Mail Dealer 763
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Ads on the DEALER AD EXCHANGE are now FREE. Ad size has been reduced from 200 to 100 words, but you now get one ad for each of your products and services. Ads stay in the DAX rotation for the life of this journal.
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03-13-2025 - From the U.S. Departmnt of Justice - U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Mississippi - Greenville, Mississippi – Chief U.S. District Court Judge Debra M. Brown sentenced Cordero Moore, aged 36, of Greenwood, Mississippi to serve a 70-month jail sentence for an August 2024 knife attack on a U.S. Postal Carrier as the Carrier delivered mail in Greenwood. Judge Brown also sentenced Moore to post-incarceration court supervision for 3 years. On August 5, 2024, Moore chased down the Postal Carrier while waving a knife and forced the Carrier to enter a local business for her safety. Moore was later arrested in possession of two knives.
03-13-2025 - Doom-scrolling, the clicking from one depressing online news story to the next. I have drastically cut back on my doom-scrolling because I realized that it doesn't pay much. I made zero dollars this year doom-scrolling. Mail Order buying and selling provide a great distraction from all of the troubles the world is experiencing. Instead of doom-scrolling on the Internet, scroll through this site!
03-13-2025 - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Economics Daily - In February 2025, the number of unemployed for five weeks or less was 2.3 million, or about a third (33.5 percent) of all unemployed people. Those unemployed for five weeks or less have accounted for 30.0 percent or more of the total unemployed since December 2021. The share of people unemployed for 5 to 14 weeks in February 2025 was 30.9 percent. Those unemployed for 15 to 26 weeks accounted for 14.8 percent in February 2025, while those unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 20.9 percent.
03-13-2025 - Good Morning! It's Thursday. I was thinking about the people, especially young people, who signed up for an online money-making program. How do they promote these programs? I know many young people have never addressed an envelope or even purchased postage stamps. Do they rely on spamming their social media followers? I don't know what else they could do. This group would be a good target for anyone publishing a print adsheet for online marketers. Impress upon them that, without your adsheet, there is no place - free or cheap - to advertise after they have worn out their online followers. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready!
03-12-2025 - They say information products are very profitable, but what about the information on the information? It's been over a decade, but I saw a small display ad asking for $500 for information on a money-making opportunity. I will allow for the possibility that this was a "typo" and the actual price was $5.00.
03-12-2025 - A few years ago, I saw a story about a Missouri school district reviving the practice of paddling students. I'm from the old-school paddling days, and I received 22 licks during my 4-year high school sentence. Two of those licks were a case of mistaken identity. I did not shoot those spit wads on that particular day! Anyway, those licks made me the disciplined Mail Dealer I am today!
03-12-2025 - I mailed an ad order for Bill's "Pretty Good" Adsheet. It's a 100-circulation adsheet, and I like 100-circulation adsheets! Gotta love that name! Maybe Bill will send his adsheet ad for the Dealer Ad Exchange.
03-12-2025 - I just saw this - Freshwater Fishing Lures Forever® Stamps Dedication Ceremony - Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 11 a.m. CST - Venue Bass Pro Shop, Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium - Great Barrier Reef - 500 West Sunshine St. Springfield, MO 65807
03-12-2025 - S.A.S.E. - Self Addressed Stamped Excitement. That's one name for this idea as a feature for your Mail Order website if you have one. The idea is to provide a list of Mail Order Dealers who agree to send their best offers for one S.A.S.E., and they further agree not to cause the weight of the envelope to exceed one ounce unless they, the responding dealer, affix the appropriate extra postage. You can word the instructions however you like and solicit listees.
03-12-2025 - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Real Earnings Summary - February 2025 - Real average hourly earnings for all employees increased 0.1 percent from January to February, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from an increase of 0.3 percent in average hourly earnings combined with an increase of 0.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Real average weekly earnings increased 0.1 percent over the month due to the change in real average hourly earnings combined with no change in the average workweek. Real average hourly earnings increased 1.2 percent, seasonally adjusted, from February 2024 to February 2025. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a 0.6-percent decrease in the average workweek resulted in a 0.6-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period.
03-12-2025 - We stepped out of the airplane - not a perfectly good airplane by any stretch of the imagination - at about 10,000 feet over the "golden arches." We formed a 4-way formation, held that for a few seconds, and then enjoyed our free fall individually. Not far above the McDonald's restaurant, we opened our parachutes and glided to a landing just outside the building. This location offered plenty of room, and we had permission from the property owner. Kids - and a few adults - came running out. We packed our parachutes on the lawn and went inside for a burger. That was my most memorable skydive. Well, there was that time when my main parachute failed to open, but we won't let that spoil the fun!
03-12-2025 - I saw a YouTube video of a young man wearing a T-shirt and a ski cap and telling people how they, too, can make several hundred thousand dollars a year. This look may appeal to the younger crowd, but it didn't impress me. I had to click the big "X" on that one.
03-12-2025 - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in February, similar to the average monthly gain of 168,000 over the prior 12 months. In February, upward trends occurred in health care, financial activities, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined. Health care added 52,000 jobs in February, in line with the average monthly gain of 54,000 over the prior 12 months. Transportation and warehousing employment continued to trend up in February (+18,000), in line with the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+13,000). Employment in financial activities rose by 21,000, above the prior 12-month average gain of 5,000. Within private education and health services, social assistance trended up in February. Government employment changed little; within government, federal employment declined by 10,000. Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.
03-12-2025 - Good morning! It's Wednesday, if that means anything to anyone. Today, I'll give the Briggs & Stratton Q6500 generator its regular test run. I can't have the home office shut down over a little power outage! The Q6500 kept us up and running during the Big Texas Freeze of February 2021. For now, I'll enjoy my Folgers Black Silk coffee!
03-11-2025 - On the American Postal Workers Union website, I read about some of the union's concerns regarding the recent "Privatize the USPS" messages from the White House. The union feels that if the USPS is privatized, the focus will be on profits, not public service. Also, it is unknown what the situation for workers would be. Worker's contracts are currently with USPS and will not automatically transfer to a private company. Retirement benefits and health insurance would also be in jeopardy. Also in the unknown category are discipline and termination issues, holiday and other benefits, grievance procedures, and seniority benefits. Another question is whether or not a private company would be required to deliver "everywhere," as is the case for USPS. Whatever happens will directly affect Mail Order Dealers.
03-11-2025 - In the mail today was a December 1927 issue of Spare Time Money Making, the Magazine of Opportunities. I bought it on eBay, and it's in very good shape. It contains a lot of interesting advertising. Do you know what's not in there? Multi-level marketing and gifting programs. I guess those wouldn't come along for a few more years.
03-11-2025 - Is it nearing the time for Mail Order Dealers to shift from snail mail to email? Not totally, but a hybrid condition. Sales circulars can be easily scanned into JPG files, and text documents can be easily converted to PDF files for transfer by email. Dealers could rely more on print advertising in industry publications, promoting their email and snail mail addresses as a point of contact. I mention this because the U.S. Post Office might face turbulence this year.
03-11-2025 - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Economics Daily - Technology is a perennial factor impacting the job outlook for many occupations, and artificial intelligence (AI) is a recent type of technology with potential impacts. Over the 2023–33 employment projections period, AI is expected to primarily affect occupations whose core tasks can be most easily replicated by Generative AI in its current form. However, other jobs, including some in the computer, legal, business and financial, and architecture and engineering occupational groups are also potentially susceptible to AI-related impacts, although the employment trajectories of these occupations remain uncertain.
03-11-2025 - Good Morning! I made a significant change to the Dealer Ad Exchange program to reinforce the publication's theme of products and services. I'm enjoying a slice of cold, leftover pizza with my coffee this morning. I also have Morse code on the Amateur (ham) Radio running in the background. Let's see what the Mail Carrier brings today!
03-10-2025 - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Economics Daily - From the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, nonfarm business labor productivity increased 2.0 percent, reflecting a 2.6-percent increase in output and a 0.6-percent increase in hours worked. Over-the-year increases in labor productivity have ranged from 2.5 percent to 3.3 percent in each quarter since the third quarter of 2023. In manufacturing, labor productivity increased 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting a 0.4-percent decrease in output and a 0.7-percent decrease in hours worked.
03-10-2025 - Today, there was an offer for a gifting program in the mail. I won't name the program, but I will say that the promoter isn't making any money with it. Why would a dealer, making all the money they claim I can make, mail a sales letter that looks like a copy of a copy of a copy, black specks and fold marks included? I also received an offer for an "envelope stuffing" program. At least they called it what it is. Also enclosed was a program to help people collect unclaimed funds. Again, good quality copies. I also received an offer for a program called Unlimited Income 200! In the sad news department, Carman Enterprises returned my ad order with a note that the offer was no longer available.
03-10-2025 - I got my exercise in at one of our local Walmart stores. No, they don't have a gym or exercise room. What they have are raggedy shopping carts with minds of their own. After I put two cases of water in my cart, it was like lifting weights to keep the cart going straight. I don't know about your Walmart stores, but my local stores should hire a full-time front-end alignment technician for their shopping carts. Either that or get the same smooth-rolling carts Target uses.
03-10-2025 - I received a one-page sales circular selling an item that appears to interest Mail Order Dealers. The circular was neat in appearance, with closely-spaced text and few graphics. It was the kind of sales circular that I liked. The message that this was something I needed was compelling. It told me how many orders I would get and how much money I could make with this item, but after reading about 200 words, I still had no idea what the product was. The cost of this unknown item was $25.00. I had to pass.
03-10-2025 - From the U.S. Federal Trade Commission - Newly released Federal Trade Commission data show that consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which represents a 25% increase over the prior year. According to the FTC’s data book, this number is not driven by an increase in fraud reports, which remained stable. Instead, the percentage of people who reported losing money to a fraud or scam increased by double digits. In 2023, 27% of people who reported a fraud said they lost money, while in 2024, that figure jumped to 38%. Consumers reported losing more money to investment scams—$5.7 billion—than any other category in 2024. That amount represents a 24% increase over 2023. The second highest reported loss amount came from imposter scams, with $2.95 billion reported lost. In 2024, consumers reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined.