As concerns over a rise in express package thefts, FedEx and Walgreens pharmacies have inked a long-term deal to install 8,000 secure pickup/dropoff locations

Source: aircargoworld.com

An interesting dynamic of the shift to e-commerce has been a transfer of responsibility for package security, away from the retailer in the direction of the customer. Last-mile delivery companies have struggled with security issues as volumes have surged. A report from insuranceQuotes.com found that an estimated 23 million Americans had packages stolen from their homes in 2015.

In countries such as the U.K., regulations are stricter in an effort to head off these kinds of risks.

“Our research has shown that customers rank pharmacies as a preferred location for accessing their e-commerce shipments,” said Raj Subramaniam, executive vice president, chief marketing and communications officer for FedEx Corp. “The addition of Walgreens locations to the existing network of FedEx retail offerings will substantially increase customer access.”

The e-commerce giant just touted 100,000 new jobs, but it thrives on increasing automation wherever possible. Maybe there’s a local fix.

Source: www.fastcompany.com

Amazon will create 100,000 full-time jobs in the United States with full benefits over the next 18 months, the tech giant announced in a statement Thursday.

The company says the positions are for workers across the country and across all skill and experience levels. Most of the positions will be at fulfillment centers, including new ones under construction in California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas.

“Innovation is one of our guiding principles at Amazon, and it’s created hundreds of thousands of American jobs,” said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in a statement. “These jobs are not just in our Seattle headquarters or in Silicon Valley—they’re in our customer service network, fulfillment centers and other facilities in local communities throughout the country.”

Source: www.usatoday.com

That darn automation is just taking jobs, oops, I mean making jobs right and left…

MJ Freeway, whose sales and inventory system software is used by marijuana shops across the US, said it was the victim of a targeted cyber-attack.

Source: www.bostonglobe.com

Tracking software for where the marijuana originated will full audit trail went offline.  Someone hacked the servers.

Connected Vending Machines is the second consecutive report from Berg Insight analysing the latest developments on the vending telemetry and cashless payment market worldwide. This strategic research report from Berg Insight provides you with 70 pages of unique business intelligence including 5-year

Source: finance.yahoo.com

A total of 3.6 million vending machines will be online by 2020. Crane is the leader.

Here’s a paradox you don’t hear much about: despite a century of creating machines to do our work for us, the proportion of adults in the US with a job has consistently gone up for the past 125 years. Why hasn’t human labor become redundant and our skills obsolete? 

Source: www.ted.com

In this talk about the future of work, economist David Autor addresses the question of why there are still so many jobs and comes up with a surprising, hopeful answer.

Early in a yearlong test run for Anytime Valet, a first-time user opened the delivery kiosk looking for a package and also found spider webs.

Source: www.arkansasonline.com

Currently the company has six Anytime Valet locations in central Arkansas.  Eventually, Cassady envisions the delivery hubs being of great use to large online retailers. Cutting down on the locations where retailers are sending packages will save them money. Fewer delivery points mean more efficiency for carriers and less cost for shippers.

This story was delivered to B

Source: www.businessinsider.com

How software, automated kiosks, and armored trucks are changing the cannabis industry.

Source: motherboard.vice.com

KIND is not the only software and/or compliance company to be thinking about cannabis kiosks—Jane and KioWare are two other companies that also want to use automated kiosks as a solution to the cannabis industry’s financial problems. Even Jamaica’s Cannabis Licensing Authority is on the kiosk train and wants to install weed kiosks in Jamaica’s airports. Yet with KIND’s recent partnership with Microsoft to provide cannabis tracking solutions for governments, Dinenberg thinks that KIND definitely has the leg up on competition.

It’s that time when market watchers make predictions about the new year. I have often made such forecasts with mixed results. So I’m going to try something different this year.

Here are five questions about in-store technology that PG readers can ponder, and then make their own predictions:

Source: www.progressivegrocer.com

1. Will SmartLabels on Packages emerge
2. Will all supermarkets accept EMV?
3. How many will adopt CatMan 2.0?
4. Will Beacons be embraced?
5. More pilots of checkout terminals and what about Amazon model being tested.