Business and Marketing

The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors felt it best to implement all price and classification changes at the same time.

New First Class rates postponed

The U.S. Postal Service served notice to the Postal Regulatory Commission today that it would delay implementation of price and classification changes for First Class Mail and competitive products until further notice. USPS last week announced it would postpone the April 26 implementation date for its proposed changes for market dominant products, which were twice rejected by the PRC.

The Postal Board of Governors' choice to delay the implementation “was primarily motivated by a desire to minimize the potential adverse impacts that might result from staggering the implementation of new prices,” according to the notice.

The Postal Service reported that it will announce a new implementation date for all affected mail products when it submits the revised rates to the PRC.

Business Breaking News: Lenovo ThinkPad T450s: Is It Good for Business?

Business notebooks don't get much better than this. Lenovo's new ThinkPad T450s is an updated version of my previous favorite business notebook, the ThinkPad T440s. In fact, it looks and feels almost identical to last year's model, with only a few small changes like faster performance and a better trackpad.

No, it's not perfect, and depending on your needs, there may be much better options out there. The T450s is far from the sleekest, lightest or thinnest work notebook, and it lacks the graphical horsepower of some competing machines. But the T450s means business, with way more ports and connectivity options than you'll find on most thinner laptops, plus a durable design, an unbeatable keyboard and great security features. That's why I think the ThinkPad T450s is the new business notebook to beat.

Design

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The Board of Governors does the wise thing—deciding to wait until all new rates are approved by the PRC before setting a new date.

USPS to wait until all new prices are in line.

Following the Postal Regulatory Commission's second rejection of proposed Standard Mail rate changes, the U.S. Postal Service has postponed its original April 26 implementation date. An “Industry Alert” sent to customers by the Postal Board of Governors late last week said that no date would be set until after PRC approval is received for market-dominant rates.

“This decision was primarily motivated by a desire to eliminate potential adverse impacts on postal customers that might result from a staggered implementation of our new prices,” read the notice. “After considering the complexity of the required programming changes…[and] the specific complications that our customers might face…the Postal Service has decided to delay implementation until all of our proposed rates and classification changes can be implemented at one time.”

On March 6, the PRC had bounced back to USPS rate changes on Standard Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services, citing lack of compliance with regulations. The Postal Service's amended proposal was rejected on the 18th due to inconsistencies in accounting and the lack of an explanation for failing to apply Q4 data to its calculations.

“We have no desire to saddle our valued customers with the additional costs and burdens of a staggered implementation while we work with the PRC to obtain final approval of our remaining prices,” the notice said. ”We will set a new implementation date when we propose new prices for Standard Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services in response to the PRC's March 18th remand order.”

Business Breaking News: The Best Graduate Schools for the Career You Want

If you plan to continue your education after college, some schools will give you a better chance at future success than others, new research finds.

After analyzing the employment pattern of its nearly 350 million members, LinkedIn uncovered which graduate schools are the best at launching their students into successful careers at desirable companies.

For example, in order to find the best universities for software developers, LinkedIn identified the top companies where software developers choose to work and then found LinkedIn members who work as software developers. LinkedIn then checked where these members went to graduate school. Finally, for each graduate school, researchers discovered the percentage of alumni who've landed software development jobs at these top companies and then compared the percentages to come up with the list.

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Facing a possible $18 million net loss on the deal, the Postal Service has an NSA rejected for the first time.

USPS could only succeed if Discover failed.

The Postal Service's request for a Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) with Discover Financial Services has been rejected by the Postal Regulatory Commission because it failed to guarantee a profit for USPS. Discover's is the first NSA proposal ever rejected by the PRC.

Under regulatory requirements, the PRC may not add an NSA to the market dominant product list unless it contributes to enhancing operational efficiencies, reduces costs, or increases overall contribution to institutional costs.

Under the proposed NSA, Discover would receive a rebate of 2.25% if it were to meet or exceed specified annual revenue thresholds and a rebate of 2.5% for exceeding aggregate total baseline volume for eligible mail. Were Discover to fail in achieving the revenue mark, it would have to pay a penalty of 10% of the difference between the revenue threshold and the revenue it actually generated.

The Postal Service calculated that, should Discover meet its requirements, the agreement would put a loss of $18 million on its books. The only scenario forecasting a positive financial impact in the USPS proposal would be if Discover missed its targets and was forced to pay the penalty.

“The Commission is not insensitive to the financial challenges faced by the Postal Service,” read the PRC's decision. "Although the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act granted new flexibility to the Postal Service in setting postal prices, it also made clear that only NSAs that improve the net financial position of the Postal Service or enhance the performance of certain postal operations may be approved.”

Business Breaking News: Google's City Program Helps Local Business Get Online

As a small business, it's critical that customers can find you quickly and easily online. And if you're a local business, getting your city involved can help.

Google launched today (March 25) Let's Put Our Cities on the Map, a new program designed to help local businesses get online using city-based Web resources. It aims to get cities, local organizations and small businesses working together and with Google to make the most out of Web- and location-based marketing.

Part of the Get Your Business Online project, Let's Put Our Cities on the Map gives each city a custom website that local businesses can use to create, establish and manage their presence online, while giving back to the community by boosting local commerce. [Google for Business: A Small Business Guide]

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Marketers love South by Southwest as much as anyone—maybe more.

Throngs of artists, consumers, and of course marketers are convening in Austin this week to consume copious amounts of entertainment, insight, and media at South by Southwest (SXSW). SXSW has grown into one of the premier media and culture events, and every year marketers' interest in the extravaganza grows.

This year is no different.

Panels, presentations, and the inherent buzz that come with the festival seem to be galvanizing marketers—many who are sharing SXSW sights, sounds, and lessons on Twitter.

Critical. Product and marketing, engineering and creative, the need for convergence. Great #SXSW conversations. #sxclash

— Sid Bhatt (@Sid_Aarki) March 17, 2015

The Dark Web needs a marketing strategy. #SXSW #midnightcowboy

— Sam Wilson-Späth (@SamWilson1) March 16, 2015

I've never used Twitter more than during #SXSW. #socialmedia #marketing

— A Lexus OliveOil (@Miss0live) March 17, 2015

"The last ten years, content marketing has been king, great experiences will lead the next ten." @derrick_k_lewis @rapha #sxsw

— Antonia Dunbar (@AntoniaDunbar) March 16, 2015

I'm a huge fan of these inventive #marketing ideas but always wonder - do they make sales more likely in the long run? @GlenGilmore #SXSW

— Robin Lord (@RobinLord8) March 17, 2015

Saw clever quote earlier to the effect: "Wish I was at SXSW so I could see marketers marketing their marketing efforts to other marketers."

— Joseph McKeating (@josifmck) March 17, 2015

As with any other large event, SXSW hype seems equally rife with excitement and enmity.

Drowning in meaningless marketing buzzwords and retweets. Must be SXSW.

— Brian Jepson (@btjepson) March 16, 2015

#SXSW is more about marketing now then music, film, & art.

— Champion.Randy (@EpicScene_LS) March 17, 2015

So, #SXSW is just one huge marketing stunt, right?

— Jake Pechtel (@JakePechtel) March 17, 2015

#SXSW This time use to be fun. Now its a desperate corporate sellout event with attempts to capture trends without doing marketing homework.

— Bluefoolio (@bluefoolio) March 17, 2015

Business Breaking News: Want a Career Boost? Become a Mentor

In a traditional mentorship, there is a mentee, who is usually a new or less-seasoned worker seeking direction in his or her career, and a mentor, who is typically an older professional who imparts wisdom to the mentee based on his or her extensive experience. As a mentee, you can call on your mentor to guide you through your career challenges, help you make difficult decisions and offer advice when you're not sure which direction to take.

"A good mentor [is] an expert active listener who can give constructive but developmental feedback," said Anka Wittenberg, chief diversity and inclusion officer of enterprise software company SAP. "He can put himself [aside] and listen to the mentee. [Mentors should] have a genuine interest in the professional development of others."

Within this context, it might seem that the "student" has much more to gain than the "teacher" from the relationship. Reverse mentoring — having younger employees share their technological know-how and fresh perspective with older ones — and peer mentoring are gaining traction as ways to create more mutually beneficial mentorships, but the classic dynamic can still provide great value to the mentor's professional life. Business leaders shared the ways in which mentoring others has furthered their own career development.[Want to Advance Your Career? Try Peer Mentoring]

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The messaging company supplants dozens of beacons in-store with one central device acting as an indoor GPS-powered transmitter.

SmartFocus this week introduced The Message Cloud to brick-and-mortar retailers, a “virtual beacon” system that relies on GPS-like technology programmed to connect with shoppers in defined “boxes” on the store floor.

“If I'm installing a multi-department retailer with beacons, I'm going to have to put one in every category. So I'll have one in electronics, one in housewares, and I'll end up with 50 to 75 beacons inside the store. And God help me if the planogram changes,” says Joe Dalton, SmartFocus's Chief Product Officer. “Every retailer was doing a pilot with beacons last year, and the ones we talked to said, ‘No way are we managing 50 or 60 little devices in every store.'”

SmartFocus's solution employs one high-powered beacon device per store that transmits to boxed-out areas on a floor plan. Messaging plans for these virtual beacons are run through SmartFocus's Message Cloud, meaning that chain headquarters can control transmissions for entire store networks.

Dalton says the functionality of the SmartFocus system matches that of actual beacons. “Beacons can focus down to a square meter, and this technology has the same resolution. If you linger inside one of the designated boxes for two minutes, the store is going to send you a message,” he says.

Though the hardware investment for The Message Cloud is “damn near zero,” according to Dalton, he expects the system to first take hold in high-end department stores with focused brand propositions, as well as in sports stadiums and movie theaters that can concentrate messaging around specific three-hour blocks.

Business Breaking News: 50 Most Common Job Interview Questions

Although many factors can help you land a job, acing your interview is a critical component.

The online career site Glassdoor believes one of the best ways for job seekers to get ready for an interview is to practice their responses to any questions that may be asked.

"Over and over again, we see some very common interview questions asked at companies for nearly all job titles," Scott Dobroski, a Glassdoor career trends analyst, told Business News Daily. "If you are aware and prepared for what is nearly always asked in any interview, you'll start the interview off on a great foot."

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The Postal Service cracks down on business mailers who are using the prospecting vehicle for order fulfillment.

Samples only!

Charging that many mailers were using Standard Mail Marketing Parcels for fulfillment instead of samples, the U.S. Postal Service tightened up the wording of the eligibility requirements of the service. Going forward, Marketing Parcels must bear an alternate addressing format and cannot be used to send something ordered by a customer.

Alternate addressing minimizes the Postal Service's handling costs by allowing parcels to be delivered to current residents of an address if the original addressee had moved.

USPS published the redefined rule in today's Federal Register, holding that the purpose of the Marketing Parcels was to create a low-cost prospecting vehicle for mailers to send non-requested items and samples to potential customers. “It came to the attention of the Postal Service,” continued the notice, “that this product was being improperly used for fulfillment.”

The new rule will be flexible on one point. It will allow mailers to send samples in connection with a purchase if the customer elects to receive them. These may be sent separately as long as the transactions are linked.

Some mailers who filed comments on this rule after it was proposed in January asked for grace periods in the enforcement of the rule to “give them time to adjust their business models.” USPS intends to review such requests on a case-by-case basis.

Business Breaking News: The Evolving Employee Handbook: 6 Issues to Consider

Many organizations issue an employee handbook, an official document that covers their policies on everything from computer use to vacation time. As new technologies and business-related laws take hold in the office, human resources departments must update those policies to reflect the most current trends.

But this is easier said than done. A new survey by HR compliance resource XpertHR found that, although the majority of businesses (78 percent) have made revisions to their handbook within the last two years, the biggest challenge for 41 percent is continuing to keep their handbook up-to-date with an ever-changing workplace and workforce.

"Employee handbooks continue to be a perennial challenge and opportunity for employers," Peggy Carter-Ward, head of content at XpertHR, said in a statement. "The challenges of keeping up with a changing workforce, new laws and just getting employees to read the handbook are not new, yet addressing evolving workplace issues ... [is] complex."

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Were targeting added to the new measurement technology, it could be a game changer, says an agency practitioner.

Strapping another retro-rocket onto its mobile marketing machine, Facebook is expected to announce a new tool at its F8 developers conference next week that will allow companies to measure ads that lead to app downloads. Apparently, the tool will be able to be employed on digital media venues beyond Facebook.

“Building a tool that allows advertisers to track installs off of Facebook is a natural next step after the launch of their Audience Network and more recently their acquisition of Atlas,” comments Molly McCarty, senior social account manager at 3Q Digital. “Many of the accounts I work on perform well because of the targeting that is possible through Facebook. If we could start applying those targeting methods to campaigns running off of Facebook, and still measure installs, this would be a game changer.”

McCarty adds, however, that she has not heard anything about targeting linked to the new tool. “It's very possible that targeting users off of Facebook will be more limited than running the ads on Facebook itself,” she says.

Business Breaking News: Facebook Users Can Soon Send Money Via Messenger

Selling on social media just got easier. Although there is still no direct way to run an online store and process transactions on Facebook, the social network will begin to let users send money using Messenger.

Facebook announced that it will be rolling out Messenger payments to U.S. users over the next few months. The new feature lets people conveniently and securely send money over the Messenger mobile app in a fast and simple way.

The best part about Messenger payments is that it's easy and absolutely free. But here's the catch — the service is designed for sending money between friends. This limitation doesn't make it ideal for large-volume online sellers, but it's a great option for those who are just starting out with e-commerce and don't mind having their customers as Facebook friends. [Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know]

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It adds Predictive Decisions to the marketing cloud, promising easier access to the predictive analytics.

Salesforce.com today added Predictive Decisions to its marketing cloud, a predictive analytics-based tool that it promises will increase conversion rates by recommending the delivery of timely and relevant content across all marketing channels.

“We did focus groups with a bunch of our marketing customers and they told us they still are dealing with four problems,” said Gordon Evans, VP of product marketing for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. “They can't get all their data onto a single platform; they have a hard time taking action on the data they have in a meaningful time frame; they don't know how to extend predictive analytics-based recommendations cross-channel; and they have difficulty integrating the process with customer service and sales.”

Predictive Decisions, claims Salesforce, answers these needs with the following features:

Collect beacon: Streams content updates and behavioral data into the cloud platform to constantly update user profiles and enable the making of predictive decisions. Company literature says that this enables marketers to move beyond websites in feeding time content, extending their reach to such areas as whitepapers and videos.

Workflow and automation: Calls on data from all channels to trigger relevant communications in real time.

Native predictive decisions: An improved user interface enables marketers to predict what offer, product, or graphic element, for instance, might increase conversion in drag-and-drop mode. Salesforce uses the example of a retailer, in a few clicks, being able to recommend the next most relevant piece of content to trigger a customer purchase.

“What had previously been manual processes, we've automated to drag and drop,” Evans said.

Salesforce's marketing manager in charge of predictive intelligence, Meghann York-Meenan, says the guiding mission behind the launch of Predictive Decisions was finding a way to make complex predictive analytics technology more accessible. “I think the real story is that the channel marketer did not have real-time access to the data they needed to truly know their customers as individuals,” she commented.

Business Breaking News: 30+ Creative Ways to List Job Skills on Your Resume

No matter how many Google search results, blog posts or social media profiles an employer comes across when researching you, your résumé remains one of the most important ways for someone to assess your professional background.

A degree from a prestigious university or an impressive roster of past employers can certainly make a good impression, but the real test of a candidate's fit is how well his or her skills align with the position at hand. That's why it's so important to express your current and previous job experiences in a clear, concise and relevant way.

"A job candidate's skills and relevant knowledge are substantiated by keywords in a résumé," said Wendi Weiner, a certified professional résumé writer and founder of The Writing Guru. "Industry-specific core skills will enable a job candidate to successfully pass through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which is utilized by [the majority] of companies today to obtain the right candidates."

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Advertisers on the social network will now be able to target by referencing 135 audience categories.

Segmentation expands on Twitter.

Twitter will expand the role played by Acxiom in its tailored audiences program, expanding the universe of Acxiom audience categories available to 135. Advertisers using the Twitter marketing platform will be able to access Acxiom data delineated by behavior, life stages, demographics, and household information across all major verticals.

A press release from Acxiom says that this enhanced user targeting, coupled with other options such as interest targeting, could result in greater efficiencies, as well as increased engagement.

“We have seen tremendous results from clients who have used first-party and Acxiom data for targeting ad campaigns on Twitter,” said Dana Hayes Jr., group VP of global partner development at Acxiom. “Behavior targeting will offer another way for advertisers to have access to Acxiom data sets and scale, for precisely targeting customers and prospects on Twitter.”

Acxiom had already been a partner in the Twitter marketing platform that launched last year, allowing advertisers to match their customer lists to Twitter's user universe.

Business Breaking News: Working Hard or Just Sucking Up? Your Boss Knows the Difference

When you're working hard, your boss knows what your motivations are, new research shows.

Good supervisors are able to distinguish which employees are simply sucking up to get a raise or a promotion when they put in long hours or take on an extra workload and which ones are going the extra mile in an effort to do what's best for their employer, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.

The study's authors say managers are becoming better at determining which employees are "good soldiers" and which are "good actors," as they make decisions on who deserves promotions and other rewards most. While the behavior of both groups goes beyond the mere basics of their job descriptions, the soldiers' actions are selflessly motivated by helping the organization and their co-workers. The actors' actions, however, are self-serving because they're focused more on furthering themselves.

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Business Breaking News: Working Hard or Just Sucking Up? Your Boss Knows the Difference

When you're working hard, your boss knows what your motivations are, new research shows.

Good supervisors are able to distinguish which employees are simply sucking up to get a raise or a promotion when they put in long hours or take on an extra workload and which ones are going the extra mile in an effort to do what's best for their employer, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.

The study's authors say managers are becoming better at determining which employees are "good soldiers" and which are "good actors," as they make decisions on who deserves promotions and other rewards most. While the behavior of both groups goes beyond the mere basics of their job descriptions, the soldiers' actions are selflessly motivated by helping the organization and their co-workers. The actors' actions, however, are self-serving because they're focused more on furthering themselves.

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Citing a large number of errors and omissions in the rate request, the Postal Regulatory Commission returns it to the Postal Service for modifications

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has returned proposed rate adjustments to the U.S. Postal Service for review, saying the agency's requests failed to comply with legal requirements, such as keeping increases under the inflation rate determined by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The proposed rate changes covered Standard Mail, Package Services, and Periodicals.

In an order released today, PRC Acting Chairman Robert Taub and four commissioners said they shared the concerns of public commenters, such as the American Catalog Mailers Association and Valpak, that the Postal Service's filing contained a large number of errors and omissions.

Under Standard Mail, the PRC determined that certain unequal commercial and nonprofit discounts and workshare discounts were in conflict with precedent set in the 1981 case of National Easter Seal Society v. USPS.

For example, the Commission found several unequal commercial and nonprofit drop-ship discounts that were not reported by USPS, such as a destination network distribution center (DNDC) entry discount for commercial Automation 5-Digit Letters of $0.035 and a discount of $0.034 to nonprofits for the same class of mail. In comments to PRC, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers referenced the Easter Seal Society case to urge that USPS equalize nonprofit and commercial discounts.

The PRC's order also asserts that the Postal Service incorrectly adjusted several billing determinants associated with Flats Sequencing System prices for periodicals, bundles, sacks, and pallets and failed to provide the Commission with the data necessary to calculate the actual average price increase for the Periodicals class. Additionally, the regulatory body ruled it lacked information needed to calculate the average price increase for Package Services.

PRC commissioners stated that the Postal Service rushed the request process without providing due time for comments from concerned parties. “A filing that is incomplete and riddled with errors makes it virtually impossible for the public to provide meaningful comments and for the Commission to complete its review within the statutory time period,” read the order.

The Postal Service must file its amended notice with the PRC no later than March 12 so that new rates that comply with applicable legal requirements can be reviewed and implemented, as planned, on April 26.

Business Breaking News: Working Hard or Just Sucking Up? Your Boss Knows the Difference

When you're working hard, your boss knows what your motivations are, new research shows.

Good supervisors are able to distinguish which employees are simply sucking up to get a raise or a promotion when they put in long hours or take on an extra workload and which ones are going the extra mile in an effort to do what's best for their employer, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.

The study's authors say managers are becoming better at determining which employees are "good soldiers" and which are "good actors," as they make decisions on who deserves promotions and other rewards most. While the behavior of both groups goes beyond the mere basics of their job descriptions, the soldiers' actions are selflessly motivated by helping the organization and their co-workers. The actors' actions, however, are self-serving because they're focused more on furthering themselves.

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Invoca attempts to fill a "black hole" in search marketing with a new service that links mobile searches to call data.

Kyle Christensen believes marketers need to be re-introduced to what is probably the most lethal of killer apps to ever inhabit a cell phone. “It's called the call button,” says Christensen, who, as VP marketing of call intelligence company Invoca, certainly has a vested interest in the subject. But consider some facts:

Last June local media consulting company BIA/Kelsey released a report indicating that calls driven to businesses as a result of searches have grown in lock-step with the proliferation of smartphones—from 10 billion in 2011 to more than 30 billion last year. BIA/Kelsey projects the number to top 70 billion in 2018.

Now consider some common sense: When an iPhone 6 owner sitting in the back seat of a moving automobile finds a pair of shoes she wants to buy, is she more likely to fill out a form with her thumbs or to just call the company and order it?

“The problem with that,” Christensen says, “is that a person converts, but the search marketers don't know that it was their keyword that triggered the sale. So maybe they bid less on that keyword in the future and end up losing sales they don't even know about. It's a black hole in their arsenal, and it's only getting bigger thanks to mobile.”

That was the reasoning behind his company's introduction this week of Invoca for Search, which allows search marketers to sync call information directly with the AdWords API. A single dashboard in the new application allows marketers to move between AdWords, AdCampaigns, AdGroups, and Keywords, quickly accessing summary reports of total clicks, calls, and cost for each. Invoca for Search also sports a bid management integration feature to alert marketers which keywords are driving calls.

When people place calls to Invoca clients via smartphones, an Invoca code reads other tags or javascript—such as retargeting or marketing automation cookies—and shares information about the caller with its clients' platforms.

“Essentially, it tells a marketer, ‘Hey, this guy is making a phone call, and we know about him because he is in your database, and you should show him this page next,'” Christensen says.

Business Breaking News: The Fastest Growing Temp Jobs for 2015

The growth in temporary jobs doesn't look to be slowing anytime soon, new research shows.

Temporary employment, which grew by 57 percent over the past five years, is expected to continue that growth over the next five. Analysis from CareerBuilder revealed that temporary and contract jobs, of which there are currently nearly 3 million, are projected to increase by 3 percent over the next year and 13 percent through 2019.

"Temporary employment will continue on an upward trajectory as companies look for ways to quickly adapt to market dynamics," Eric Gilpin, president of CareerBuilder's staffing and recruiting and health care divisions, said in a statement. "Two in five U.S. employers expect to hire temporary or contract workers this year, which opens new doors for workers who want to build relationships with different organizations and explore career options."

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The "Grand Alliance" tells the public that USPS management is out to "bury" the Postal Service with consolidation and work force reduction.

APWU President Mark Dimondstein

Some 60 labor unions and social activist groups have combined on a public relations campaign to promote the Postal Service as a “national treasure” and make a case against consolidation and job attrition. Called A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, the effort's public face is actor Danny Glover, who stars in a video spot stating the group's case and is making public appearances on its behalf.

“Now, more than ever, we need the Postal Service to thrive and innovate for the future,” says Glover in the video (below). “The Postal Service belongs to all of us. It reaches everyone everywhere, delivering medicine, packages, letters, newspapers, and catalogs without a dime of taxpayers' money. It never stops, but some people want to bury the Postal Service, shut offices, reduce hours, limit delivery, outsource it, divide it, and privatize it.”

The Grand Alliance's mission statement hails the Postal Service as a “democratic right,” and says it is taking a stand against “unprecedented assaults on our national treasure from those who would like to dismantle and privatize it.” Members of the Alliance include the AFL-CIO, the Center for Rural Affairs, the Jewish Labor Committee, the International Association of Fire Fighters, Farm Aid, Greenpeace USA, the National Council of Churches, and the National Education Association.

The Grand Alliance is the brainchild of Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. In announcing the formation of the group last month, Dimondstein alleged that the pre-funding of retiree health benefits—something from which USPS senior management seeks Congressional relief—is at the heart of a government plan to bring down the Postal Service.

“A congressional mandate that forces the agency to pre-fund retiree healthcare benefits 75 years into the future is being used as a pre-text to destroy a national treasure,” Dimondstein said. “Management has shortened hours at neighborhood post offices, closed mail processing centers, lowered delivery standards, and slowed mail delivery.”

New Postmaster General Megan Brennan is currently involved in contract negotiations with postal worker unions, which are seeking expanded operating hours for Post Offices, as well as expansion into additional services such as private banking.

Business Breaking News: 7 Fictional TV Bosses We Wish Were Real

If you could work for any fictional TV character, who would it be?

The best TV shows are relatable to viewers, and that means that a lot of our favorite series cover things like dating, going to school and pursuing a career. Television has seen many interesting work environments, from the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the Dragonfly Inn in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. And with each unique business, there comes an even more interesting boss. Some of these characters have been boring, and others, downright mean, but among the many fictional leaders who have graced our TV screens, there are a special few we wish existed beyond just the pages of scripts.

From Leslie Knope to Michael Bluth, here are the seven TV bosses we would love to work for.

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Business Breaking News: 50 College Majors With the Best Return on Investment

The rising cost of college is forcing many students to choose their career path based not on their interests but rather the field that will help them make the most money when they graduate.

Those looking to maximize the return on their education investment should pursue majors in information technology, computer programming and business, according to a new study from OnlineDegrees.com, which ranked degrees based on their likelihood of leading to a high-paying, fast-growth career as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Topping this year's rankings were computer programming and entrepreneurship, both of which have average annual salaries of more than $85,000 for graduates and above-average job growth. Overall, degrees in information technology, computers programming/computer science, business/management, medical support, and retail and administration were the five categories that offer the largest return on investment.

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Business Breaking News: Google Gives Mobile-Friendly Sites a Boost in Search Ranking

Want to rank higher on Google search results? Make sure your website is mobile-optimized.

The company announced that it has now made it easier to find mobile-friendly websites by making them appear higher on search results. Google search will also now start displaying and ranking content from mobile apps to better serve users.

Previous changes to Google's algorithm simply required website owners to make sure their websites were mobile-optimized, making them easier to view on smartphones and tablets. Here's what the new changes mean and what small businesses need to do to take advantage of them. [Google for Business: A Small Business Guide]

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Business Breaking News: Lighten Up: Negativity at Work is Bad for Your Career

Even though you may be helping your employer by regularly pointing out problems in the workplace, you are hurting your own performance by doing so, new research shows.

Employees who focus on the negative aspects of work are more likely to become mentally fatigued and defensive, and experience a drop-off in production, according to a Michigan State University study.

"The moral of this story is not that we want people to stop raising concerns within the company, because that can be extremely beneficial," Russell Johnson, a Michigan State management professor who co-authored the study, said in a statement. "But constantly focusing on the negative can have a detrimental effect on the individual."

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Business Breaking News: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 14: Is It Good for Business?

Lenovo's ThinkPad Yoga 14 strikes a great middle ground between bulky workstations and flexible hybrids. The notebook sports most of the work-friendly features you expect from a ThinkPad product, including a solid, durable design; an excellent keyboard and trackpad; and fast performance. As a bonus, you get a flexible hinge that lets you bend back the display so you can use the device like a large tablet.

But you'll make a few sacrifices for this particular combination, including below-average battery life. And since this new computer is thicker and heavier than standard Yoga laptops, the foldable design is a bit less practical. Still, the $999 ThinkPad Yoga 14 a solid, flexible workstation — with a few small caveats.

Design

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