*Operating revenue increase of $191 million to $18.8 billion, extending the growth trend to four consecutive quarters *Transportation expense reductions of $236 million reflect continued progress under the Delivering for America plan *Shipping and Package growth continues to benefit from USPS Ground Advantage. The U.S. Postal Service today announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 (Apr. 1, 2024 - Jun. 30, 2024). The net loss for the quarter under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) totaled $2.5 billion, compared to a net loss of $1.7 billion for the same quarter last year.

Despite objections by the ad industry and business groups, California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Wednesday he will begin enforcing the state's new privacy law. “Today we begin enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act,” Becerra stated. “We encourage every Californian to know their rights to internet privacy and every business to know its responsibilities.” He added: “The website of every business covered by the law must now post a link on its homepage that says ‘Do Not Sell My Personal Information.'”

Bookstore sales rallied slightly in December from deep monthly slumps for most of 2020, but were still down 15.2% in the last month of the year compared to December 2019. For all of 2020, bookstore sales fell 28.3% from 2019, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. December bookstore sales were $879 million, down from $1.04 billion in December 2019. The 15.2% December drop was the smallest decline since February, when sales slipped 0.7% before the global pandemic struck. In March, sales fell 33.2% as retail lockdowns kicked in, then plunged 74.2% in April as stay at home orders fully took hold. May sales were slightly better, falling 60% from May 2019.