Multichannel Surfing

CBS radio had a segment this morning about whether it was a good idea for Macy’s to be spending a boatload of money on its annual Fourth of July fireworks display this year. After all, Macys’ stock is not doing so hot, to put it kindly. more

H.R. 22 moves forward with a timeline amendment. more

DRTV lost Billy Mays yesterday, and I didn’t even know who he was. I knew - and trusted - the face, and I bought the products because I saw them on TV.

But when a bunch of different people came up to me at a party yesterday and asked if I heard about Billy Mays, I thought they were talking about the Say Hey Kid. Or Willie Mays Hayes (American Express - don’t steal home without it!).

Anyway - here’s a link for you to kick off your Monday. It’s one man’s opinion on the Top 10 Billy Mays infomercials of all time. Check them out and tell me what you think.

I guess it’s nice to know that U.S. catalogers aren’t the only ones struggling. German mail order giant Quelle is waiting for a bailout after its financing was cut off. The general merchandise mailer is now looking for alternative funding to print its fall/winter catalogs.

What happened? Quelle’s parent company, Arcandor, which also owns the Karstadt department store chain, declared the German version of Chapter 11 on June 9 after failed attempts to secure state aid and guarantee debt. more

Well, maybe there is financial relief on the way for the U.S. Postal Service?

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), through its actuarial consultant, Hay Group, revealed in a report that the assumption annual health care cost inflation rate will average 7% annually for all future years is “unreasonably high. Therefore based on Office of Personnel Management’s methodology, the Postal Service’s future retiree health care liabilities will be overestimated.” more

Nothing really alarming here (except a lot of people may not know that Circuit City was acquired and re-launched as a Web-only venture by Systemax).

The key here is that Circuit City has launched a page on Facebook, and are not censoring the voice of its fans. more