 |
|
|
|||||
Sams Club shoppers will soon notice a change to the retailers private-label rotisserie chicken packaging. A new tray means the grab-and-go prepared foods favorite is now more sustainable. The clamshell packaging for Members Mark seasoned rotisserie chicken sold at Sams Club is composed of a top clear lid made from polypropylene (same as before) and a bottom piece made from a proprietary polypropylene and PCR (or postconsumer recycled content). Unlike the old tray, the new one doesn’t use a carbon mineral filler, according to Packaging Dive, which first reported the change. That carbon mineral filler is what gave the tray its black color; with it gone, the now-recyclable material takes on a neutral sand color. Sam’s Club tells Fast Company that 7 bottle caps are repurposed to make each tray, and the new packages result in a roughly 25% reduction of virgin plastic. Sabert, the company that manufactures the clamshell packaging, says the tray was developed with color specialists to mask the natural juices and stains that come from cooking chicken. The tray is also microwavable, reusable, and hand and dishwasher safe. Sabert’s chief sustainability and strategy officer, Richa Desai, tells Fast Company that Sabert is “seeing more customers embrace postconsumer recycled content for food packaging as part of their own sustainability commitments to reduce virgin plastic use.” Like CVS, Target, and other retailers, the Walmart-owned Sam’s Club is working to improve its private-abel offerings as consumers turn to generic brands to save money. For Sam’s Club, though, the competition is especially fierce considering its up against fellow membership warehouse club Costco’s private-label Kirkland brand, which is bigger than Nike. While Costco’s net sales in the most recent fiscal year were $176.63 billion, Sam’s Club reported less than half as much, at $86.2 billion. Chicken could be one small step toward closing the gap. Walmart declined to provide sales figures for its chicken, though in one Reddit thread, users claimed stores sell hundreds a day. Member’s Mark currently prices its rotisserie chicken at $4.98, though prices may vary in store and online, while Costco’s Kirkland brand rotisserie chicken sells for $5.84. Costco’s chicken also comes in a bag instead of clamshell packaging, a change last year that shoppers voiced their displeasure over. While Member’s Mark may have a way to go to reach Kirkland-level sales and cultural resonance, it seems to have at least gained a competitive edge when it comes to rotisserie chickens.
Category:
E-Commerce
As Fast Company wrapped up its latest report on the state of the design jobs market, we wondered which companies paid the highest premium for designers. We looked at the 40,000 job listings wed gathered from Googles job search engine, over a period between December 2024 and February 2025, and zeroed in on the salaries that companies were offering to prospective employees across various different experience levels (entry level, 23 years, 45 years, 67 years, and anything above 8 years). We then averaged the salaries for all jobs that a company posted across these various experience levels and identified the seven highest spenders from each of seven categories: architects, game designers, graphic designers, urban designers, interior designers, product designers, and UX designers. The good news: Not every designer needs to be in the latter half of their career to reach the highest salaried heights. The bad news: All architects actually do need to be. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); Architects Architects face a thankless pay curve: earning a top rate means coming with top experience. All the highest paid positions, mostly at big firms like HNTB and Michael Baker, require senior-level experience of at least eight years. But architecture is also the only type of design we looked at where the top paying employer includes a food companythose upscaled La Colombe interiors dont come cheap. Game Designers As Fast Company has reported, the best door into the world of game design might not be at a gaming studio: Netflix is continuing its push into gaming, and it stands out among hiring organizations for offering the highest salary for game designers with fewer years of experience than bona fide game studios do. But dont count those studios out: CD Projekt Red and Riot Games still make the list of the seven highest-paying companies for game designers. Graphic Designers Graphic designers are typically among the lowest paid in the design profession, but they might top out their salaries the fastest: The most generous hiring companies, with the exception of ServiceNow and Nvidia, dont request senior-level status: Graphite and Crocs only ask for 23 years of experience. And apparently, the Prince Georges Parks Department in Maryland, has enough funding to duke it out with Nvidia for talent. Interior Designers Like architects, interior designers need to come equipped with senior-level experience to command top pay, with no employer among our top seven listed asking for fewer than eight years. And unlike other job types with at least a mild diversity of hiring organizations at their upper limit, all the top organizations seeking interior designers are design firms like HKS and Solize. Product Designers Netflix is the only company on our list to make the highest spot in two separate design categoriesgame designers and product designersand its job listings for senior product designers offer the highest salaries on that list, at an average of $427,000. But Netflixs average salary for midlevel product designers doesnt lag far behind, at an average of $317,000, just after Anthropic, which is sparing no expense to make experiencing Claudes profuse apologies as frictionless and stable as possible. Urban Designers Urban design shows the smallest variance in how much their top organizations are willing to pay, with the narrowest band of salaries at the upper levels. Pay tops out at $169,500, and as you would expect, the most generous organizations are all in the engineering consulting, design, and construction business. UX Designers Tanium is the kind of company that few people outside an IT department would ever interact with but that seemingly every IT department does. It provides an endpoint management system demanding a particularly sophisticated set of UX chops, which it pays handsomely for, and which one doesnt need to be a senior-level UX designer to earn. Taniums top designers can expect to make $377,500 with only 45 years of experience. The list of top-paying companies is rounded out with a few usual suspects, like Google and ServiceNow, as well as Blue Origin, which is probably spending its money well in hiring designers to determine how we get back from space. This article is part of Fast Company‘s continuing coverage of where the design jobs are, including this year’s comprehensive analysis of 170,000 job listings
Category:
E-Commerce
The thought of one day retiring and no longer having to punch a clock, answer required emails, work long hours, and the other responsibilities of employment is a dream that can get you through the hard moments of work. While retirement typically occurs, after completing a career and saving and investing for it, a new trend is emerging among Gen Z career professionals called “micro-retirement.” Micro-retirements involve taking a one to two-week break from work every 12 to 18 months. Gen Z is using micro-retirement to avoid burnout, find greater fulfillment in their work, and enhance their overall well-being. However, it’s not just Gen-Z: according to a survey from Side Hustles, 10% of workers are considering taking a micro-retirement and 75% thought employers should offer micro-retirement policies such as unpaid sabbaticals. However, taking a micro-retirement may have long term impacts on your finances and career advancement. Here’s what you need to know. How ‘Micro-Retirement’ Works The idea is to take frequent and longer breaks from work during your career. These breaks are not your standard PTOthey’re intentional, unpaid time to rest and recharge. Micro-retirements can look like: Quitting a job, and finding a new job when you’re ready to work again. Setting up a plan with your employer that allows you to take unpaid frequent work breaks. Taking breaks from your business if you’re a business owner. Joshua Charles is a Gen Z business owner. His consultancy helps institutional investors, pension funds, and insurance companies invest in projects in Africa. Charles currently takes work breaks every six months for two weeks at a time, and said he heard about micro-retirements from a friend. “I reward myself by traveling to different countries. Whether it’s Europe during the summer or other destinations, and so that’s a way that I incentivize myself to reach certain KPIs,” says Charles. Charles considers his micro-retirement a full-time break. He doesnt work: any crisis or issue has to wait until hes back. He notes the breaks have been helpful for his mental health. Charles says there has been no negative impact on his business or career because he communicates with his clients and team that hell be unavailable for his micro-retirements, and a portion of his income is passive. The Pros and Cons of Micro-Retirements Micro-retirement may sound appealing, but with the cost of living in the U.S. rising, a growing unemployment rate due to mass layoffs, Gen Z’s struggle with debt, and uncertainty, micro-retirement comes with pros and cons. Micro-retirements offer an opportunity to recharge. Gabrielle Siegel, a wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual, notes that this is valuable. “It’s taking time to focus on what’s bringing you the most happiness, recharging, mentally avoiding burnout, and realigning with your personal goals. Gen Z is looking at the workplace a bit differently, and happiness is an important factor, she says. However, stepping away from work without pay can impact someones financial future. Taking time away from work can affect your earnings, investments, and funding your retirement, particularly if your company offers a match. Siegel points out having a plan in place is important. “If you’re taking this micro-retirement with no game plan, that can be detrimental to your long-term retirement strategy, she says. “You need planning and realistic goals. If they continuously take time off and don’t realign their financial goals, it can disrupt retirement contributions.” Meanwhile, taking frequent breaks can also impact career growth. Kenyetta Nesbitt-Simmons, a senior partner at HR consultancy firm Simmons HR & Talent Advisory, points out it can be difficult to rejoin the job market. Some Gen Zers are forced to pivot into other career fields due to the competitiveness of the field they left to take a micro-retirement, she says. You could also be seen as a job hopper to some decision-makers within the labor market. She warns that frequent micro-retirements could also be a red flag when youre up for promotion. How to Set Up Your Life and Finances for Micro-Retirement If micro-retirement sounds like a rest and workplace strategy you’d like to pursue, here are a few tips to help you get started. Save enough money to afford not working. Your micro-retirement will be unpaid unless you have a side hustle, so you’ll need enough money to pay your bills during the breaks. Understand your options. Your employer may offer flexibility or the option to take a sabbatical. If not, you may need to decide to quit and find a new job when you’re ready to return to work. Consider your next step. If your employer gives you the time off, make sure you understand the implications for your paycheck and benefits such as your retirement match. If youre leaving your job, whats your plan for reentering the job market? Make sure you have funds for basic expenses if you dont get hired immediately. If your industry is going through a hiring lull, think about what other skills you have in case you need to make a career-pivot. Benjamin Fields is a public school teacher and PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. He uses his salary and his side hustle selling perfume to afford micro-retirements once a month where he attends events such as festivals or travels internationally. Each micro-retirement is one to two weeks, depending on whether he is traveling. Fields says hes not worried about micro-retirement affecting his job advancement prospects now or in the futurehes confident hell always be able to find work. He says that taking time off and having a mental health break are more important than worrying about making money. Fields accepts that his long-term savings might take a hit and says its worth it. Money is just a tool. If you consider the way estate planning works, as long as I’m saving and investing enough money to retire in the manner I want, then I should be able to spend freely, he said. “All I’m gonna do is just hand it off to my kids, and they’re probably going to squander the money anyway. So I might as well enjoy the money.” Fields plans to continue micro-retirements until he retires permanently.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||