A book chronicling the 250-year history of the U.S. postal system is now available for purchase. “Delivering for America: How the United States Postal Service Built a Nation” was written by James H. Bruns, a former director of the National Postal Museum. The book explores the integral role of USPS in American history, from its role in early colonial days to becoming a critical communication lifeline for our service members serving abroad, to future-facing innovations such as automated sorting machines and electric vehicles. The Postal Service was founded on July 26, 1775. As the nation grew bigger, the mail made it smaller, offering a way for people from Colonial-era cities in the Northeast to reach the limits of a frontier that was racing westward from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, to the Golden Gate of California, up to the gold fields of Alaska, and across to the tropical shores of Hawaii. As the nation moved — from colony to country, from horses to rail, from air to space — the Postal Service has found ways to use every cutting-edge advance to deliver to Americans the words that help them understand themselves, each other, and their place in the world.

Over the last several years, we’ve seen catalogs come and go. And we’ve seen many retailers jump into the game, spend a LOT of money (we’re talking tens of millions of dollars) and then abandon the model after a couple of seasons. This literally breaks my heart and makes me want to scream! Why does this happen? Here is my very quick opinion. These brands have a combination of the following: 1. A flawed merchandise concept that is not unique, delivered with out-of-date benefits or sent to an audience the brand knows nothing about. 2. Bad math that doesn’t take into account mail efficiencies, an understanding of their own database, mailing to bad names at the wrong time or how the catalog model fits into a cross-channel world. 3. A lack of understanding of how to create a landscape of words and imagery that truly sell off the page and drive activity to either a website or store. learn more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/5-reasons-catalogs-work/

Through large investments in new technology and new logistics planning and execution, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) significantly improved its delivery performance during this past holiday season. Mail items and packages were delivered within 2.5 days on average (16 billion in volume), compared to 2.8 days during the same period last year (Nov. 15 – Jan. 9). On-time delivery scores were higher virtually across the board, with the best scores being in its last mile Destination Delivery Units (DDU). “Customers entrusted us with billions of letters, cards, and packages, and we delivered—faster than last year and with strong consistency across the network,” said Deputy Postmaster General, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer Doug Tulino.