Chief Marketer Staff

• Court Upholds Postal Rate Increase

  A consolidated challenge to last January’s rate increase by the U.S. Postal Service was rejected late last week by a federal appeals court in Washington.A

• Short Cuts

  21st Century Marketing Inc., Farmingdale, NY, has appointed Loren Leigh Finkelstein to the position of graphic designer and marketing assistant. She will

• Grolier Buys Weldon

  Grolier Inc., Danbury, CT, has acquired Weldon By Mail, an Australian direct marketer of children’s book programs. The purchase of the Sidney-based company

• Realtors’ Commercial Web Usage Mushrooming

  Approximately 67% of realtors use the Internet for business purposes, and a rapidly growing number of consumers are searching for a home online, according

• Dell To Open Operation in France

  Computer direct marketer Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, TX, will invest 110 million French francs ($17.6 million) to build a new home and small business

• House Panel Puts Off Sweepstakes Bill Hearings

  Thursday’s planned hearing on two bills seeking tighter controls over the direct mail sweepstakes industry by the House postal subcommittee has been postponed

• DIRECT Listline

  Big Bass World Championship.com A 5,000-name file of e-mail subscribers. These fishermen paid an $18 fee and entered a big bass contest online. They receive

• Barnesandnoble.com Loss Cut, Sales Boom

  Online bookseller Barnesandnoble.com Inc., New York, reduced its loss to $22 million for the quarter ended June 30, down from $23.7 million a year ago,

• iMarket Names Reynolds President/CEO

  Business information provider iMarket Inc., Waltham, MA, has named Willard H. Reynolds president/CEO and a company director. He succeeds Richard Davis,

• R.R. Donnelly Net Income Down in Second Quarter

  Printer R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co., Chicago, reports net income, including one-time items, totaled $52 million for the second quarter and $96 million