If you're planning to shop on Black Friday, you may want to check out a cashierless store. Sam's Club, a digital-led warehouse membership group, partnered with Allyson Felix and Usain Bolt, to promote its updated proprietary technology "Scan and Go."
Scan and Go lets shoppers keep track of items they want to purchase and skip the checkout line at Sam's Club, a division of Walmart ($WMT). Cashierless stores were popularized by Amazon Go stores, but the tech company isn't the only player.
"One thing we know in retail is that people want to do two things: they want to save time and they want to save money," Tony Rogers, senior vice president for Sam's Club, told Cheddar.
"In general, what we're trying to do is eliminate friction," he said, touting the speed of the experience. "We wanted to talk about it, and we thought … who exemplifies speed better than Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix?"
The store began using scanning technology a few years ago, but has been updating the software, including adding the ability to scan the entire item instead of just the barcode, which could potentially save more than five seconds on each item.
Sam's Club opened its first cashierless store in Dallas last year.
Rogers said the company is focused on implementing and continuing to update its scanning technology, and that the company may be interested in licensing its technology in the future.
"Inside the company, there's a real tech vibe," he said.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
