USPS’s next battle

| Paul Miller

When the U.S. Postal Service and its two major unions begin contract negotiations on Aug. 25, the unions will demand their share of revenue from the January

Walter Drake lends a hand

| MCM staff

A year after acquiring the Walter Drake catalog of personalized gifts, Foster & Gallagher (F&G) is using the title to boost sales of and supply merchandise

Firing up TransAmerica

| Paul Miller

Having bought multititle cataloger TransAmerica Holdings in April, former Arizona Mail Order executive vice president Gary Giesler is busy with plans

Users remain wary

| Shannon Oberndorf

If the first rule of cataloging is “listen to your customers,” online catalogers had better begin posting online privacy policy notices. According to

Nabisco shelves gifts book

| MCM staff

The Nabisco Direct catalog of branded gifts has become the victim of its $8.7 billion parent firm’s new corporate strategy. In May, at the order of Nabisco

Creating the instant impulse to buy

| MCM staff

If you had your druthers, would you rather sell or describe? n Careful, now. Before any “of course” knee-jerk response, consider: We’re in the catalog

Cover

| MCM staff

FULCRUM DIRECT CHIEFS RESIGN Fulcrum Direct CEO Mike Lederman and president/COO Scott Budoff both resigned in mid-June, and as of mid-July, the Fulcrum

New Catalogs

| Sophia Burke

Mimi a la Mode If you think shower caps are boring and ugly, you haven’t seen the Mimi a la Mode catalog of decorative shower caps. “Shower caps are our

Barbie’s new sibling

| Shannon Oberndorf

Barbie may finally get her own catalog, now that her parent company, Mattel, has entered the business. On June 15, the $4.8 billion toy manufacturer agreed