available through mainstream sourcesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAt least one Australian-based online... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 14:00:30 UTC ]
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Computer languages are ultimately rendered in ones and zeros, even AI programs. Though this technology is new, the concept it’s hinged on is not. Isaac Asimov’s iconic science fiction collection I, Robot, tells the story of androids created at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Inc. The androids... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-10-17 06:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech company’s latest proposal about generative AI turns copyright law on its head, and could especially hurt smaller content creators, say expertsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastPublishers should... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-08 23:00:40 UTC ]
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In the US, sales of books for adults and education were up in May, as children's books slid again, per AAP's StatShot. The post AAP StatShot Shows the US Book Market Flat in May appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-07-24 14:10:38 UTC ]
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A 14.1% decline in May in the children's/YA segment was offset by gains in sales of adult books and college course materials, leading to total sales in the month holding even with 2022. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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It wasn’t just luck that steered the Guardian columnist to Oxford and into a media career ... She reflects on the subtle mechanics of class (and an early encounter with a naked future PM)Children know. They breathe it in early, for there’s no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 12:00:56 UTC ]
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A Nielsen report finds that sales of print books in 10 countries totaled 614 million copies last year, level with 2021 sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's cost-cutting efforts led to higher earnings in the first quarter, but its online revenue was flat compared to the first quarter of 2022. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Higher costs and lower sales led to disappointing results at three of the four largest trade publishers last year, reviving an old publishing mantra. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books dipped 0.1% in the week ended Jan. 7, 2023, from the comparable week in 2022, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books last week were even with the week ended January 8, 2022 with higher fiction sales offset by lower sales of nonfiction books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S. Postal Service announced new subjects for 2023 stamps: children's book author Tomie dePaola and civil rights activist John Lewis. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-14 18:11:26 UTC ]
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