More retailers are getting into the business of seamless shopping by implementing cameras that track items and tabulate the cost, making the customer experience swift, efficient, and headache-free by removing waiting lines.
Circle K convenience stores are in for a makeover, through a partnership with autonomous checkout company Standard Cognition.
"We're trying to constantly look for things to make our customers' lives a bit easier every day," Magnus Tägtström, head of global innovation at Circle K, told Cheddar.
While similar technology has been used at stores like Amazon Go, Standard Cognition's priority, according to CEO Jordan Fisher, is making the customer experience as simple as possible while protecting their identities.
"We have a no facial recognition policy. It's a bright red line for us," Fisher told Cheddar. "As a computer vision company, as a company that leverages cameras, it's incredibly important for us that we're doing this in a principled way."
When it comes to accuracy, Tägtström said each location in a Circle K store is visible by at least three cameras, making it easier to account for items removed or set back in place.
The approach taken by Circle K and Standard Cognition to offer an easier shopping experience by solely using cameras, according to Fisher, is more cost effective and less time consuming than other brands that typically need to remodel their stores to accommodate the new technology.
"It's the same stores that their shoppers know and love; it's the same products — really the same experience, just without the lines," he said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
