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Starbucks‘ chief technology officer Deb Hall Lefevre resigned without a permanent replacement, according to an internal memo sent to corporate staff on Monday, seen by Reuters. The memo, written by Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith, named Ningyu Chen, previously senior vice president of global experience technology, as interim chief technology officer. Lefevre’s resignation comes as Starbucks announced its second round of deep cuts in corporate roles, effective Friday, as CEO Brian Niccol pushes a tech revamp in stores to make labor more efficient, part of a turnaround strategy to revive flagging sales after six consecutive quarters of decline. Using AI to revamp how cafes operate The revamp includes an AI-powered automated inventory counter that is in the process of being rolled out to all company-owned stores in North America by the end of September. Other initiatives include an AI assistant for baristas, a new point-of-sales system, and a queuing algorithm meant to help baristas sequence orders during rush hour. Lefevre, a former McDonalds executive, was hired in May 2022 as part of the chain’s focus on improving its drive-through, mobile ordering, and other systems. The memo said she planned to retire. “Our tech priorities aren’t changing,” the memo said. “We’re focused on the tech work needed to deliver our Back to Starbucks plan.” Lefevre didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday night. On Thursday, the company said it would close underperforming stores in the United States. Its overall company-owned U.S. and Canada store count is expected to drop by 1%, with several hundred stores expected to close by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. It also said 900 non-retail roles would be eliminated, with affected employees being notified Friday. The technology initiatives are part of a corporate turnaround called “Back to Starbucks” being pursued by CEO Brian Niccol, who took the helm last year to revive the chain’s fortunes. He has aimed to revive the chain’s “coffeehouse” appeal following six consecutive quarters of sales declines. Starbucks February layoffs of 1,100 corporate employees hit the IT team particularly hard, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday. They said an outside contractor named Tata Consultancy Services, based in India, has been given an increasing role in Starbucks IT division. Starbucks in a statement Friday said the company will continue to have a very significant in-house technology team, but the focus is on the most important capabilities and the most important work. Shares have lost more than 12% of their value over the last 12 months, compared with a 16% increase in the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Waylon Cunningham, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Starting next week on Tuesday, September 30, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will no longer issue paper checks for benefit payments, and instead move exclusively to electronic payments: either direct deposit or a pre-paid debit card. The change is part of a broader government-wide initiative to modernize its services and improve efficiency and security, to ensure some 70 million Americans receive their monthly benefits promptly. However, this could mean trouble for some older Americans who do not know how to set up direct deposit or will have trouble using a pre-paid debit card. In March, President Trump issued Executive Order 14247, which mandates the transition to electronic payments for all federal disbursements by September 30. “Less than one percent of Social Security Administration beneficiaries currently receive paper checks,” a Social Security spokesperson told Fast Company in an email on Friday. “SSA is proactively contacting those beneficiaries to alert them about the change and the process to enroll in direct deposit or receive Direct Express cards.” In cases where a beneficiary has no other means to receive payment, the SSA said it will continue to issue paper checks. According to the Treasury Department, this shift could save the federal government millions of dollars each year. Issuing a paper check costs about 50 cents, while an electronic payment (or EFT) costs less than 15 cents. Electronic payments are also more secure. Paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost or stolen compared to electronic payments, thus increasing the risk of fraud, according to the agency. How do I sign up for Social Security direct deposit or a pre-paid debit card? For more details, and to learn how to enroll in direct deposit or obtain a Direct Express pre-paid debit card, visit www.ssa.gov/deposit/. To enroll in direct deposit, go online to your personal “my Social Security account” (or create an account, if you don’t have one) on the Social Security Administration’s website. Enrollment in direct deposit and Direct Express Debit Mastercard are also available through the Treasury’s Go Direct website, or via phone at 1-877-874-6347. For additional questions, call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.
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E-Commerce
Most U.S. stocks are rising Friday after a report showed that inflation is behaving roughly as economists expected, even if its still high. The S&P 500 added 0.2%, as four out of every five stocks within the index climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 211 points, or 0.5%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower because of drops for a handful of influential Big Tech stocks. All three indexes are near their all-time highs set at the start of the week. Stocks got some help from a report showing that inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.6% in July, according to the measure of prices that the Federal Reserve likes to use. While thats above the Feds 2% target, and its more painful than any household would like, it was precisely what economists had forecast. That offered some hope that the Fed could continue cutting interest rates in order to give the economy a boost. Thats critical for Wall Street because its already sent U.S. stocks on a blistering run to records from a low in April in large part because of expectations for a string of rate cuts. Without them, growing criticism that stock prices have become too expensive by rising too quickly would become even more powerful. The S&P 500 is on track for a 0.7% loss for this week, which would be one of its worst since its rally took off in April but only relatively modest compared with history. The Fed just delivered its first rate cut of the year last week, and officials had penciled in more through the end of next year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned, though, that plans may have to change quickly. Thats because cuts to rates carry the risk of worsening inflation. One factor threatening to push inflation higher is President Donald Trumps tariffs, and he announced a set of more late Thursday. They include taxes on imports of some pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, upholstered furniture and heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1. Details were sparse about the coming tariffs, as is often the case with Trumps pronouncements made on his social media network. That left analysts unsure of their ultimate effects, and the announcement created ripples in the U.S. stock market instead of huge waves. Paccar, the company based in Bellevue, Washington, thats behind the Peterbilt and Kenworth truck brands, revved 5% higher, for example. Big U.S. pharmaceutical companies nudged higher. Eli Lilly rose 0.9%, and Pfizer added 0.2%. Several companies that sell home furnishings, which could be hurt by higher prices for imports, swung between gains and losses. Williams-Sonoma went from an initial loss of 2.5% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 1.1%, for example. RH dropped 3.8% following a similar back and forth. On the losing end of Wall Street was Costco Wholesale, which fell 1.9% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Renewal rates for its membership slowed a touch, while an important measure of underlying revenue growth at its stores fell short of analysts expectations. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe after slumping in Asia. Frances CAC 40 climbed 0.9%, while South Koreas Kospi tumbled 2.5% for two of the worlds bigger moves. Japans Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% as Sumitomo Pharma Co.s shares lost 3.5% and Chugai Pharmaceutical sank 4.8%. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.18%, where it was late Thursday. A report said sentiment among U.S. consumers was weaker than economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said consumers are frustrated with high prices, but their expectations for inflation over the coming 12 months also ticked down to 4.7% from 4.8%. One notable exception was among Americans who own plenty of stocks, who have benefited from Wall Street’s run to records even as the job market slows. Sentiment for them held steady in September, while decreasing for households with smaller or no stock investments. The next big event for Wall Street could be a looming shutdown of the U.S. government, with a deadline set for next week. But investors have experience with such political impasses, and they’ve had limited impact on the market before. The market and broader macroeconomic effects of a shutdown, even lengthy ones, are often mere blips on the charts, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
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