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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has made headlines more than once in 2015. The company faced one of the biggest fines in automotive history for mishandling recalls, had to rework the software for many of its Jeep models after a major hack, and has recently announced that it will be pulling the plug on production of its Dodge Viper for 2017.
Along with other changes, FCA’s decision to cease production of the Viper was released in the details of a new contract with the United Auto Workers Union (UAW). While the Viper has a global fan following, it simply has not sold well. It’s no surprise that this sleek American muscle car is capable of turning many heads when it rolls down any street, and it’s a car that will be missed by many auto-lovers.
If you are planning to pursue car mechanic training, read on to learn more about the history of the infamous Dodge Viper, and find out some of the items that were mentioned in the new FCA contract.
A Brief History of the Dodge Viper for Students in Car Mechanic Training
The Dodge Viper was first unveiled as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 1989. At the time, Dodge was mass producing vehicles that were anything but interesting (think: Dodge Aries) in an effort to pay back government loans.
The Viper, however, was unlike anything that anyone had ever seen. It was gorgeous, sleek, and ridiculously fast thanks to its huge 8-litre V-10 engine. The car received a lot of attention in Detroit, and was an immediate hit in the auto world—even before it went into production a few years later.
The first generation Viper RT/10 roadster didn’t disappoint. Its body contours resembled the concept, except for a few small changes, such as a longer windshield and bigger rear-view mirrors. Its 8.0-litre overhead-valve V10 was one of the most powerful and unusual production engines in the world at the time. The Viper was able to go from 0-96 km/h in 4.4 seconds and beat a lot of records set by another early ’90s icon: the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1.
Graduates of auto mechanic training school know that the Viper SRT-10—which originally began production in 2003—has a slightly larger 8.3-litre V10 capable of producing 500hp. Helping contain all this power are the widest stock rear wheels offered on a U.S. production car, at 19-by-13 inches. Modifications boosted the Viper’s maximum hp up to 510 by 2006. Today’s Viper sport coupes are equipped with a V10 similar to the original that’s capable of producing 650hp.
Other FCA Changes Will Affect Professionals With Car Mechanic Training
All Dodge Vipers are currently hand-built by about 80 employees at FCA’s Conner Avenue plant in Detroit. There are currently no plans announced for the plant once production on the Viper ceases, but auto fans and pros with car mechanic training are hoping that the company has another supercar up its sleeve.
FCA did announce, however, that it will be making changes to the current design of the eight-speed automatic transmission that’s used on almost all of its rear-wheel drive cars. The “Gen 1” to “Gen 2” switch will focus on efficiency. The company did not provide a timeline on the change, but if you’re planning to work at a facility that does maintenance and repair on a large number of FCA cars, you should be hearing more news shortly.
Are you interested in becoming a mechanic?
Visit CATI to learn more about our programs or to speak with an advisor.


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Deere created the program in 1991 to provide suppliers with evaluations and feedback that promote continuous improvement, Michelin said. Award selections are based on creativity, feasibility, collaboration and bottom-line impact.
Emmanuel Ladent, group director of Michelin's agriculture tire division, accepted the award during a ceremony hosted by Deere in Bettendorf.
“Our business teams have worked very hard indeed to establish a spirit of mutual partnership with our associates at John Deere,” Mr. Ladent said, “which has resulted in a strong and growing relationship between our companies.”
The tire maker also was represented by members from its teams in agriculture, earthmover and Tweel technologies divisions.
Michelin delivers products to Deere sites in the U.S., Brazil, Germany and Netherlands.

domain: news


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Rather unusually, Alibaba and Sea Ltd. released their latest quarterly results this week, after the Chinese giant cut its projections and delayed the release two weeks earlier in November.
And they give a relatively grim reading, having missed its targets for two consecutive quarters and slashed its guidance for the full 2022 fiscal year.
While much of the company’s problems are due to a downturn in China and Beijing’s political crackdown on the country’s digital mega-corporations, the company is doing just as badly overseas.
Alibaba hits the ceiling
Its sales on the continent are still strong, but appear to have reached a limit.
The company saw a 33% year-over-year increase in Chinese retailing, but at RMB 126.8 billion, it was down 6.7% from the quarter ending in June, when its revenue had increased. peaked at RMB 135.8 billion.
It’s a similar story overseas, with revenues down to $ 1.61 billion from $ 1.67 billion in the previous three months, down about 3.6%.
In fact, Alibaba has been at the same level of around $ 1.5 billion to $ 1.6 billion per quarter since the start of 2021, indicating that it has reached the limits of its growth outside China at a when its competitors are progressing rapidly.
Meanwhile, Shopee’s parent company Sea Ltd. just posted third-quarter 2021 revenue of US $ 1.5 billion, up 134.4 percent year-on-year and 25 percent. % quarter over quarter (vs. approximately US $ 1.2 billion in the second quarter).
Given the trajectory through Q4 2021 and the fact that it added US $ 300-400 million per quarter this year, it seems certain that Shopee has either closed that remaining small gap or already passed Alibaba.
Unlike its Chinese competitor, Sea Ltd. for the second time increased its projections for the year as a whole.
Last quarter, it forecast as high as $ 4.9 billion in e-commerce revenue and this quarter’s forecast puts it in the range of $ 5 billion to $ 5.2 billion for all of 2021 – albeit given its current rate, it could very well exceed expectations again and even in the United States. $ 5.5 billion is not beyond the possibilities.
This is especially likely given its recent entry into new markets in Europe and India, which, while small, will boost the company’s revenue during the generally busy end of the year.
The future is not smooth for Sea
While these results may suggest that the company is doing extremely well, we cannot forget that its business model relies on the profits generated by Garena’s digital entertainment arm, which offsets some of the costs incurred by the growth of others. Shopee and Sea services.
As you can see below, after seeing an increase in bookings during the pandemic, Garena’s growth appears to be normalizing, which could have ripple effects on Shopee’s growth as well.
If the digital entertainment industry experiences a drop in profit margins (heaven forbid), Sea’s overall performance can be severely affected – and quickly – as the company continues to lose money in pursuit of shares. market elsewhere, particularly in electronic commerce.
It still has pretty deep pockets at the moment, considering its market capitalization, which has skyrocketed over the past two years and currently sits at US $ 170 billion (with forecasts of over US $ 200 billion). Americans by companies like Bank of America, Citigroup or UBS).
As a result, he was able to raise nearly US $ 9 billion in the past year alone and currently has around US $ 11 billion in cash.
That said, the gradual normalization of life with Covid-19 around the world is expected to slow the growth of digital services, which have received a huge boost with billions of people trapped in their homes during the pandemic.
The immediate future still looks bright, with e-commerce revenue expected to increase by 51% in 2022, bringing it to over $ 7.5 billion.
That said, establishing a stronger and more profitable footing in more developed markets (e.g. Europe) is likely to cost the company dearly in the years to come, as it still competes for market share in the future. Asia and Latin America.
To manage them successfully, he needs to start generating profits from his more mature clients and offloading the burdens that Garena has borne over the past two years.
Undoubtedly, Sea used the opportunity that Covid-19 presented to its absolute maximum, reinvesting everything he could to ride the wave. Now it’s a matter of building on those gains, and the next two are likely to show us just how stable and sustainable Shopee’s presence in the world will be.
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The presence of electric cars is believed to be driving vehicle fuel diversification from oil to electricity which has a significant impact on air quality. Not only that, the presence of electric cars will also reduce the volume of fuel imports.
However, electric cars are very necessary because fuel consumption continues to increase along with the growth in the number of motorized vehicles as well as the strengthening of highway infrastructure.
in the future it is difficult to balance the increase in demand or fuel consumption. One way to reduce fuel imports or import crude oil is by electric cars.
In order to realise the government’s target of 30 percent EV penetration by 2030, utilities will need to significantly invest in grid upgradation and the development of publicly available fast-charging stations to support the planned EV growth.


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The rest of the week will be busy for Google and the whole Android community. The Google I/O 2021 has started earlier today and we have heard a lot of new things to expect from the tech giant. The opening keynote introduced us to numerous products and services from the company. Right now, we’ll focus our attention on Android 12.
Link: Android 12 Beta 1 starts rolling out for Pixel phones


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New York—Chief marketing officers and chief communications officers continue to spar over the ownership of social media, according to a study from PR agency Makovsky+Co.
The report found more than 74% of CMOs and CCOs responding cited responsibility for social media as an area in which they fail to collaborate effectively. However, 86% of respondents said that they do work well together on more traditional corporate and brand identity programs.
The online survey, conducted from July through October, drew responses from 174 marketing, PR and corporate communications VPs.
Asked why greater collaboration between corporate marketing and PR departments is being emphasized by companies, almost 79% of respondents said that the “growing impact of reputation on consumers' buying decisions” is the primary motivation; 67% of respondents cited the “increased voice of consumers” due to the growth of conversations on social media.
“If CMOs and CCOs become companywide ambassadors for social, work together to bring an authentic narrative to market, use analytics to gain deeper consumer insights and to measure brand campaigns and reputation, then true collaboration between CMOs and CCOs in the digital age will be achieved,” said Tim Kane, exec VP-head of the digital branding practice at Makovsky, in a statement.


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September is National Preparedness Month and organizations across the country have been promoting disaster preparedness. Maybe you’ve heard an ad on the radio or TV or seen a billboard.
Disaster preparedness is important year round: not just in September. It is never too early to create a disaster plan for yourself, your family, your animals, and your business. FEMA’s Ready.gov website has an interesting page Today is the Day Before featuring a map of the U.S with states covered in dates. Those dates represent the “day before” a major disaster impacting that state. The page changes to show the next date – the day a plan was needed. Click on a state and you can learn about the disaster that affected that state.
It’s an important reminder to have a plan in place because you never know when disaster will strike. For information on creating a plan, check out the AVMA’s disaster preparedness pages for pet owners and veterinarians and the AVMA’s disaster preparedness materials which include the AVMA’s Saving the Whole Family brochure which is available in English and Spanish.
On another note, soon I’ll be taking the emergency preparedness message international as I travel to the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine in Scotland to give presentations on emergency preparedness and response to students.


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Consumer advocates are fighting a new rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency that aims to address concerns over “inert” ingredients, including fragrances and dyes, in pesticides for non-food use. They say the proposal, which could become final this year, doesn’t go far enough to protect human health and the environment from the ingredients’ potential impacts, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN).
Britt E. Erickson, a senior editor at C&EN, explains that current EPA regulations require manufacturers of pesticides for non-food use, such as wood preservatives and flea repellents, to reveal these products’ active ingredients but not the additives. The industry says disclosing the rest of the ingredients would allow competitors to copy their proprietary formulations. But consumer advocates argue that these additives, despite what their inert label implies, are not necessarily harmless.
The fight over regulations for these inert ingredients dates back nearly 10 years. In a 2006 petition, advocacy groups and 15 state attorneys general claimed that 371 of these additives are hazardous to people’s health. Three years later, the EPA responded by proposing a rule to require companies to disclose all pesticides’ inert ingredients but then replaced it in 2014 with a ban on 72 of them. The agency is accepting comments until Jan. 20 and could finalize the rule later this year.
Source: American Chemical Society


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We are currently on the lookout for a skilled Web Developer to join our web team
30th August 2011
Bluestorm has once again been shortlisted for two awards from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Our work has been nominated in two categories of the CIPR’s Yorkshire and Lincolnshire PRide Awards, showcasing work from every team in our integrated agency, from marketing and advertising to design, new media and PR.
Bluestorm’s campaign for East Yorkshire’s Dove House Hospice has been shortlisted in the Not For Profit Category, while our work for popular factory shopping outlet Hornsea Freeport has earned us a place among the finalists in the Integrated Communications category.
More than 1,000 entries were received by the CIPR for this year’s awards, which span 12 regions of the UK and are judged by a national panel of industry experts.
This is the third consecutive year that we’ve been shortlisted for a CIPR PRide Award. In 2009 and 2010 we won gold awards for our work with Holland’s Pies and GreenPalm respectively. Fingers crossed for a hat-trick come November, when the presentation dinner will be held in Leeds.
Commenting on the PRide shortlist, CIPR chief executive Jane Wilson said: “The CIPR PRide Awards celebrate the best PR and campaigns from the profession across the UK. To be shortlisted for an award demonstrates exemplary achievement, impact and value – immediately putting their work in the spotlight. Congratulations to everyone for reaching this stage.”


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The Google Mobile team unveiled a new type of search results today: Android and iPhone native apps. It’s a great idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
Try searching for terms like “Bank of America app,” or “download Shazam” on your Android or iPhone and the app store’s top search result will appear at the top of the page. Unfortunately, I tried deliberately searching for a long list of specific apps and types of apps but didn’t get the new kind of results in very many cases. This will have to change in time, the opportunity is just too big.
It would be more helpful if “mobile apps” was a new type of search that could be performed, if the results were broader and if mobile Web apps were privileged in the same kind of way.
These search results ought to recognize your context (mobile) and present relevant apps whether you know to look for them or not.
It is a relief to see that Google points to the iTunes store in searches on an iPhone, instead of saying, “you should buy an Android phone.” As Steve Jobs said yesterday, just because you’re competing with someone doesn’t mean you have to be rude.
App Stores Will Only Get Bigger & Better
The app store model is a radical change from standard Web page search. It’s curated by user voting and in some cases by the platform vendor. Apps are stand-alone bundles of functionality that a user returns to again and again, at least in theory. They are different from Web pages and the app store model compliments the chaotic, interconnected Web nicely.
Google’s desktop browser Chrome recently unveiled plans to include a web app store of its own. App stores are hot already, but they are only going to get hotter. (See this list of 75 different app stores just for mobile platforms, for example.)
There are also a wide variety of app store models that could jostle for market share as the market expands. As Peggy Anne Salz wrote yesterday on MSearchGroove:
According to Sizing Up The Global Apps Market, the recent milestone report from Chetan Sharma Consulting (commissioned by independent app store GetJar), app downloads are expected to rise from over 7 billion in 2009 (Asia accounted for a whopping 37 percent of the total) to almost 50 billion by 2012. Revenue is forecast to increase from $4.1 billion in 2009 to $17.5 billion by 2012. Predictably, a variety of models — ranging from paid apps and apps bundled with subscription offers, to ad-funded schemes and loyalty programs that raise brand awareness – will drive distribution and monetization.
50 billion downloads? That smells like a great opportunity for paid search placement, affiliate links to app stores and more.
App search, discovery, sharing, and to some degree recommendation (iTunes Genius is pretty good already) are big new opportunities for development. It’s disappointing to see Google Mobile announce something as lackluster as this feature is today. Hopefully it will improve quickly. It’s a great idea.


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Wednesday 9th May 2018
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New Zealand retail spending on electronic cards was lower than expected in April as consumers spent less on groceries, liquor and fuel in what Statistics New Zealand described as "unusual" figures.
Seasonally adjusted total retail spending on credit and debit cards fell 2.2 percent in April after lifting 1.5 percent in March, Stats NZ said. Economists had expected the number to be flat, according to a Bloomberg poll. Core retail spending, excluding fuel and vehicles, fell 2.3 percent after lifting 2 percent in the prior month.
"The fall in retail card spending is unusually large. It was driven by a drop in sales of groceries and liquor, as well as an unexpected dip in fuel,” Stats NZ business performance senior manager Peter Dolan said in a statement. “The drop in fuel sales was unexpected because petrol prices rose as much as 9 cents a litre during the April month."
Stats NZ said it looked closely at the "unusual retail sales figures for April". Dolan said the results may be affected by changes in consumer behaviour, payment methods, or the way the electronic card transactions were processed.
"We will continue to explore the data with our suppliers to further understand these movements," Dolan said.
Consumables spending, which covers grocery and liquor retailing, fell 3.6 percent in April. Spending on durables - which includes hardware, furniture and appliances - lifted 0.1 percent in the month while hospitality fell 0.9 percent. Apparel spending lifted 0.1 percent on the month. Spending on vehicles rose 2.9 percent while spending on fuel fell 2.9 percent.
Today's figures show actual total retail spending rose 0.8 percent to $5.07 billion in April from the same month year earlier.
Card-holders across all industries made 139 million transactions in the month, down from 151 million in March. The average value of $49 was unchanged on the month and the year.
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Steel & Tube turnaround continues with 49% jump in first-half net profit
February 18th Morning Report
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MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares dip as global trade jitters weigh on A2, F&P
NZ dollar set for weekly gain after Reserve Bank surprise
Burger Fuel exploring sale after review questions listing merits
New net migration data to remain rubbery for quite some time


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With a wave of used lithium-ion batteries coming to market, UL is preparing to issue second-life standards for safety, performance, and durability.
Plug-in electrified vehicle batteries are being used for emergency back-up power and as the foundation for startups of new subsidiaries like Tesla Energy. A Forbes writer spoke with Ken Boyce, UL’s principal engineering director of energy and power technologies, on the role the organization will be playing in the future of second-life, or repurposed, PEV batteries.
UL (Underwriters Laboratories) conducted over 96,000 product evaluations last year, and is considered to be on a similar level as the SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers) and the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for evaluating durability and safety in new technologies. UL is expected to soon launch standards for evaluating second-life PEV lithium ion batteries.
Boyce said that UL has been studying applications for second-life batteries for years. The organization sees a need for a lifecycle management program for an asset with much potential. There are a number of challenges to overcome in repurposing used PEV batteries for the power grid, whether it’s on-site or at utility scale, he said.
UL is developing a protocol where used PEV batteries will be put through a series of tests to ensure safe applications. A surveillance program is being established to make sure safety standards are followed to “establish confidence that the ongoing program is the same as what we have run through in the test program,” he said. “That’s how the certification program generally works.”
The usual destructive product tests used by UL can’t be deployed with used PEV batteries. In this case, UL is assembling advanced analytical techniques to understand the performance and durability of the battery. UL will be working with stakeholder parties in this phase, including national laboratories, academia, industry experts, and the user community. Once a set of standards are approved, the UL will release them into the public domain to inform everyone in the stakeholder community about the requirements.
That won’t be the end of the process for UL. Online testing will come next, through internal testing programs being adopted by several corporations. UL can add the credibility of external, independent testing to the process.
The next step will be to work battery makers and other manufacturers to see how the protocols are being followed. “We work with manufacturers and go into locations and do audits to establish confidence that products meet requirements,” he said.


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Factbox: As Spotify begins trading, a mixed bag for recent tech IPOs
Shares of music streaming service Spotify Technology SA are set to begin trading on Tuesday.
The Swedish company skipped a conventional initial public offering (IPO) and is listing shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange with few of the safeguards provided by investment banks that would normally manage the process.
Shares were last indicated to trade between $150 and $160. That compared with the reference price, an early estimate of the level at which supply and demand could be balanced, set by NYSE late on Monday at $132.
Multi-billion dollar tech companies who are looking to list without issuing new shares may be looking at Spotify`s debut as a test case for the IPO alternative. Here is how technology companies have fared following recent IPOs: Company IPO Date IPO Price First-day Pct change
pct change since IPO
Snap 28-Feb-17 $17 44% -18%
Mulesoft 16-Mar-17 $17 46% 159%
Cloudera 27-Apr-17 $15 21% 46%
Blue Apron 28-Jun-17 $10 0% -82%
Roku 27-Sep-17 $14 68% 120%
Dropbox 22-Mar-18 $21 36% 43%
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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This story was written by MediaGuardian.
By Mark Sweney:
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Publicis Groupe, owner of ad networks including Saatchi & Saatchi, have struck a deal to tap into data from TV set-top boxes to deliver highly targeted TV ads. The deal, which will also create new digital advertising formats, was struck with Publicis Groupe’s combined media operation Vivaki and announced at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. “Everything in this announcement is about digital media,” said Curt Hecht, president of Vivaki Nerve Centre. “It is about more accountability in TV advertising, which is long overdue, using data and technology. On the content side, it will allow companies to better build brands and we are also looking to the future of advertising with new formats.” Vivaki will develop an advertising exchange using Microsoft’s Admira technology, which taps into user data in set-top boxes.
Publicis Groupe clients will be able to buy audience-specific ads based on information gleaned from the viewing habits of US households who watch TV using set-top boxes.
The second part of the deal involves developing new digital ad formats and will build on Publicis Groupe’s existing initiative, called the Pool, an alliance involving Microsoft, CBS (NYSE: CBS), Hulu, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), AOL (NYSE: TWX) and Discovery (NSDQ: DISAB) that has created a new pre-roll advertising format expected to launch in January.
After today’s deal, Microsoft will help develop and launch 10 advertising formats in different areas, including user-generated content, mobile phones and social marketing.
The two companies will collaborate on creating digital content for Publicis Groupe clients.
Microsoft will support Publicis-owned PBJS, a production studio, to develop digital content and programming ideas that Publicis Groupe advertisers will be able to sponsor, ad fund or otherwise support.
“Marketing is not an exact science, it is the last great area that needs to be made more efficient,” said Scott Howe, corporate vice president of advertiser and publisher solutions at Microsoft. “The famous quote that advertisers don’t know which 50% of their advertising is being wasted [can still] be true. This collaboration could change the industry.”
The deal is non-exclusive.
— David adds: Microsoft has come out with a flurry of media buyer announcements this week to capitalize on the focused attention of the ad industry at Cannes. A few days ago, Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands unit said it will be working with Microsoft on software that automate certain functions in the media buying and planning cycle. The Vivaki arrangement is essentially an small expansion of the “open source” platform that Publicis Groupe unveiled a year ago this month when it announced a parnership with Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Google (NSDQ: GOOG). The agency’s alliance with Microsoft on targeted TV ads also suggests that media buyers are waiting for the slow movement of companies like the MSO-backed Canoe Ventures to produce an actionable addressable TV platform.


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What you need to know
- Ninja Theory was recently acquired by Microsoft to boost its first-party lineup.
- The team has worked on Hellblade and other acclaimed titles in the past.
- It looks like its next project is called "Bleeding Edge."
- According to an alleged leaked trailer, it's an online melee action game.
A few weeks ago, rumors started to fly around that Ninja Theory — a recent Xbox Game Studios acquisition — was working on a new melee game called "Bleeding Edge." While details were scarce, it appeared to feature an online component where teams of four players battled each other in tight arenas. The game should be revealed during Microsoft's media briefing on June 9, but it may have been confirmed through a leaked trailer.
Today, an outlet named "Xboxer" posted a rather interesting trailer on its website. The video showcases Bleeding Edge, an online four vs. four melee game, which features a lot of quirky characters like Gizmo. The aesthetic reminded us of Overwatch more than anything else. The production values seem top-notch, and given the clarity of the trailer and what it would take to fake a video like this, it may be genuine.
As with any such leak, take it with a grain of salt until we receive official confirmation. We should know for sure in a day. Microsoft doesn't comment on rumors and speculation, so we probably won't get a confirmation before the event. The trailer also stated that a Technical Alpha test was going to take place on June 27.
Bleeding Edge seems like a game that's ideal for Xbox Game Pass. Many gamers probably won't buy it outright due to its alleged online-only nature, but they may try it if it's part of the subscription.
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Free Ernst & Young Nightfall Software Helps Apply Ethereum Blockchain Tech for Corporate Clients
Industries around the world are quickly finding the value that blockchain has to offer, but not everyone is prepared to implement it with their current infrastructure.
EY, one of the Big Four firms that deals in professional services, has been working on free software that is finally ready to roll out, which will ensure that corporate clients are able to easily use the Ethereum blockchain.
On Tuesday, EY announced the creation of the Nightfall protocol, which was developed over the course of the last year as an effort between 200 blockchain developers. It will not be published for public use until May, but it was developed as a way to apply the blockchain to more use cases, including supply chains, public finance, food tracing, and more.
Nightfall uses zero-knowledge proofs, which make it possible to perform private transactions that are logged on a shared ledger, which is a lot like the way that other enterprise blockchain platforms work. However, to set themselves apart, the software from EY is designed to specifically run on the public Ethereum network, rather than a private ledger.
EY is also breaking the mold on the handling of intellectual property with their software. Rather than just open-sourcing the code for developers, it will remain on the public domain with absolutely no license. The global innovation leader for blockchain at EY, Paul Brody, spoke at a press briefing about this decision, saying that the company’s goal is to “maximize adoption and community involvement.”
The whole point of creating this software is that the public will adopt, adapt, and even improve the protocols. Brody feels that, if EY decides to license it and establish direct ownership, there may be less participation from the public in these improvements. As he said, the “cleanest” option is to “just give it away with no strings attached.” Still, the decision was difficult, as Brody admitted that the software is “a million dollars’ worth of stuff we’re giving away.”
Consumers should remember that there is a significant difference between “open source” and “public domain.” Preston Byrne, who is a partner at the Byrne & Storm law firm, points out that the two phrases mean different things from a legal standpoint, even though people in the industry like to use them “interchangeably.”
Open-source software is available to developers and other users to take advantage of without the need to pay royalties, despite being licensed. The author of the software is the owner, and they can change or withdraw the license at any time.
Byrne noted that he has never witnessed this kind of change in cryptocurrency before, adding that the option of playing around with a code is often the selling point for adoption.
Public domain, however, means that the author or creator no longer holds on to the rights of the software, which Byrne says is relatively rare. In not assuming ownership, it is possible for disputes to arise if the software ends up on a copyright-waived codebase. However, there is no real risk in making the software available in a public domain.
The Nightfall solution is made to work on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which should assure potential clients that the protocol is more familiar than they realize. The solutions are already involved with SAP’s enterprise software as well, and there is already testing of the system in several endeavors.
One such solution tested is for the Xbox video games platform, where the protocol will help with the tracking of software license transactions. Microsoft has the ability to watch over interactions involving game vendors, which can eliminate their battle with royalty payments as well.
The protocol is being tested with Carriefour, a European grocery chain, helping to trace oranges, eggs, and chickens on the blockchain. Carrefour is already a participant of the Food Trust blockchain, which is a program implemented by IBM. Other participants in the testing include the Placido Volpoine Italian winery, an “Italian buffalo mozzarella maker,” and “a big Japanese car maker,” according to Brody.
Over the last year of development, Brody has been praising the way that blockchain technology can help enterprises, which has helped to keep EY in the public eye and connected with the fintech. Brody commented that there is a place to use private blockchains, but a public blockchain is more suited to “massive, scalable transformation” that needs to happen in supply chain management.
Brody feels that enterprises will warm up to public blockchains with the same approach and speed that these companies did with public cloud storage. He also is confident that the companies will ultimately chose to work with Ethereum over any other platform, due to the substantial involvement with companies on their blockchain and Ethereum’s smart contract language – Solidity.”
The EY blockchain leader added that this “momentum” alone gives him confidence that “Ethereum is the choice.”


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Canada’s retail industry is scrambling to move goods from Alberta to parts of British Columbia, where many consumers are stocking up on groceries and other household items after flooding cut off major trade corridors in and out of Vancouver.
Retail chains are altering their transportation strategies with plans to send trucks westward from Alberta, compared with the normal pattern of sending trucking goods eastward from Vancouver warehouses to the Fraser Valley and Interior.
“There’s one grocer that supplies most of British Columbia from Calgary. So they won’t be having problems getting stuff to the Interior, but they’d have to send any trucks headed for Vancouver Island through Washington State,” said Greg Wilson, the Retail Council of Canada’s director of government relations in British Columbia.
Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety, cautioned against hoarding. “Yes, we have routes that are challenged, but you know what? There are large areas of the province where those routes are not compromised and supplies are going to get through,” he said.
Mr. Wilson said hoarding results in shortages at stores, whether it’s toilet paper or salt, and such consumer behaviour would prolong efforts to ensure grocery shelves are fully stocked.
“One thing you would hope we’d have learned a lesson in the beginning of the pandemic, but I don’t think we did – panic-buying wasn’t helpful and it also wasn’t necessary. You don’t need a year’s worth of toilet paper,” he said.
Mr. Wilson said he has seen photos on social media that show empty store shelves in B.C. Interior communities such as Kamloops, which is housing many evacuees from Merritt, a 90-minute drive south.
Kamloops isn’t cut off, but all of Merritt had evacuation orders on Monday, after record-setting rainfall flooded the community, triggered mudslides and washouts on highways and rail lines in and out of Vancouver.
The power was still out in Hope when Julie Kwa opened her convenience store, Bee’s Market, mid-morning on Monday, but she and her husband wanted to offer food with nutritional value to travellers who had just spent a cold night stranded in their vehicles.
“One customer told me she didn’t drink any water and she didn’t eat anything while stuck in the car – she bought everything,” Ms. Kwa told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday over the phone in between serving customers.
Within three hours that day, all the milk, cheese and bread had been sold, she said. She is still selling soda pop, candy, cigarettes and lottery tickets, and has no idea when she can restock her shelves.
She said she has not heard from her local cheese supplier, and Coca-Cola has told her more of its products won’t be coming until the TransCanada Highway is reopened to truck traffic from Abbotsford to the west.
She said she usually buys her bread from Costco and milk from the local grocery stores, but the megastore is unreachable due to the highways being severed and all the shelves in her town are barren of these staples.
On Wednesday, the District of Hope announced that the provincial emergency services agency would deliver more meals via helicopter that day for any of the thousand or more stranded motorists who wanted to use reception centres at a local church and high school.
During a news conference that same day, B.C. Premier John Horgan declared a provincial state of emergency.
“Please do not hoard items. What you need, your neighbours need as well,” Mr. Horgan said.
Feyza Sahinyazan, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s business school who studies supply chains, said Metro Vancouver will have shortages of certain foods in the coming weeks, but these items should be replenished relatively soon from alternate routes.
The fruits and vegetables eaten on Canada’s West Coast are largely imported through the Port of Vancouver, Dr. Sahinyazan said. The rural parts of Abbotsford under water are home to a sizable number of chicken and dairy farms, but she could not predict how the flooding would affect the supply of these commodities.
Mr. Farnworth said the B.C. government is working closely with energy distributors to ensure gasoline and other fuel supplies don’t run out.
Vancouver International Airport said on Wednesday it has sufficient aircraft fuel inventory to meet short-term demand. However, it’s monitoring supplies to assess and respond to possible long-term impact.
Community members band together to rescue stranded cattle from farms after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Mayor Henry Braun is calling on the province for help, as an imminent failure of a pump station is anticipated to worsen the existing flooding conditions.
With a report from Emma Graney
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The revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement now under its new name Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will be formally signed in Chile on March 8, and will become operational as soon as at least six members ratify it. The 11 remaining countries from the initial TPP finally agreed to go ahead with a new deal without the US.
The deal reduces the scope for controversial investor-state dispute settlements, where foreign investors can bypass national courts and sue governments for compensation for harming their investments. It further incorporates enhanced safeguards to protect governments’ right to regulate in the public interest and prevent unwarranted claims.
The new agreement a considerable win for Australian farmers and service providers in a trading area valued at about A$90 billion, is more of an umbrella framework for separate yet coordinated bilateral deals. Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo asserts that the agreement will deliver 18 new free-trade agreements between the CPTPP parties. For Australia that means new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and enhanced market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
This will ensure a speedier process for reducing import barriers on key Australian products which includes absorbent cotton. It also promises less competition for Australian services exports, encouraging other governments to consider Australian services and reduces the regulations of state-owned enterprises.
The new CPTPP rose from the ashes of the old agreement because of the inclusion of a list of 20 suspended provisions on issues that were of interest to the US. These would be reinstated post a US comeback. In fact, the scope of investor-state dispute settlements are narrower in the CPTPP, because foreign private companies who enter an investment contract with the Australian government will not be able to use it if there is a dispute about that contract.
The one part of the agreement relating to temporary entry for businesspersons is somewhat limited in scope and does not have the ability to affect low-skilled or struggling categories of Australian workers. Some parts of the original agreement are still included in the CPTPP such as tariffs schedules that slash custom duties on 95 per cent of trade in goods.


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Small gas stations appear to be struggling these days, while large c-stores with a number of gas pumps are popping up and prospering, at least in Lancaster, Pa., Lancasteronline.com reported.
“If we were relying on gas sales alone, we’d be out of business. There isn’t enough of a markup to stay open,” said Jeff Mearig, an owner of Brunnerville Garage in Lancaster.
At least five stations in Lancaster and its suburbs closed their doors during the past three years, but meanwhile larger c-stores with numerous gas islands have opened and succeeded. The opposing trend began decades ago when consumers began shifting their buying habits.
The overall number of gas stations in Lancaster County has dipped to 183, down 45 (or 19.7%) since 1991, according to county records, Lancasteronline.com reported. The decline is even more severe in the city where there are now 14 gas stations, down a third from 21 in 1991.
So why are c-stores doing so well when small gas stations are suffering? The answer stands in the way the different models do business.
C-stores with gas islands are diversified and offer foodservice and other merchandise that can make up for lost profits at the gas pump. By showcasing lower gas prices, c-stores work to attract motorists to the pumps and then inside the store where they are likely to purchase products.
“The reality of the (c-store chains) is, they live and die by their ‘inside’ sales….,” said an industry executive, who requested anonymity. “If they were forced to run their businesses based on the profits of their gas islands, they’d have a very difficult time,” he added.
Meanwhile, many small gas stations are further at a disadvantage because they buy gas from a local distributor, which charges a fee to deliver the fuel. C-store chains have the advantage of being able to save money by buying directly from refiners, while others have their own delivery fleets.
With business changing, it’s important to find balance. Gabe Olives, vice president of petroleum and information technology, Turkey Hill Minit Markets compared the c-store strategy to a personal investment strategy. “A good stock portfolio is diverse across sectors,” said Olives. Diversification is exactly what many c-stores today are focusing on, upgrading foodservice options and providing other merchandise to attract consumers within the store.


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Aguda Local Council Development Area has partnered with a foremost pastry producer, De United Foods Industry, makers of Indomie Noodles to empower its residents.
The firm has donated 100 free Indomie branded kiosks as a way of paying back to the communities.
Tagged: Indomie Buka, the event featured cooking and eating of the pastry.
The ceremony was led by the council Chairman, Hon. Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe. “This is interesting; our council chairman has showcased what it takes to be a good wife and mother. We are lucky to have her at the helms of affairs. Aside this, she is also a good cook. I envy her,” said one of the guests.
Mrs Akinyemi-Obe thanked the De United Foods Industry for keying into her programme.
She said:”This is a manifestation of corporate organisation’s trust in our empowerment drive. Reducing poverty is one of the major programmes of my administration, which must be tackled to alleviate the suffering of our people in Coker/Aguda. My administration has taken the bull by the horn by going an extra mile to procure Indomie Buka from De United Foods Industry. My administration has also taken up the responsibility of signage in order not to impede your operation,” she said.
Akinyemi-Obe urged beneficiaries to be prudent with the economic gains from the venture and make the government proud.


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AXL Affiliates has completed the acquisition of Mvideoslots for six-figure fee.
The deal covers all Mvideoslots.com assets, with the Malta-based AXL planning to integrate these under its own brand.
AXL Affiliates CEO Alex Munteanu said: “The acquisition of Mvideoslots is fully in line with AXL’s ambition to succeed in the online gambling affiliate business. Mvideoslots is a recognised iGaming jewel and will enable AXL to integrate an online casino affiliate program into our portfolio of activities.
“This transaction will also enable AXL, its managers and its employees to benefit from Mvideoslots’s experience in the online casino affiliate business. Finally, it will give AXL the necessary means to successfully accelerate its development.”
Mvideoslots operates as a casino affiliate company, while AXL is as an igaming affiliate firm that boasts a network of over 2000 sports and gaming specialised websites.
AXL Affiliates is one of the world’s renowned iGaming affiliate companies, who delivers more than 6000 new customers on a monthly basis from its network of over 2000 sports and gaming specialised websites.
Munteanu added: “We take pride in building iGaming affiliate brands that people appreciate. We have always given the best of ourselves and still stand behind that desire.”


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vivo has been reportedly developing the S17 series, which will apparently go head to head with the HONOR 90 series and OPPO Reno 10 series in its home market. While nothing has been officially announced by the brand, reliable tipster Digital Chat Station (DCS) posted what it alleges to be the specs for the lineup.
The series will purportedly consist of three devices, namely the S17, S17 Pro and S17e. The tipster revealed that the vanilla S17 will run on the Snapdragon SM7325, which appears to be either the Snapdragon 778G or Snapdragon 782G chipset.
For the highest-tier S17 Pro, it is said that the smartphone will run on the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chipset. To compare it to its predecessors, the S16 and S16 Pro ran on the Snapdragon 870 and Dimensity 8200 SoCs respectively, so we might not see much of an internal upgrade. As for the S17e, which could be the more budget-friendly option of the mid-range lineup, the tipster gave no information on what chip will be powering it.
DCS also claims that the vivo S17 and S17 Pro will sport BOE-supplied OLED displays with a resolution of 1.5K, but the actual sizes of the screen are still unknown. Another report from last month said that all three phones will feature AMOLED displays with curved edges and a colour-changing back panel.
For the vanilla and Pro models, they will apparently be equipped with a 50MP Sony IMX766V primary camera with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS) as well as a 12MP IMX663 telephoto lens. Other cameras that may be part of the lineup are still a mystery.
Last but not least, the report claims that the phone will support 80W fast charging, but it did not reveal the battery sizes. According to the rumour mill, the series could be launched in May; the vivo S17 Pro is said to be branded as the V29 Pro for the global market in the future.
The post vivo S17 Series Specs Allegedly Leak appeared first on Lowyat.NET.


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It's going to cost a bit more to stay in the heart of the action at Disney's (DIS -1.70%) Florida resort starting next week. Disney World will start charging overnight guests with cars parking fees for bookings on or after March 21.
The amounts may not seem like much, proportionally speaking. The nightly rates -- $13 for the resort's value-priced properties, $19 for the moderate ones, and $24 for the high-end deluxe hotels -- will be a small piece of the far more expensive on-site Disney World vacation. However, as you can probably imagine, social media is ablaze with park fans arguing that the theme park giant has finally gone too far. Regulars naturally hate whenever Mickey Mouse digs deeper into their pockets, but shareholders may see things differently.
1900 Park Fare
The argument here is that charging guests for overnight resort parking is a sign of the times. Disney World's nearest rival -- Universal Orlando -- has been demanding parking fees for years. There are plenty of budget lodging options around town with free paved lots, but most of the area's better establishments have historically charged guests for their parked vehicles.
Disney stood out because of its free parking as well as its complimentary Disney Magical Express motorcoach transportation to and from Orlando International Airport. It feels that now is the right time to introduce a new line item to guest bills, and there could be more to this move than simply increasing its revenue per available room.
There's momentum in Disney's theme parks business. Domestic theme park attendance rose 6% in Disney's latest quarter with per-capita spending up another 7%. This is the only Disney segment growing these days, and the near-term outlook is just as impressive. Disney revealed during last month's earnings call that reservation bookings were running 3% higher than at the same pace last year with guests paying 13% more in the process. There may never be a right time to introduce a new fee, but if you're going to do so, you may as well do it when things are going well.
The neat thing about this move is that it may encourage more guests to leave their cars at home or to not bother renting vehicles at the airport. Disney Magical Express is a free benefit, complete with free luggage delivery and resort-side check-in on the way out. There's a method to the madness if that's the case, as families with their own cars will likely venture outside of the resort to find cheaper meals elsewhere, buy groceries off-site, and -- more importantly -- hit up rival attractions. Charging guests to park is essentially a car tax, and that's one more way to keep its overnight guests close.
Many hotel guests will turn to Uber or Lyft to venture outside of Disney World's clutches, but the vast majority of visitors will settle for letting the resort's growing transportation options shuttle them from place to place within Disney World. One way or another, Disney will find a way to milk more money out of its park guests, and while 2018 may be a hard sell in terms of new attractions, this is just one more masterful chess move for the media giant to claim checkmate next year when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge comes online.


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The Trump administration agreed on Tuesday to allow some 60,000 immigrants from Honduras and Nepal to retain their temporary legal status — pending a decision in a different case in federal court.
The administration’s attempts to end Temporary Protected Status designations for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan had already been put on hold by a federal judge in October. The administration is currently appealing that ruling (a preliminary injunction) to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Immigrants with TPS from Honduras and Nepal, however, were not included in that litigation. They sued the Trump administration separately and hadn’t yet secured a court injunction in their case. But the administration is now agreeing to link the fate of Honduran and Nepali TPS recipients to the outcome of the existing TPS case.
Temporary Protected Status allows immigrants from a particular country to stay and work in the US legally when their home country has been hit with war or natural disaster. Because the designations have generally been renewed in the past, however, most of those who have TPS have been in the US for decades — only to have the Trump administration declare that their home countries have recovered from the initial disaster and that the immigrants need to leave.
At some point, it’s likely that the TPS lawsuit will make its way to the Supreme Court, where the administration will likely prevail, given the five-justice conservative majority.
House Democrats are making a legislative effort to allow TPS recipients to apply for green cards — something they can’t do now, even though they’re legal immigrants, unless they qualify through other means — as part of their Dream and Promise Act, introduced earlier Tuesday. That bill is unlikely to pass the Republican Senate or President Trump’s desk in its current form, but it reflects a willingness from Democrats to push for TPS recipients’ status to be addressed in any immigration bill.
In the meantime, TPS holders from Honduras and Nepal who were forced to make plans to leave the country or slink into the shadows after decades in the US now join the rest of the immigrants whose TPS Trump has tried to revoke. They have some hope they’ll be able to stay — but even less certainty about how long that will be.
Trump’s U-turn on TPS threatens to uproot hundreds of thousands of long-time US residents
The federal government has the power to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for residents of a certain country who are in the US when that country suffers from a disaster. The legal protection allows them to stay and work in the US legally when their home country wouldn’t be safe to return to.
TPS can only be granted for six to 18 months at a time; the government is supposed to keep reviewing the conditions in a given country to see if it’s recovered enough to send people back. But before Trump, the government generally kept renewing the designations — especially for countries that weren’t in great shape generally. As a result, 250,000 Salvadorans have been living in the US on TPS since a 2001 earthquake; a few thousand Nicaraguans and Sudanese have had TPS in the US for even longer.
Under Trump, though, the administration’s taken a hard line that “temporary means temporary” — and that if a country’s current problems weren’t obviously connected to the original disaster that spurred a TPS designation, it didn’t deserve TPS anymore. Trump’s DHS has ended TPS for seven out of nine countries it’s reviewed.
To TPS holders themselves, this has been a tremendous shock creating ripples of anxiety. For activists (often also TPS holders), it’s a sign that the Trump administration is letting Trump’s aversion to immigrants from “shithole countries” (a comment that he made in a discussion about TPS holders) drive its policy-making.
Internal government documents obtained in the primary TPS lawsuit (and a similar lawsuit in Massachusetts) have certainly indicated that decisions on TPS were made from the top down. In one email exchange, top officials pushed career staffers to include more positive facts about life in Haiti, because a negative report about country conditions didn’t gel with the decision to end TPS for it.
In another, then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke appears to have shortened the amount of time given to Nicaraguans before losing their TPS from 18 months to 12 — after a last-minute phone call with then-White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.
In theory, none of this matters, because the decision to end TPS for a given country isn’t subject to judicial review.
But in his October preliminary injunction, Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California ruled that the process by which DHS makes those decisions could be reviewed by the courts — and evaluated according to the Administrative Procedures Act, which sets out how the executive branch is supposed to make policy decisions. And he found there was good reason to think the administration violated the APA by not giving public notice that it was changing how countries were being evaluated for continued protection. So he ruled that TPS holders should stay while he looked into that claim as the lawsuit progressed.
The Trump administration has appealed Chen’s injunction to the Ninth Circuit, which is expected to hold a hearing this spring and rule this summer. It is unlikely to side with the Trump administration over one of its own judges.
But the Supreme Court has already shown more deference to the administration on immigration policy than lower courts have, with the travel ban cases, and it’s fair to say that the conservative wing of the court will find it inappropriate to dissect the process behind a decision the administration is legally supposed to make.
So the most likely outcome for this case is a Supreme Court hearing next term, with a ruling, probably in the administration’s favor, at some point in the first half of 2020.
More hope — but also more uncertainty
In that light, Tuesday’s agreement for Hondurans and Nepalis — just like the judicial ruling in the other TPS lawsuit — is just a temporary reprieve. It doesn’t force the administration to formally renew TPS, much less grant any more permanent legal status. And it doesn’t even require the administration to delay the departure timeline. In theory, if the Ninth Circuit ruled in the government’s favor, Sudanese TPS holders (who were supposed to lose their status in November 2018) could be immediately eligible for deportation.
This means that instead of being forced to choose between leaving the US and becoming unauthorized, TPS holders will have to make two kinds of plans for their lives — a Plan A for what they’ll do as they continue to be allowed to live in the US legally, and a Plan B for what will happen if that reprieve ends.
[Read] How to Research Trends: Move Beyond Trendwatching to Kickstart Innovation For Free
Amazon 2-day shipping: Why packages sometimes arrive later
In less than two decades, Amazon single-handedly transformed the way we think about online shopping. Before Prime launched in 2005, two-day shipping was virtually unheard of — now more than 100 million people use the service, and they expect the things they order online to arrive at their doorsteps in 48 hours or fewer.
There’s just one problem: Amazon, which has focused on obtaining customers at all costs for decades, seems to be looking for ways to cut down on shipping costs. In some cases, that means weaning Prime users off the near-instantaneous shipping they’ve come to expect.
From the beginning, free two-day shipping was Prime’s biggest draw. Memberships were cheap — $79 a year in 2005 and $119 today — and users had the option of paying a small fee to get their orders delivered in just one day. Today, Prime is about much more than package delivery: Users can order everything, from groceries to a house cleaner, through Amazon. But as Amazon has expanded, the promise of free two-day shipping — the main draw of Prime — has begun to come with a lot of caveats.
That’s not to say Amazon is totally changing course. In 2014, Amazon launched Prime Now, a service designed to deliver products in an hour or less, for some New York City-based users. (It expanded to other major cities in 2016.) Amazon often makes headlines for the grueling work expected of its in-house delivery fleet — or, more accurately, the network of contractors that deliver packages to Prime users across the country — a sign that it continues to take its shipping promise seriously, often at the expense of workers. But even as Amazon has doubled down on ensuring speedy delivery, it has begun looking for ways to rein in customers’ desire for instant gratification, a phenomenon it arguably helped create, in an attempt to cut costs and streamline its supply chain.
The result? Prime orders don’t necessarily arrive in two days anymore, nor are they always delivered to customers’ homes. All of this makes sense from a financial perspective, but that may not be enough to win customers over.
Prime customers pay for — and expect — quick, free shipping. They aren’t always happy about Amazon’s cost-cutting efforts.
Two-day Prime shipping isn’t necessarily a thing of the past, but it’s undeniable that Amazon delivery isn’t as seamless as it used to be.
Amazon will no longer deliver some small items, like razors or hair ties, individually. Instead, customers have to purchase $25 worth of these “add-on” items before Amazon will send the box out; the point, according to the company, is to give customers access to “low-cost items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own.” Since 2011, Amazon has given users the option to have packages delivered to “lockers,” which are basically branded PO boxes, instead of to their homes or offices. Most recently, Amazon rolled out Amazon Day, a new delivery option that lets customers choose a specific day for all of their orders to arrive, is the company’s latest cost-cutting effort.
All of this makes sense from a financial perspective. Delivering packages to a single location instead of hundreds of individual homes cuts costs, and requiring customers to meet a delivery minimum for small orders helps Amazon consolidate deliveries, as does the Amazon Day program.
But the response to these new initiatives has been mixed at best.
Last December, Fast Company’s Mark Wilson wrote about how Amazon Prime is “getting worse,” claiming the company had all but abandoned its promise of two-day shipping for most products. “That little Prime logo used to mean something,” Wilson wrote. “Now it feels like a ruse that lulls shoppers into a false sense of security, until they go to checkout and see a shipping arrival date far later than anticipated.”
“This cuts through the greatest promise of Prime. It’s not just the free, two-day shipping. It’s that it’s so reliable, you never have to think for more than a second about buying something. In this sense, Prime was constructed to be great for the consumer (so efficient) and great for businesses (mindless impulse shopping!). … It doesn’t help that we’ve seen a slow dilution of Prime itself over time, with the rise of Prime Pantry and Add-on Items. They force you to buy a minimum number of items to get the best deal, adding back the very psychic burden Prime had eliminated from the equation of online shopping in the first place.”
Wilson’s complaints about Prime suggest a bait-and-switch strategy. Amazon got 100 million people to become Prime users by guaranteeing frictionless service, but now that it’s gotten a sizable chunk of the market hooked on quick, free shipping, it’s trying to cut delivery costs by scaling back on the very thing that got customers interested in the first place. Put another way, Prime is built on the idea that shopping should be frictionless; Amazon has now introduced a degree of friction that wasn’t there before, and some customers aren’t happy about it.
“I can’t help but feel the frustration around how the false sense of shopping confidence is blown when Amazon simply uses the PRIME lockup as a gimmick,” one reader wrote in response to Wilson’s article. “The ‘prime’ benefit of getting your stuff when you expect it is gone, and it’s not just because of the holiday shipping crunch.
Amazon changed customer expectations regarding shipping. Now it’s changing them again.
One of Amazon’s core principles is “customer obsession,” a “vigorous” desire to “earn and keep customer trust.” (Amazon has, by the way, also been known to use customer obsession as an anti-union talking point.) Put simply, customer obsession means giving the customer what they want as cheaply and quickly as possible — e.g., within 48 hours or fewer — at the expense of profits.
Anne Goodchild, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington who focuses on supply chain transportation and logistics, told me that Amazon significantly altered customer expectations and shopping patterns.
“The status quo [has been] that we take ourselves to the store, pick up the goods, and go back to our homes. That’s actually a pretty inefficient way of doing the last mile: We all individually use our cars, and that kind of commuting creates a great travel burden,” she said. “Delivery services, to some extent, have the potential to be an improvement. [They consolidate] a lot of deliveries — hopefully — into one vehicle like a UPS truck. They have strong incentives, profit incentives, to do that in an efficient and cost-effective way.”
The problem, she said, occurs when delivery becomes too quick. “As we move toward faster delivery, it gets harder to consolidate.” The promise of instant delivery means that customers can buy virtually anything they want without thinking about it; they don’t always think to consolidate their purchases into a single order, because there’s no need to. (A 2018 survey by the optimization platform Feedvisor found that 46 percent of Prime members shop online more than twice a week.) “When we’re not paying some sort of personal cost for the trip, I think it’s easy to overlook how much travel we’re adding,” she said.
Other retailers have attempted to compete by offering similarly fast shipping. “After Amazon, we have things like ShopRunner and even Target [now] saying that if you order certain items, you can get two-day shipping,” Ambulkar said. “I don’t see two-day shipping going away. I think there’s definitely more and more businesses adopting it.”
Even as other retailers lower their shipping times to keep up, Amazon appears to be tweaking its two-day shipping promise. Prime may be cheap and easy for customers, but the cost of all those deliveries adds up quickly. Amazon spent $21.7 billion on shipping costs in 2017, according to its annual report. That’s nearly twice the amount it spent on shipping in 2015.
“Amazon has pursued a growth trajectory rather than a profit one,” Goodchild added. “I think everyone would agree that their strategy has been to please customers and, in doing so, grow their market share.”
But now that it has more than 100 million Prime customers, Amazon is looking for ways to make Prime more profitable — which could end up alienating some of the customers it has made an effort to court.
Justin Smith, the founder of TJI Research, an analytics firm that focuses on Amazon, told The Goods that Amazon is looking for ways to make Prime more efficient — and cost-effective. “Lockers or other pickup points, or encouraging customers to ship items in the fewest number of boxes possible, which might mean getting it a bit later than if you had shipped items separately,” are all part of that strategy.
“I also think that because of how big they are, they are able to become smarter about predicting what items people are going to order in different regions,” Smith added, “and I believe they’ve been able to put items in warehouses closer to where they expect people to order them from in order to reduce the distance that items have to be shipped when they’re ordered. If that can be done efficiently, I think you reduce the individual shipping volume as well as decrease the delivery time, which improves the customer experience.”
It’s also better for the environment. Transportation is one of the biggest contributors to carbon dioxide emissions in the US, and medium- and heavy-duty trucks — the kinds of freight vehicles that are often filled to the brim with Prime purchases and other online orders — are responsible for nearly one-quarter of the total transportation footprint. These trucks, which used to deliver the bulk of their loads to stores and other retail hubs, are now increasingly dropping packages off to individuals. All those one-off orders add up, both financially and environmentally — but, because this type of delivery is often more convenient for the consumer, this has become the new normal.
Not everyone agrees with the premise that more efficiency will result in greater customer satisfaction. Saurabh Ambulkar, a management professor at Northeastern University, said customers who have come to expect two-day — or even same-day — delivery might not readily accept more optimized, less customer-friendly options. “The whole [promise] was that Amazon can deliver the thing to my house, so why do I need to go to the central locker to get something? Why do I need to go to the store?” he said. “If I have to step out of my house to get something, they lose that competitive advantage that they have, but they have to do some of it [in order to] ease the pressure on the supply chain.”
“In bigger cities, maybe the central locker is closer to the place you work, but in other places, I think delivering to residents is what made Amazon more competitive than other players in the market,” Ambulkar added. “If I have to go to a central locker, I can just go to the store to get that product.”
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A Man From a Remote African Village Has Been Named Best Teacher and Will Get $1,000,000 for It
When talking about the job of a teacher, many people refer to it as “a calling”. We all want our children to be educated by teachers who love their jobs and who make children feel inspired, interested, and motivated. There are 2 opinions when it comes to teachers: “A talented person will be successful, no matter what,” and “A talented person needs a good teacher.”
A charity foundation that was set up in 2015 by a businessman named Sunny Varkey (and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, his patron) awards someone as “Best Teacher” every year with a Global Teacher Prize.
Bright Side was really interested in the winner of the 2019 competition because there were 10,000 applications from 179 countries, with a prize of $1,000,000.
Teachers from India, Australia, the US, Kenya, the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Great Britain, and Georgia made it to the final stage of the competition.
A Kenyan science teacher and Franciscan friar named Peter Tabichi won the award. The award ceremony took place in Dubai and the name of the winner was announced by actor Hugh Jackman.
Peter Tabichi is a teacher in a small African village where the inhabitants often don’t have enough of the most necessary things. Despite this, his students are famous for their wins in international science competitions which is what ultimately attracted the foundation’s attention.
The school these students go to doesn’t look like a school that houses major victories. There is only 1 teacher for 58 students and 1 computer, and in order to make it to lessons, many kids have to cover huge distances on washed-out roads during the rainy season. Most of Tabichi’s students are kids from poor families or they’re orphans. The school is sorely lacking financial support, so Peter donates 80% of the money he makes on the development of the school — the school uniforms, textbooks, and other materials.
7 years ago, he used to teach at a private school but then decided to become a Franciscan friar and leave his job. The code he lives by requires him to have a somewhat ascetic lifestyle and help others. This is why teaching at a poor school is considered charity for Tabichi.
“This win does not belong to me: it demonstrates the achievements of young minds. I am here only thanks to my students’ achievements. A victory gives them a chance. It means that there are no borders for them.”
Tabichi explains how he uses different motivation methods with his students because the secret to success is believing in yourself. Every person can find something they like doing and feel confident. Peter teaches kids to look at things from different perspectives. This is why his projects where students can organize processes and analyze results by themselves are very popular.
The teacher doesn’t say that some of these projects are “cool” and others are “not cool”. The most important thing about them is that the students have to use their imaginations and have to look for new solutions. Tabichi says, “Creativity is extremely important, especially in difficult situations when the resources are limited.”
In this school, there are scientific and creative clubs where every student can showcase their achievements.
“Seeing my learners grow in knowledge, skills, and confidence is my greatest joy in teaching! When they become resilient, creative, and productive in the society, I get a lot of satisfaction for I act as their greatest destiny enabler and key that unlocks their potential in the most exciting manner.”
Tabichi also managed to talk about tolerance: “He created the ’Peace Club’ where there are people of 7 different nationalities and religious beliefs who all visit this school.
People are most interested in one big question: What is he going to spend his prize money on?
His answer? First and foremost, on computer science class, the development of the science lab, and new projects that can improve people’s lives. For example, Peter wants to teach his students to grow drought-tolerant crops. This project is absolutely necessary for life in Africa.
Interestingly, the agreement terms of the foundation say that the winner has certain responsibilities and the prize is not given to the winner right away.
For 10 years, the winner gets $100,000 every year and they have to stay in the profession for 5 years and be a global ambassador for The Varkey Foundation. It means that they have to visit certain events, talk to the media, and participate in training.
We’re deeply impressed by such people! Their stories are bright illustrations of what we call “the purpose of life”. What do you think about this award?
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is proving to be a transformative force for many businesses, regardless of industry. Yet, there are a few sectors that can benefit from this concept in particular – and both start-ups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seem to be well aware of that, as new ventures offering powerful IoT solutions emerge.
Semtech Corporation, a supplier of high performance analog and mixed signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, announced the availability of LoRa Cloud Geolocation, a new Cloud-based geolocation service that is compatible with the LoRaWAN protocol and almost any network server.
Can smart technology lead to smart investing? There is ample evidence that this is the case, says Marc Weisberg, managing principal for Soho Investment Partners, given the prominence and proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) over the past few years.
Internet of Things (IoT) services provider, Sigfox has awarded SGS ‘Accredited Test Lab’ (ATL) status for its testing and certification facilities in Shenzhen (China), New Taipei City (Taiwan) and Espoo (Finland).
Iota Communications, Inc., a wireless network management and industrial automation company that provides Internet of Things solutions that optimise energy efficiency, sustainability and operations for commercial facilities, announced the formation of Iota Spectrum Partners, LP,
Infrastructure Networks, Inc. (INET) and Osprey Informatics (Osprey) have formed a partnership to bring remote visual monitoring capabilities to the US energy sector.
Etisalat has selected Ericsson to deploy a 5G radio network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal is part of a strategic partnership which will also see Ericsson and Etisalat working together to explore 5G opportunities.
Kerlink, a specialist in solutions dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), and Internet of Things America (IoT America), a U.S. company deploying IoT solutions across rural America, have teamed up to transform the way rural businesses work by maximising the power, ease-of-use and security the Kerlink platform brings to these businesses through Kerlink stations and core-network software.
Did you ever feel that working as an IoT product developer is like going to a supermarket with a wonderful selection but no idea what to choose?
Skyworks Solutions, Inc., an innovator of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things, announced that MediaTek, a global fabless semiconductor company that enables 1.5 billion connected devices a year, is utilising its Sky5 suite for their new 5G reference platforms.
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Follow us on our tour through the arcane art of revising the U.S. gross domestic product
The fast-food business model just suffered a blow, and it could change everything from unionization to wages
Observers expect more GOP-controlled statehouses to find politically palatable ways to expand health insurance for the poor
Twitter's results weren't that much different from last quarter's. The big difference: expectations
A closer look at five of the 81 indicators that researchers use to rank nations in the Global Innovation Index
The chain is exploring opportunities in craft beer and making a greater emotional connection with diners
After Virginia Tech and Miami of Ohio shut down their regional full-time MBA programs, who’s next?
Cities including Seattle and San Diego are eyeing higher wage floors
Courtesy of Chi-Chi's
Total sales: $34,640,500
Total sales: 12,948,640
Avg. price: $2.68
In 2003 an outbreak of hepatitis A brought about the closure of U.S.-based Chi-Chi’s chain of Mexican restaurants. The brand was acquired by Hormel Foods, the Austin (Minn.) maker of Spam, after the chain went bankrupt, but the Chi-Chi's line of salsas, tortillas, microwave meals, and seasonings continues to be produced under MegaMex Foods, a joint venture with Mexico’s Herdez Del Fuerte. Chi-Chi’s accounts for 4.5 percent of U.S. salsa sales.


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Honda Motors planning to launches its Active Electric Scooter in India AS an Activa E.
Electric vehicles are growing day by day in the Indian marketplace, on that point, Honda decided to launch its electric scooter.
Activa is the most selling product all over the world due to its performance and its innovative design and honda company finally showed their interest in the Indian electric scooter segment.
The previous year, Honda Benly e electric scooter was spotted testing at ARAI research in Pune, India. Japanese bike manufacturing company is not considering bringing B2B product in our market but to test the battery swapping technology so it comes in government policy and Honda also set up its subsidiary, Honda power pack Energy India PVT LTD.
Atsushi Ogata, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India President, has confirmed that Japanese bikemaker is evaluating our market for EVs and mentioned, “…able to see an actual HMSI EV product within the next financial year.” in the interview of ET Auto.
Let come to the competitors of Honda, which has many competitors available in the market such as Bajaj chetak, ola s1, TVS iQcube Electric, and many more.


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Amazon rolled out thousands of sales today for the first-ever Prime Day, and already it’s shaping up to be a blockbuster event for the Seattle retailer.
In an update this morning, Amazon said “peak order rates” have already surpassed Black Friday, which falls the day after Thanksgiving and is typically the biggest shopping day of the year.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “Prime Day peak order rates have already surpassed 2014 Black Friday,” but it’s unclear whether those rates will continue throughout the day, and if sales will actually exceed Black Friday.
UPDATE: ChannelAdvisor’s Executive Chairman Scot Wingo, who helps third-party retailers manage various marketplaces, like Amazon, said they are seeing similar trends. Based on their data, sales are up 40 percent in Europe and 80 percent in the U.S., compared to the same day a year ago.
“We’ve been averaging year over year growth in the ~25% range, so this is a significant jump that we are already seeing mid-day,” Wingo said, in an emailed statement.
The sale is unusual in that it is only available to Prime members, who spend $99 a year to be part of the two-day shipping program. Customers were also given the option of signing up for a 30-day trial.
In particular, Amazon said Prime members have bought tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks, 35,000 Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray sets, and 28,000 Rubbermaid sets. The company sold 4,000 Echo’s in 15 minutes, the Kate Spade purse was gone in less than a minute, and the 1,200 of $999 TVs sold out in less than 10 minutes.
New deals will start every ten minutes until late tonight, so customers will have to keep returning to the site to see if there’s something they want.
Customers have had mixed opinions when it comes to the selection of products for sale, and some have even been disappointed. To be sure, many of the highly sought after items, like the Amazon Echo and cheap TVs, which have sold out in minutes. Some customers wonder how many items were in stock, while others questioned the quality of the deals and whether the items were of much value even on sale.
As we reported earlier, a quick scan of the #PrimeDay tweets shows some customers frustrated with the first batch of deals.
#PrimeDay literally looks like one huge-ass garage sale.
— go bruins :/ (@CarlosOnUCLA) July 15, 2015
I was less disappointed when my parent's divorced. #PrimeDay
— Ric Mendoza (@RicDoesStuff) July 15, 2015


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(CNN) - Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Neiman Marcus announced it will begin to accept Visa and MasterCard, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The luxury department store used to only accept cash, American Express or its own store card.
The change is part of a push to grab younger customers.
Nov. 1 is the first day the new forms of payments will be accepted in stores.
The retailer already accepts Visa and Mastercard online.


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Cyber Security Tips for Business — Business Internet Security
Our expert bloggers will reveal their findings and offer tips on how to maximize your online security so you can focus on what’s most important – your business.
originally posted to Dark Reading: Intel Security Perspectives What too many of the year’s high-profile data breaches had in common. The only thing more depressing than the increasing frequency and growing scale of the cyber attacks in this year’s headlines was the consistency of key attributes across so many of the events. From the retailer […]
Few ideas have done more to focus and clarify IT security strategy than the concept of a cyber attack chain. The attack chain (or kill chain in the original formulation) was first described by Lockheed Martin analysts in a seminal 2011 paper. In a nutshell, the attack chain is a logical sequence used by most […]
New year = new attack vectors. With the holidays in full swing and 2014 coming to a close, McAfee Labs has produced their latest Threats Report. In it, key security predictions for the coming year are discussed, including forecasts around increases in cyber espionage, more frequent attacks on the Internet of Things, and the ‘explosion’ […]
We have looked at the current capabilities of DXL and some of the initial functionality that our partners are delivering. Now I would like to speculate on some of the interesting near-term possibilities that DXL enables. When analyzing potential cyber threats, the current device, location, and application provide contextual information that helps make correct decisions […]
This is part I in a series on proactive defense using a proven professional services security methodology When my credit card got declined at the gas station I remembered a term I’d recently read in an article about a large retailer’s data breach. The term is “vulnerability-fatigue,” where news of a recent disaster is ignored […]


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John Lennon’s solo catalog has been made available on the iTunes Store. Among the offerings are sixteen of Lennon’s solo works, including the “Lennon Legend” and “Acoustic” collections, which are making their worldwide digital debuts. The albums “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” “Sometime in New York City,” “Walls and Bridges,” “Milk and Honey” and the collections “Anthology” and “Working Class Hero” will also include exclusive video content for a period of 30 days. “John would have loved the fact that his music will now be available in a format suited to a new generation of listeners,” said Yoko Ono. “John Lennon is one of the greatest artists of our time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have his solo catalog available on the iTunes Store for the first time.” As part of EMI’s DRM-free initiative, Lennon’s solo works are also available as iTunes Plus downloads for $1.29 per song.
John Lennon solo catalog now available on iTunes
Charles Starrett was a senior editor at iLounge. He's been covering the iPod, iPhone, and iPad since their inception. He has written numerous articles and reviews, and his work has been featured in multiple publications.


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TK Maxx has confirmed plans to relocate its Union Square branch by moving into adjacent units at the Aberdeen shopping centre.
The global clothing and homeware giant currently occupies a spot next to Marks and Spencer at the mall.
It was one of the anchor stores when the complex opened in 2009.
Last month, it was announced that the neighbouring M&S would be expanding by taking over the TK Maxx building at Union Square.
The £15 million project will mean the end of the flagship M&S at St Nicholas Square.
TK Maxx move to cost more than £400,000
Plans submitted to Aberdeen City Council now clarify the next steps for TK Maxx at Union Square.
Blueprints indicate that the current Dreams bed shop and the Homesense next door will be merged to form the new branch.
TK Maxx and Homesense have the same owner.
It comes after a building warrant worth £430,000 was sent to the local authority indicating the scale of the ambitious overhaul.
TK Maxx to move to new Union Square berth within the next year
There is no timescale provided, but M&S plans to be operating from the expanded Union Square outlet by next spring.
The new shop will be spread across two floors.
It comes after storm damage caused the clothes store to close for a few days between late January and early February.
Dreams and Homesense have been contacted for comment on what this means for those stores.
You can see the plans here.


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Recently, Brand.com hosted a webinar on transparency in labeling native ads that featured Venable marketing and advertising attorney Amy Mudge. The talk offered a primer on the finer points of properly marking sponsored content for consumers. Here are some highlights of that webinar:
The New Year is just a few short days away, which means it’s time to take a look ahead. Content marketing is only going to become more ubiquitous in the future, so 2015 surely has some exciting things in store. We asked some industry thought leaders and influencers for their forecast of the upcoming year. Here’s what these experts think content marketing will look like in 2015:
Pitching stories to journalists over social media can be a tricky endeavor. What is the proper etiquette, how do you avoid annoying the journalist, and what are the prospects for success? There is perhaps no one better qualified to address these questions than Yumi Wilson.
Recently, we’ve undertaken an exploration of the content marketing efforts of the auto manufacturing industry. We’ve looked at some of the world’s largest carmakers, including Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, and Honda. Today, our series continues with a look at US car company Dodge.
We snapped fresh batteries into our scientific calculator this past weekend after reading a post on the Hubspot blog containing a formula that purportedly calculates the price of sponsored articles.
In the digital age, the traditional methods of appealing to a mass audience – television and print ads, and PR pitches to the news media – are fading fast as people shift to the Internet for entertainment and consumer information.
Recently, we’ve been exploring the rise in popularity of native ads, and the debate on how to properly label them so consumers understand that the content is paid promotional material. As part of this exploration, we hosted a webinar featuring Venable LLP marketing and advertising attorney Amy Mudge that highlighted some of the finer points of the issue. Today, we’ll take a deeper look.
Have you ever started reading what you thought was an article in your favorite magazine or on a popular website, only to realize part way through that it was actually an advertisement?
The competition for eyeballs in the digital world is a fierce, hard-fought battle.


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Heart's Club Classics with Toby Anstis 7pm - 11pm
22 October 2014, 06:01 | Updated: 22 October 2014, 06:19
Scotland's high streets returned their weakest sales figures in more than 15 years in September as good weather and the massive interest in the referendum saw people shun the stores, retail experts said.
Overall sales for last month were 2.9% lower than September 2013, with like-for-like sales - which exclude factors such as new store openings - down by 4.2%.
David Martin of the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said apart from those months when the timing of the Easter celebrations had distorted sales, it was the weakest performance since records began in January 1999.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: "A nation gripped by politics and blessed with unseasonably warm weather shunned the high street in September.
"There can be little doubt that the engagement of the country in the referendum debate and the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the contest cast a shadow over the spending of the Scottish consumer in the first half of the month and impacted the value of sales.''
Total food sales in September were 2.4% lower than they had been a year ago, according to the SRC KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, with like-for-like sales down by 3.9%.
Non-food items fared worse, with total sales falling 3.3% and like-for-like sales dropping by 4.4%, according to the data.
Clothing and footwear was the worst performing sector in September, with the warm weather in September hindering sales of autumn clothing ranges such as coats and knitwear.
Stores selling footwear said while events such as golf's Ryder Cup at Gleneagles had boosted shopper numbers, this failed to offset the impact of the mild weather conditions.
Mr Martin, the SRC's head of policy and external affairs, said: "September was a challenging month for retailers with a combination of factors contributing to the weakest sales performance since January 1999, excluding Easter distortions.
"Despite improved levels of footfall due to the Ryder Cup and other events, demand remained weak for fashion items particularly boots and coats.''
He also said that the "intense competition in the grocery market, whilst benefiting Scottish consumers through lower prices, continued to have an impact on sales''.
But he added: ``Despite the testing environment last month there are encouraging signs for the industry as the build up to Christmas begins.
"As we approach Christmas, the search for talented seasonal staff has begun, to support the extra demand from shoppers. A large proportion of these seasonal roles will turn into permanent positions, proving that this time of year is great for those looking to begin a career in retailing.''
Mr McCorquodale said the September sunshine had "affected fashion and footwear retailers looking to move autumn collections''.
He added: "Whilst this month's sales figures set some weakest performance records, I see this as more of a disappointment for retailers battling against circumstances rather than a trend.
"There's no denying that the continued decline in food sales is reflected in the challenges facing the grocery sector up and down the UK. Fashion and footwear retailers suffered in the rest of the UK from warm weather but Scotland's worse performance was probably exaggerated by other distractions.
"The referendum is behind us and some uncertainties out of the way. The focus for the retail sector is now on the two months leading to Christmas.''


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(Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc FDO.N reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as it sold more food, but some analysts still favor other dollar store chains that are doing a better job at attracting cost-conscious shoppers.
The second-largest U.S. dollar-store chain behind Dollar General Corp (DG.N) has been adding hundreds of food items to its stores, many of which are getting makeovers as it works to appeal to lower-income shoppers focused on buying essentials.
While the changes are increasing demand, sales at Family Dollar stores open for a year or longer were disappointing. A 4.5 percent rise in same-store sales fell short of the company’s own 5 percent forecast as well as recent gains of 6.5 percent at Dollar General and 7.3 percent at Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O).
“I fancy that low-income consumers focused on one-stop destinations to save money will continue to shop with their trusted brands, which in this case is a Dollar Tree or a Dollar General,” said Brian Sozzi, chief equities analyst at NBG Productions.
Trying to catch up to those chains is suppressing operating margins and returns at Family Dollar, he said.
Family Dollar, where most merchandise costs less than $10, said more shoppers made purchases at its stores and spent slightly more on each visit.
Shares of Family Dollar rose 0.5 percent to $58.55 in early trading.
The shares trade at about 16.2 times expected earnings, compared with multiples of 17.2 for Dollar General and 19.6 for Dollar Tree, according to Reuters data.
Graphic on Family Dollar: link.reuters.com/gez37s
Family Dollar’s net profit rose to $136.4 million, or $1.15 a share, in the second quarter ended February 25 from $123.2 million, or 98 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts were looking for $1.13 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales rose 8.6 percent to $2.46 billion, in line with analysts’ estimates.
Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, slipped to 34.9 percent from 35.7 percent, largely because of stronger sales of food and other basic goods, which typically carry lower margins than items like clothing and toys.
The chain forecast third-quarter earnings of $1.01 to $1.11 per share, compared with analysts’ expectations of $1.06. It expects same-store sales to rise 5 percent to 7 percent.
For the fiscal year, the company raised the low end of its earnings forecast to $3.55 a share from $3.50 while keeping the high end at $3.75. The analysts’ average estimate is $3.61.
Family Dollar also raised the low end of its fiscal-year same-store sales outlook to 5 percent from 4 percent and kept the high end at 6 percent.
While Family Dollar’s third-quarter sales forecast and revised fiscal-year profit expectations are encouraging, the company continues to lag Dollar General and Dollar Tree in many respects, said BB&T Capital Markets analyst Anthony Chukumba, who has “hold” ratings on all three chains.
Dollar General and Dollar Tree both had stronger same-store sales and year-over-year earnings per share growth than Family Dollar in their latest quarters, Chukumba noted.
Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in New York and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, John Wallace and Lisa Von Ahn