In a distant, forgotten epoch called the early 2000s, self-checkout machines, those infuriating devices in seemingly every grocery store waiting to inform you there’s “an unexpected item in the bagging area,” seemed like a good, even great, idea.

They’d bring retail stores into the modern age: Customers would whiz through lines, companies would save on labor costs, and everything would be new and shiny and good and perfect. Lately, though, they’ve started to look like a vestige of the boom years.

Dollar General, Target, Walmart, and Costco, among others, have all either pulled back on or tweaked their self-checkout process recently. And in California, there’s a newly proposed bill on the table that could force some stores to close self-checkout lanes without adequate staffing.

There’s just one issue: Retailers spent the start of the 2000s convincing people this was a worthy and effective technology.

Keep reading here.—NP

Discover Miss Excel’s secret hacks to unleash the full power of Microsoft Excel in this free Excel class on optimizing your spreadsheets with pivot tables and data analysis. The best news: If you can’t attend live, you’ll also get access to a 48-hour replay when you register.

Register today for this FREE live workshop and save hours each week.

In 2023, The Home Depot was one of several major retailers to call attention to the growing cost of retail theft. In the first and second quarters, the home improvement chain highlighted that elevated levels of shrink were squeezing margins and driving up operational expenses.

But the second part of the equation—the higher operational costs that come with mitigating retail theft—is arguably a less-picked-over topic than the cost of shrink itself.

Keep reading here.—AV

As Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this month after announcing that the central bank wasn’t planning on lowering rates anytime soon, the purpose of a strict monetary policy is to put “downward pressure” on economic activity.

JPMorgan explains it this way: “When the central bank increases interest rates, borrowing becomes more expensive. In this environment, both consumers and businesses might think twice about taking out loans for major purchases or investments.”

In other words, higher rates should make it harder to obtain loans, which should make it harder to fund investments in your business, whether that’s a new store or a new technology. But looking at retailers specifically, this trend is not so clear-cut.

Keep reading here.—AV

Because a supply closet without supplies is just a closet, stock up on office essentials with a little help from Walmart Business. Choose from an ever-expanding selection of must-have items + get everything delivered straight to your office—or closet—with the Walmart prices you know + love.