Business and Marketing

Business Breaking News: Employees With Disabilities Can Boost Business Success

Randy Lewis was leading a division of about 10,000 Walgreens employees in 1988 when his son, who has autism, was born.

"I got to see him grow up and continuously surprise me," said Lewis, who retired two years ago as senior vice president at the company. "But I also thought of the stark reality that there was a chance he'd never have a job."

As his son went through school, Lewis realized he wasn't the only parent with that concern. He also realized he was in a position to do something about it. Lewis launched a program at Walgreens' distribution centers to more aggressively hire people with disabilities. The program grew to the point where 30 percent of the staff in some distribution centers had disabilities and then 50 percent, he said.

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"We'll take your returns," the Postal Service tells America in the denouement of its holiday advertising campaign.

Besides consolidating facilities (which it will do more of next week), ridding itself of onerous benefits, prepayments, and raising rates, the Postal Service's best bet for the future is increasing its profile in the growing package and shipping business. It's made plain its aspirations in that arena with a holiday ad campaign that kicked off with a spot claiming, “It's our season.” This week it culminates its effort with a play for the business of returning Christmas goodies that didn't quite work out.

“Already There,” which began airing nationwide this week, enlists a group of postal workers to explain why Big Blue (and not those guys in the orange and purple trucks or the ones in the brown uniforms) is the first and best option for returning those fruit cakes and ugly sweaters.

“We come by almost every day to deliver your mail,” a letter carrier begins the pitch, which is then picked up by several fellow postal workers. “So if you have any packages you want to return, just give them to us. I mean, we're going to be there anyway. Why don't you just leave it for us to pick up? Or you could always get in your car and pick it up yourself. Yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option. It's kind of a no-brainer.”

The spot concludes with copy saying, “We'll take your returns. Just print a label and schedule a pickup.”

One of the beauty spots of e-commerce for shipping companies is that one purchase could result in two or three deliveries. In mid-December, FedEx acquired GENCO, a 130-facility operation that handles more than 600 million returned packages each year.

Business Breaking News: Your First Commercial Lease: How to Prepare and What to Expect

Signing a commercial lease is one of the biggest steps in a business owner's entrepreneurial journey. Whether you need a retail space to serve as a storefront or you just want a permanent, professional location to conduct business, a real estate lease can make or break your company, so it's crucial to get it right the first time around.

"With a commercial property that will house your business assets and employees, there is a lot at stake," said Robert Bressman, a director of the real estate practice at law firm Goulston & Storrs. "Leases are long-term, with more variables and more complexity. A lease is a liability but can also be an asset."

If you've never negotiated a commercial lease, the process can seem intimidating and overwhelming. Bressman offered a few tips to help first-time lessees through this important business transaction.

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Business Breaking News: Google Drive for Android and iOS Improves Search and Sharing

Does your small business rely on Google Drive to stay productive? Now, it's even easier to store, access and share files on the go from your mobile device.

Google has updated the Google Drive app for Android and iOS, adding improved search, upload and file-sharing capabilities to make the most out of the cloud storage and collaboration platform.

Here's what the Google Drive Android and iOS update has to offer and how it can help your business. [Google Drive for Work: How It Can Help Your Business]

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Business Breaking News: Employees With Disabilities Can Boost Business Success

Randy Lewis was leading a division of about 10,000 Walgreens employees in 1988 when his son, who has autism, was born.

"I got to see him grow up and continuously surprise me," said Lewis, who retired two years ago as senior vice president at the company. "But I also thought of the stark reality that there was a chance he'd never have a job."

As his son went through school, Lewis realized he wasn't the only parent with that concern. He also realized he was in a position to do something about it. Lewis launched a program at Walgreens' distribution centers to more aggressively hire people with disabilities. The program grew to the point where 30 percent of the staff in some distribution centers had disabilities and then 50 percent, he said.

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Heads up. Apple and Google seem to have primed the wearable-tech market for tapping.

With the recent release of Android Wear, and the pending release of the Apple Watch, wearable technology will likely take center stage in the New Year.

As an extension of the oft discussed (and poorly named) Internet of Things movement, wearable technology could prove the first true indicator of the next wave in mobile technology—providing the idea jives with consumer interests. Given the tone of social conversations about wearables, marketers may want to seriously consider exploring marketing and advertising strategies on these emerging platforms.

@Concur There's been so much produced in wearable tech that I just love it all! I want all the magic wands/rings/wearables!

— Kait Moffatt (@KaitMoffatt) December 17, 2014

I think the iPhone 6 Plus on my desk may be the last phone I buy. In three years, they'll have wearables with three inch displays, right?

— Stefan Constantine (@WhatTheBit) December 17, 2014

For wearables to be successful, they need to get out of the hands of tech companies, and into the hands of fashion designers.

— Jake Pechtel (@JakePechtel) December 17, 2014

2015 will be the year of wearables, data analysis on mobile/sensor, native mobile app for journalism Source: Stroppa's prediction

— Andrea Stroppa (@Andst7) December 17, 2014

There are some fun marketing technologies around that leverage wearables and IoT now, but they're beyond niche @AlHopper_ #custserv

— Stewart Rogers (@TheRealSJR) December 17, 2014

Q1 Also, pay attention to wearables (which kinda fits in the mobile category). Messaging on smartwatches will be a challenge! #ragansocial

— Shel Holtz (@shelholtz) December 9, 2014

Of course, empirical evidence and digital anecdotes are never enough to necessitate commitment of the increasingly precious marketing dollar. Some consumers couldn't care less for smartwatches or smartglasses. Still, the fact that these conversations are happening bears marketers' attention.

Smartwatches are in this realm of "cool concept, but I greatly prefer classic wrist watch" @Cardivore

— Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) December 10, 2014

Is there a way to tell the whole internet to stop showing me stuff about smartwatches? Like a global ignore filter.

— Dario Solera (@DarioSolera) December 10, 2014

Now they're all like "Android wear doesn't do enough". I recon both Android Wear and Apple Watch will fail in the long term.

— David Goemans (@dgoemans) December 2, 2014

Why are cellular-capable smartwatches a thing now? Like your ever-present cell phone isn't enough connectivity for you?

— Marcus Ceballos (@Darth_Marques) December 9, 2014

Business Breaking News: BlackBerry Classic (2014): Top 5 Business Features

The new BlackBerry Classic couples solid productivity features with plenty of nostalgic appeal — at least for business users who long for the days of physical QWERTY keyboards on their smartphones. BlackBerry is hoping to recapture some of that enthusiasm with the Classic, a throwback phone with updated software, great security features and a physical keyboard that still provides the most accurate way to type on a smartphone.

Of course, BlackBerry's weaknesses are as obvious as ever. For starters, the platform still doesn't have as many apps as iOS or Android, and its interface is less polished overall. But after taking the BlackBerry Passport for a spin earlier this year, I realize that there's still a lot here for serious business users to like. You can buy BlackBerry Classic starting this week for $449 off contract or wait until January to pick it up for a subsidized price through Verizon or AT&T. We'll have a full review of the phone up soon, but for now, here are five features that make the BlackBerry Classic worth a look in the age of the iPhone.

Keyboard

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Twenty-year ad tech veteran hired to take in-image advertising to the next level.

Steven Wise

GumGum, an innovator in the in-image advertising space, has announced the appointment of Steven Wise as SVP of marketing. He joins the company from YP, where he was VP marketing strategy and insights.

Wise will lead efforts to expand awareness of GumGum's platform, which serves advertising within images of content that has already drawn interest from users. Due to their relevance, the ads are known to attain high levels of engagement.

Wise is a seasoned ad tech veteran. He spent a decade at RealNetworks, which pioneered streaming media software and subscription services, and rose to GM of marketing there. He also served as director of e-commerce at American Express for four years in the early '90s.

“I'm looking forward to helping GumGum tell its story to become a major force in the display ad landscape,” Wise says.

Business Breaking News: 4 Business 'Intelligences' to Help You Make Tough Decisions

As a business leader, you likely make a lot of decisions every day. In most cases, it's expected that those choices will be informed and justified by hard facts and evidence, usually pulled from the ever-growing pool of "Big Data."

Valeh Nazemoff, senior vice president and co-owner of Acolyst, a business technology performance management consulting firm, said that many decision makers are overwhelmed by the amount of data they receive, and aren't even sure if the data is accurate or useful for their companies.

"Leaders [receive] mountains of reports, piles of paperwork and endless data every day," Nazemoff told Business News Daily. "They don't know what they need, when they need it, what questions to ask or where to go. Executives are pressured to get results, which [leads to] many projects being started without the proper planning and vetting. People tend to make decisions based on past experiences, without properly evaluating the facts of the here and now."

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FitAd aims to take fitness and health brands on the run with digitally connected exercisers.

Mort Greenberg

Claiming to be the first-ever mobile and wearable advertising platform for fitness and health brands, FitAd was launched this week by Clear Channel digital marketing alumnus Mort Greenberg. The new business promises delivery of targeted ads to some 50 million users of mobile apps and sites.

“There are more than 40,000 health and fitness apps,and we have 500 we want to do business with,” says Greenberg, whose company has licensed technology from AdMarvel to serve mobile ads. While FitAd will serve ads to wearable watches, it doesn't intend to serve them on bands such as Fitbits.

“We see the number one wearable device as your phone,” Greenberg says. “If we want people to open apps, we can't do a Fitbit.”

The company is now preparing to serve ads to Sony and Samsung Android watches, a trick that depends on coding that's slightly different from that used to serve smartphones. “We're at the beginning stages of determining what the creative should be,” he says. “Should it carry images or just be a scrolling piece of text?”

FitAd will make its official debut in the Fitness & Technology segment of the Consumer Electronics Show in the first week of January.

Business Breaking News: After the Interview: Sample Thank You Letters

Congratulations — you aced your job interview! You really wowed the hiring manager and executive you spoke with, and they both assured you the company would be in touch soon with their decision. You're a shoe-in for the job, and you'll probably get it — unless you forget to follow up.

It may be one of the most commonly dispensed pieces of job-search advice, but sending a thank you note after an interview really is crucial to sealing the deal. Thanking the hiring manager for his or her time is not only polite, but it also demonstrates a sincere interest in the position and the company. According to a survey by online job-matching service The Ladders, 75 percent of interviewers said that receiving a thank you letter from a candidate affects their decision-making process.

"Failure to follow up can be the deciding factor in rejecting a candidate who is otherwise a great fit," said Amanda Augustine, a career expert at The Ladders.

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Expanding technology only serves to increase marketers' investments in triggered emails and lifecycle analysis, a study says.

Budget trends are going in the direction that marketers like to see them go—upward, says StrongView Director of Marketing Communications Jason Klein. The cross-channel solutions provider's 2015 Marketing Trends Survey released this week reports that 54% of marketers expect to see bigger budgets in the coming year (versus 46% last year), and that one third of them are counting on increases of 10% or more. They will devote the majority of their largesse to what has been and will continue to be their favorite method of targeting customers.

“Email retains the top spot in their spending plans. The more data you have available, the more you can use it to trigger interactions with your brand through email,” Klein says. “They'll be putting more funds into automated programs. Triggered emails and lifecycle marketing will be the most favored methods.”

Some 61% of the 400 marketers of global brands surveyed by StrongView said they'd up email spending. Just under half (49%) put social media next in line for cash infusions, and 40% will dial up mobile activity.

“Social has long been a way for marketers to spread their messages through refer-a-friend campaigns, but now they are able to analyze social to see what people are talking about on Facebook and Twitter and put that into play,” Klein says.

Marketers will also continue to draw on budgets for traditional methods to fund more data-driven efforts. One third of them told StrongView they would decrease spending on print advertising and 22% will de-emphasize direct mail.

Two fifths of marketers said they would increase investments in triggered email programs and lifecycle marketing campaigns. Touchpoints on which they intend to focus lifecycle efforts are loyalty, welcome, win-back, and post-purchase.

Cross-channel marketing will continue to challenge marketers in 2015. Their biggest concerns revolved around leveraging customer data obtained from multiple channels and then coordinating resulting efforts across the various channels.

Business Breaking News: 3 Ways Customer Service Has Changed (And How to Adapt)

Customer service used to be fairly simple. For the most part, you just had to be friendly and helpful to the people you did business with, and if someone wasn't happy, you dealt with the problem and that was the end of it.

While the basic goal of keeping customers satisfied is still at the heart of customer service, there's a lot more to it nowadays than doling out smiles and fielding the occasional angry phone call. Social media and mobile technology have enabled constant connectivity, giving customers 24/7 access to public forums in which they can talk — or complain — about your company. Only organizations that are willing to adapt and respond to this shift in business-consumer dynamics will survive.

Current business leaders and customer service experts shared their thoughts on how the landscape of customer care has changed, and where it's headed as technology and communication continue to evolve.

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Bigger smartphones and a greater willingness on the part of shoppers to transact on them led retailers to send 25 million pushes.

Leading retailers got pushy this Thanksgiving. In a fast-changing digital environment where marketers have become accustomed to overnight revolutions in tools and techniques, this observation from Urban Airship should give even the most jaded digital media jock pause: Retailers doubled the amount of push notifications they sent out to customers this year to nearly 25 million.

“There are a couple of factors at play here,” observes Bill Schneider, director of product marketing at Urban Airship, a mobile marketing platform provider. “Smartphones are bigger, and that makes the shopping experience on them better. Store trips are down, but trips are higher in value because consumers are coming in with shopping lists they researched beforehand.”

Indeed, Urban Airship's analysis of the mobile apps of 150 leading retailers over the first big weekend of the holiday shopping season found that engagement was highest the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Nineteen percent of app users engaged that day as compared to around 15% on Thanksgiving Day and 11% on Black Friday.

Retailers' big push generated 41% incremental app opens this Thanksgiving versus last year, and engagement rates jumped 30% on Black Friday.

Retailers played it cool with push messages, in some cases just wishing people happy holidays and following up with deals. Abercrombie texted customers an offer for VIP status, and replies led to a landing page with an offer that could be redeemed in-store.

“The push messages were more focused on brand experience, with messages that weren't tied to an offer,” Schneider says. “They were driving people into stores, where people became more engaged and spend more money.”

Business Breaking News: 5 Key Parts of Every Successful Sales Pitch

Every business owner knows how crucial sales are to keeping a company going. Without paying customers, there's no money coming in, which means no profits to help the business grow. But convincing people to buy something isn't always an easy task, and many entrepreneurs still struggle with selling.

Bob Circosta, the original host of the Home Shopping Network and television's "Billion Dollar Man," knows a lot about what it takes to close a sale. It's not about giving a rundown of the facts and features of your product — it's about communicating the ways in which it can help the buyer, he said.

"Stop thinking of it just from the perspective of what you have," Circosta told Business News Daily. "Think about what it will do for others. You need to take your elevator pitch and transcend it ... to other people's perspective [and] solve their problems."

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More than 60% of surveyed executives cite email marketing as their leading producer of ROI.

In terms of how respondents define email marketing success, 41% cite click-through rates as the most important metric and 38% say opens are their leading indicator of email success.

Not surprisingly, respondents plan to increase their investments in email and social in 2015. More than three quarters (76%) of the executives surveyed say they plan to invest in email marketing next year, while 33% plan to invest in social media. More than half of respondents (53%) cite higher click-through rates as their top email marketing priority in 2015; and 20% plan to do more to integrate email and social.

Despite the continuous innovation in marketing-tech and related areas, only 10% of executives survey believe that new technologies will impact their marketing strategies in 2015. For example, 87% of respondents don't think that Apple Pay will affect their marketing approach next year. Further, 36% of those surveyed expect no impact on their marketing from tech innovations, and 39% say they're currently researching the potential impact.

Of the few who do think that new technology will impact marketing strategies next year, 49% plan to make no changes to their mobile marketing in 2015 in response to increasing customer expectations in that area. And it seems that marketers are getting their fill of data, as well. Only 14% of respondents say they want to improve data collection and management next year.

Business Breaking News: Facebook Makes Trending Topics Mobile-Friendly

Using Facebook on a mobile device just got a whole lot trendier — trending topics, that is.

Like its counterpart on Twitter, Facebook's "Trending" section is where many users go to keep up with what's going on in the news and to see what's popular on the Web each day. The company launched Trending on its website in January 2014, but mobile users had no way to access it. Now, mobile Facebookers can get their news on the go, too.

In addition to coming to mobile devices, Trending is getting quite the upgrade. Conversations about trending topics will be organized in up to five different sections, according to Facebook's news blog. These sections include the following:

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Amazon led online retail's holiday surge, along with other third-party marketplaces like Google Shopping and Newegg.

Amazon's same store sales for November were up 35.7% over last year, according to ChannelAdvisor. But third-party sellers as an aggregate—including Google Shopping and smaller players like Newegg and Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com)—dominated online retail segments with a 41.6% increase. E-commerce as a whole grew only 16%.

Though noteworthy, sales growth among third-party retail sites has been volatile. The segment nearly busted the SSS meter with a 78.3% increase in May, then backed off to 24.2% in August before rebounding to a 65.5% increase in October.

EBay finished November with a 9.8% increase, up from October's 4.4%, but under the baseline e-com growth rate. Comparison shopping engines posted 12.3% growth, and search came in at 15.6%, reported Channel Advisor, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions.

Business Breaking News: 8 Surprising Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do Everyday

What do you picture when you think about a day in the life of an entrepreneur? Meetings with investors? Strategy sessions with the executive team? Going over financial statements and analytics reports? While these items all might appear on a business owner's schedule, there are some things that entrepreneurs may never have expected to do on a regular basis. Eight startup founders shared the one task they were surprised to add to their everyday to-do lists.

"We have always been told that you need to dress for success. We did not realize how tedious that task would be on a daily basis. We knew that this venture would include hard work with long, sleepless nights, but we also thought it was going to be balanced with relaxed, poolside conference calls. While there are definitely calm moments where you feel like a zen master, the fact is, being an entrepreneur also requires discipline. You always have to make sure your shoes are shined, your shirt is pressed and that you are ready for anything, because you never know who you are going to meet or where you are going to be. We are constantly networking and meeting amazing, new people and consequently, we always put our best feet forward, literally." – David Czinn and Josh Kahn, co-founders of Fruigees Organic Fruit Snacks

"Coming from the corporate world, I didn't realize as an entrepreneur that you have to strike the right balance between aspiration, ideation and execution every single day. It's like you're an improv performer in a one-man show, where you write, direct, produce and perform. When the day ends, you prepare yourself to start over and do it all again tomorrow — and then you listen for the applause." – Andrea Simon, CEO and founder of Simon Associates Management Consultants

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At 300 million users, the photo-sharing app has officially eclipsed Twitter.

Wildly popular photo-sharing app Instagram has experienced rapid and steady growth since Facebook acquired the company for an astounding $1 billion in 2012. Instagram had just 13 employees at the time.

However, just yesterday, Instagram announced that it has reached some 300 million active users on its platform; that's double what Instagram had last fall, and 16 million more than Twitter's reported 284 million active users.

Instagram's astronomical growth speaks to the emerging market for video and other visuals that optimize sight, sound, and motion on social media; it's a paradigm shift that marketers may want to consider when strategizing for the New Year.

@instagram now has more than 300 million active users. Not the new kid on the block anymore! #SocialMedia

— paige blawas (@PEB5050) December 10, 2014

4 Years - The time it took #Instagram to acquire 300 million users.

— Elliot McKay (@mckayelliot) December 10, 2014

@middlereed @MeganMorgan9 Either way, can't deny Instagram is rapidly growing after gaining 100 million users in 8 months #IS6621

— Brianne Beyers (@briannebeyers) December 10, 2014

Today, Instagram passed 300 million users. This means you can now go online and find pictures of over 300 million bathrooms.

— WhirledRecord (@WhirledRecord) December 10, 2014

Instagram's rapid growth is far more important to note than the fact that it is as big as Twitter, @sfiegerman adeptly points out.

— Jason Abbruzzese (@JasonAbbruzzese) December 10, 2014

In light of Instagram success, its even more astounding how Twitter has not made the necessary changes to get more users to post more images

— Atif Raza (@Atif_Rz) December 10, 2014

Instagram tops the list of social network growth

— Kishora O'Ne (@lewafipyzysy) December 8, 2014

Business Breaking News: Acer Iconia Tab 8: Is it Good for Business?

Acer's Iconia Tab 8 is an affordable, compact business slate with a few key perks for business users. Those perks include a micro HDMI port, which could come in handy for showing off presentations during your company's morning meetings. It also has good performance, a sharp 8-inch display and a compact design. But in other ways, this Android tablet disappoints, with short battery life, a dim display and surprising heft. Check out a full review of the Acer Iconia Tab 8 on our sister site Laptop Mag, or read on to see how it fares as a work slate.

Pros

The Iconia Tab 8 ​delivers good performance, a sharp 8-inch display and a compact design.

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Former commissioners Hammond and Langley return to their posts, giving newly appointed Chairman Robert Taub a full slate to work with.

Tony Hammond and Nanci Langley fill out the PRC's slate of commissioners.

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) filled its two open commissioners' offices yesterday when the Senate approved the appointments of Tony Hammond and Nanci Langley. The two are ex-commissioners whose terms had expired in 2013. The U.S. Postal Service, meanwhile, still seeks to fill five vacancies on its nine-member board of governors.

Hammond is a former director of campaign operations for the Republican National Committee and served for 10 years on the staff of Missouri Congressman Gene Taylor. He served as SVP of the direct marketing firm FL&S before opening his own consulting firm.

As a legislative aide to Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka in 2006, Langley played a key role in the development and enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA). She led the first analysis of the effectiveness of postal law in her first turn at PRC.

Langley will be one of two Democrats on the board, along with former Chairman Ruth Goldway, who will serve out her term as a commissioner. The White House last week named Robert Taub as the PRC's acting chairman.

Business Breaking News: Want to Free Up Space on Your Phone? Use Dropbox's Carousel

Need to free up space on your phone? Business apps can take up a lot of storage, but so can photos and videos. And if your business phone is also your personal phone, you're likely to reach your storage capacity sooner than you expected. If you use Dropbox, however, there's an easy way to instantly reclaim space on your phone.

Carousel, Dropbox's photo-viewing app, now lets you quickly free up space on your phone by deleting photos and videos that are backed up in Dropbox. The update is a welcome addition to the Carousel app, which also automatically backs up photos and videos to Dropbox and lets you easily share photos by email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter.

Here's how the new feature works and when it will be available. [Dropbox for Business: Top 3 Features]

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He says the Commission will "call it as they see it" on exigency going forward. Outgoing chair Ruth Goldway will serve out her term as a commissioner.

Taub was a force behind PAEA in 2006.

Robert G. Taub, who helped move the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act through Congress as an aide to Rep. John McHugh, was named acting chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission yesterday by President Obama. Taub has served as a PRC commissioner since 2011.

He replaces Ruth Goldway, who led the PRC through several key policy decisions in recent years, most notably last December's approval of a 4.3% exigent rate increase. Goldway, whose term expired in November, is in holdover status and will continue on as a commissioner.

Taub was the lone dissenter in the vote on the special rate increase, arguing that the Postal Service's financial consultant had proved that the effects of the Great Recession were permanent, that an exigent—or emergency—situation did not exist, and that a longer-term rate increase was warranted. The majority decision had held that the increase should be in effect only for 18 months or when $3.2 billion in revenue lost to the recession was recovered—whichever came first.

“How is it,” Taub wrote in his opinion, “that the Postal Service suddenly experiences no further impact from the Great Recession and that the continuing financial harm attributable to volumes lost due to the Great Recession has ended?”

In an interview with Direct Marketing News today, Taub declined to speculate on the future of exigency, but said that he is in agreement with outgoing Chairman Goldway that the Postal Service needs price regulation. “In crafting PAEA, we took the view that the Postal Service is 100% a federal agency working in a commercial marketplace, and there was recognition that there had to be oversight,” Taub said. “As for exigency, I can't comment except to say that, when the time comes, we will call it as we see it.”

Direct mailers and catalogers generally view Taub as someone they can work with. “Taub is a thoughtful and serious guy, a real student of the postal industry, but aside from his dissenting opinion in the exigency decision, no one knows where he stands on policy,” said Hamilton Davison, president and executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association.

The Direct Marketing Association's SVP for government affairs, Peggy Hudson, echoed Davison's concern, but expected Taub's administration at PRC to be a fair one. “He knows the industry, and he's known for listening to all sides of an issue before making a decision,” she said.

Taub brings impressive background to the job. He served in a variety of leadership positions over 12 years with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the Postal Service. It was there in 2006 that he played an important role in the passage of PAEA. He also helped conduct hearings and investigations into postal operations that ultimately led to the enactment of a dozen other postal laws. Taub subsequently served as a special assistant to McHugh when he became secretary of the Army, a government entity which, at 1.2 million, has a larger workforce than USPS.

Taub could be pressed into vital service immediately, as several storm clouds mass over Postal Service headquarters. If new nominees to the postal board of governors are not approved by Congress next week, it will cease to have a quorum and will not be able to suggest a rate increase for 2015. With reform legislation stalled in Congress, and with both the Postal Service and mailers waiting for exigency decisions from the D.C. Court of Appeals, the Postal Service might feel the need to ask for approval of a rate increase immediately.

Taub, who's been through these battles before, appears resolute that all will turn out well. “There's still time for the Senate to act so that the board won't lose its quorum,” he said, adding that the Postal Service has a way of persevering. “There's an inherent and underlying strength in the Postal Service. It will make it through the next year and into the future.”

Business Breaking News: 3 Ways to Boost Business with Pinterest Analytics

You may have a Pinterest account for your business, but are you taking full advantage of the platform's analytics tools? If not, you could be missing out on valuable information that could help you boost your Pinterest presence (and maybe even sales, too!).

Pinterest's analytics tools can show you a lot about how your business is performing on the social network and how often people click through to your website. But most importantly, Pinterest analytics shows you your top pins. This information is crucial to making your social strategy stronger.

On Pinterest's blog, the company broke down what the data about your top pins means for your business:

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60 percent of American shoppers polled plan to redeem loyalty rewards to use toward holiday gift purchases

A majority of customers are looking to save on their holiday shopping this year by applying redeemed loyalty rewards toward gift purchases. Sixty percent of American shoppers polled by Colloquy for it's “Holiday Loyalty Shopper Study” plan to save money on holiday gift purchases by using loyalty program rewards they've earned. That percentage represents a 22% increase over the 2013 holiday season.

A dive into a breakdown by age group reveals that the biggest growth in loyalty redemption toward gift shopping is among millennials. Nearly two thirds (63%) of 18- to 24-year-olds plan to use points on gifts in 2014—a jump of 43% over 2013; 71% of 25- to 34-year-old consumers say they'll redeem reward points for gifts this year, representing a 34% increase over last year; 62% of 35- to 44-year-olds plan to cash in rewards points for gifts, a 19% rise over 2013; and more than half (54%) of consumers 45 years old and older say they'll trade in points to use as gifts in 2014, which represents a 20% increase over 2013.

But the loyalty reward/gift link doesn't stop there. According to the Colloquy study, 20% of shoppers polled said they'll alter their gift ideas based on which items will provide the most sigficant rewards or bonuses, and 35% plan their holiday purchases to gain the most loyalty rewards. What's more, 40% of women and 31% of men polled say that when shopping this holiday season they plan to choose retailers that offer loyalty rewards. Incentives that ranked highest include gift cards (cited by 52% of shoppers polled), coupons (49%), and cash-back offers (48%).

Business Breaking News: ASUS Transformer Book T200: Top 3 Business Features

With a bigger display, a comfier keyboard and more ports, the Asus Transformer Book T200 improves upon its predecessor and stands out as one of the best 2-in-1 hybrids for business. The device combines a solid tablet with an excellent snap-on keyboard dock right out of the box, making it more versatile than a traditional laptop computer. Perhaps its most interesting feature is a swappable hard drive, so you can expand its onboard storage at any time. And at $459, the T200 is pretty affordable.

However, it has a few drawbacks — including below-average battery life, a heavier build and a slightly higher price tag — than its smaller predecessor, the Transformer Book T100, which costs $329. We'll put the T200 through its paces in a full review soon. For now, read on for three features that make it good for business.

Bigger display

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The holidays themselves are a form of augmented reality, so the Postal Service's new AR app should fit right in.

It would prove to be quite a coup for the U.S. Postal Service if the most vivid digital memory of Christmas 2014 left dancing in the heads of America's children involved the big, boring, blue mailbox at the end of the block.

It could happen. This week, the Postal Service launches the USPS AR app, which uses augmented reality to turn mailboxes into igloos and promotes the Post Office's holiday offer of free shipping boxes. People who download the app to their smartphones can point them at any of the 156,271 mailboxes across the land to witness the holiday spectacle.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe's plan to revitalize the Postal Service includes investing in innovation and technology. Augmented reality is one area that USPS has been pitching to direct mailers and catalogers as a way to integrate paper mailings with digital tools.

“Mobile technology is enhancing physical mail in some pretty remarkable ways,” says Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Nagisa Manabe. “Augmented reality, QR codes, and one-click buying technology are changing the way consumers interact with major brands.”

The AR app—which can be downloaded from App Store or Google Play—is part of the Postal Service's “This Is Our Season” campaign for the holidays, which offers consumers scheduled package pickups at their homes, as well as delivery of free shipping boxes. It's being promoted with a direct mail blitz, print ads, and television spots—one of which features Donahoe rallying the troops for the holidays.

"Football has a season, baseball has a season," the PMG tells a crew of postal workers. "This is our season."

Business Breaking News: Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 Review: Is it Good for Business?

Amazon's new flagship tablet is an affordable business slate with plenty of power, but it has a few major limitations. The Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 is the follow-up to last year's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, and features a faster processor, a sharper 8.9-inch display, longer battery life and a slew of new productivity-boosting software upgrades. Amazon dropped the "Kindle" name from its tablet line this year, instead reserving the brand for its line of e-book readers. But the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 is otherwise a relatively straightforward update to last year's model.

That means it retains the limitations of its predecessor as well. It still runs on Amazon's Fire OS, a modified version of Android that supports far fewer apps than other versions. And it's missing key apps, including Google apps such as Maps, Gmail and Drive. But the Fire HDX 8.9 still has a healthy and growing app library, and its low $379 price make it one of the better bargains in mobile tech this holiday season. But is it good for work?

Design

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Microsoft has acquired mobile email app provider Acompli.

Mission: Acompli. Microsoft announced today that it has acquired mobile email app provider Acompli. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although some outlets are reporting that the pact is for upwards of $200 million.

“In a world where more than half of email messages are first read on a mobile device, it's essential to give people fantastic email experiences wherever they go," Rajesh Jha, corporate VP, Outlook and Office 365, said in a news release. Jha also noted that the staff of Acompli is “passionate” about innovating the mobile email experience.

The Acompli app lets users manage their calendars, highlight important messages, and attach files from Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. Also, in addition to integration with Microsoft Exchange and 365, Acompli works with Gmail, Hotmail, iCloud, Outlook.com, and Yahoo.

“We're excited about what's possible as we build on the app's success and bring it together with work currently in progress by the Outlook team,” Jha said. “Our goal is to deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services people use today and help them accomplish more.”

Business Breaking News: BBM Meetings Simplifies Collaboration for Mobile Devices

In 2013, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) made its way to iOS and Android devices, finally giving non-BlackBerry device owners access to the popular instant messaging app. Earlier this year, the company updated the service to include voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling and Dropbox support. Recently, BlackBerry took yet another step toward making BBM a full-featured communication tool for business users by releasing BBM Meetings, a new collaboration solution designed specifically for mobile devices.

The BBM Meetings app offers a wide range of collaboration features, such as voice meetings, videoconferencing, presentations and real-time file sharing.

On the surface, BBM Meetings seems just like any other collaboration service, but there are a few things that set it apart. Here's why it could be the next mobile meeting tool for your business. [8 Best Apps for Business Collaboration]

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