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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Over 40 authors including Alan Gibbons, Cathy Cassidy and Michael Rosen have backed a protest against the current UK school system following the "deeply disturbing" findings of a poll which suggested more than half of teachers are thinking of quitting. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three years ago, the Department of Justice brought Apple, and major publishers, to book for trying to maintain the prices at which ebooks could be sold. As part of its punishment, the firm had to suffer the presence of a court-approved monitor, Mi... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Financial results released by three major trade publishers within the last 10 days reflect the challenges publishers are facing in a market that is seeing little, if any, top-line growth. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Magazine publishers get a win in court, but uncertainty over timing remains. The post USPS Exigent Rate Hike Nullified…Sort Of appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The argument that publishing company tax information in the public domain will be "misleading" - and therefore the plan should be dumped altogether - does not stack up. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Internet technologies have penetrated into all areas of our life and changed it dramatically. With their help, people are able to implement most of their activities from reading favorite books and newspapers, communicating with each other, playing online games to booking tickets and buying... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“Uncertainty is the new normal.” The post What the Latest USPS Rate Hike Means for Magazines appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new policy paper from the Cambridge Assessment Group has warned that the neglect of textbooks in our education system and publishing is one of the reasons that England has been overtaken by other countries. However the paper, written by Tim Oates, the body's group director of research and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faced with a difficult comparison to last year's third quarter, sales at Simon & Schuster fell 11% in the third period ended September 30, 2014, compared to the same period last year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The decision to develop a brand new content management system (CMS) wasn't hard for SAY Media chief technology officer Dave Lerman and his team. Unhappy that existing platforms limited design and ad options, the online publisher decided to delve into a four-year project, dropping upward of $50... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a message circulated to members, and shared with the public, the Authors Guild today confirmed that it hosted a meeting on August 1 between a group of authors and the Department of Justice, in an effort draw antitrust scrutiny of Amazon's practices. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lineup Systems’ web based advertising sales and management system AdPoint was recently launched at leading news publisher News UK. The implementation is part of News UK’s Workspace project, a wholly integrated, multi-channel appr ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cambridge University Press has reported a sales increase of 5% at constant currency rates in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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America's leading news agency, the Associated Press, has announced that most of its stories about the quarterly results for US companies will be produced in future through the use of automation technology.Calling the move "a leap forward," AP's managing director, Lou Ferrara, explains: "For many... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The International Christian Retail Show met June 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga., and the CBA is reporting that total attendance at the event was flat. Although many exhibitors had downsized their presence on the floor, others cited good traffic and the importance of the show for conducting their... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry sales were just about flat in 2013, falling by less than 1%, to $27.01 billion, from $27.12 billion in 2012. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Revenue at Books-A-Million inched up 0.2% in the first quarter ended May 3, 2014, to $103.8 million, compared to the year earlier period. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PubMatch, the book publishing and international rights database founded by Publishers Weekly and Combined Book Exhibit, is introducing a new upgrade at this year’s London Book Fair--Rights@PubMatch. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The collection will debut with 40,000 titles, powered by Findaway World, including offerings from every major publisher. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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