Along with the metric system, celsius, and beans on toast, Americans were not what anyone would call “early adopters” when it came to equipping credit cards with chips.

“Chip-based credit cards are a decade old; why doesn’t the US rely on them yet?” asked an Ars Technica headline in 2014. Known as EMV—named for the three companies that created the standard: Europay, Mastercard, and Visa—the technology was invented in 1994 because magnetic strips are vulnerable to fraud, and at the time of that nine-year-old article, chip-enabled cards were common throughout Europe, Australia, and elsewhere.

Motivated by breaches, including hackers stealing credit card information from ~40 million Target customers in 2013, the US finally got on board:

• Visa and Mastercard required retailers to have chip-card readers by the end of 2015, and that year the Aite Group projected that 70% of credit cards in the US would have chips.
• In the 12 months that ended June 2022, chip-enabled cards were used for 85% of transactions in the US, according to standards group EMVCo data cited by the Washington Post.

Like automakers, credit card issuers face chip shortages, with some consumers waiting as long as eight weeks for a new card.

For retailers, the prospect of consumers having to rely on cash could sound concerning. But thanks to factors including the rapid growth of digital payments, the credit card chip shortage seems unlikely to be keeping any retail executives up at night.

Not in the cards: Sam Gazeley, an industry analyst for digital security at ABI Research, which is based in London, told us the wait for new and replacement cards has generally gone from about six to 10 business days to six to eight weeks. But that varies greatly depending on who issued your card because larger card issuers have the resources to pay suppliers extra for chips.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Carhartt prides itself on selling workwear that’s created to last, but now it’s giving those products an even longer shelf life.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company has partnered with re-commerce platform Trove to launch a resale program, Carhartt Reworked, that aims to reduce clothing waste.

How it (re)works: Reworked, which debuted March 1, accepts trade-ins of select Carhartt products that meet a certain criteria. Clothes must be less than 10 years old; must have an original MSRP cost of $50 or more; and fit into product categories such as outerwear, shirt jacs, bibs and overalls, hoodies, sweatshirts, and pants.

• Customers exchange their gear for a digital gift card that can be used at the program’s dedicated website or any Carhartt store.
• Products that are not eligible for trade-in based on their condition are recycled or donated.
• The program is now piloted in six stores across the United States ahead of an expansion across all Carhartt retail locations slated for later this year.

Carhartt views Reworked as a natural “extension” of its model of providing long-lasting gear, with a sustainability edge tied in, Gretchen R. Valade, director of sustainability at Carhartt, said in a statement. “With the help of Trove’s expertise in circular business and re-commerce, we’re able to keep Carhartt products in use longer, out of landfills, and in the hands of people who need it,” she said.

Trove’s operating system helps Carhartt process trade-ins, and it distinguishes itself from marketplaces and peer-to-peer sites, claiming to provide “an opportunity to own the experience and engage with new and existing customers,” the company said in a statement.

• Trove is the helping hand behind Canada Goose’s resale program, Canada Goose Generations, which debuted earlier this year.

Keep reading here.—KM

“Aimen Halim of Chicago filed a class-action lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings that accuses the restaurant chain of falsely advertising its boneless wings when they are allegedly just chicken nuggets,” writes Morning Brew’s Matty Merritt:

The lawsuit, filed last Friday, states that Halim believed BWW’s boneless chicken wings were actually deboned wings. If he had known the breast-meat truth, Halim claims he would have ordered something else, and therefore he’s suffered “financial injury.”

Read the whole story here on Morning Brew.

Today’s top retail reads.

A budding industry: As of 2021, California is home to the largest legal cannabis industry in the world, and that has given way to some of the most upscale and opulent dispensaries and boutiques. (The Guardian)

Tech talk: For as long robots have existed, so have concerns about whether they’ll make humans obsolete, particularly in the workforce. But Walmart’s pushing back against that narrative, claiming technology empowers its workers. (Fortune)

Throw it back: It seems like we’ve been stuck in a timeline in which inflation has always been this high, but obviously that’s not the case. In fact, people are feeling nostalgic for the days when prices were cheaper—like, two years ago. (the Wall Street Journal)

Docs for days: The collection of documentaries on Curiosity Stream has every other streaming service beat. With countless topics and new shows added every week, there’s entertainment for every interest. Get 25% off your subscription.* 

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

The numbers you need to know.

Tomorrow is a traditional occasion for Americans (and the Irish, and the Irish at heart) to indulge in a wee tipple, which means they’ll be spending $$$…but not just on booze.

Roughly 1 in 6 Americans, or 45 million people, shop under the influence of alcohol, resulting in $14 billion in purchases, according to Finders Drunk Shopper Survey of the most common purchases made while tipsy. Among them: shoes, clothes or accessories (47%), food (47%), gambling and cigarettes (34%), and streaming services or DVDs (are they still a thing?) at 25%.

• Along age demographics, millennials are more likely to sip and shop at 33%, followed by Gen Z (28%). Both cohorts spend the largest percentage of their drunk purchases on shoes and apparel.
• Only 8% and 2% of Gen Xers and baby boomers admitted to shopping under the influence of alcohol.

On the bright side—depending on your perspective—the average per person spend under the influence of $309 in 2022 is a significant decline from last year at $423.73, and an even greater drop from 2020 at $768.58. There wasn’t anything major happening in 2020, right?

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Why a seamless supply chain is integral to fashion week
• Notable trends from Expo West, the Super Bowl of food & bev
• Optimizing for conversational AI product discovery