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Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

  • Why Costco won’t have a problem with California’s $15 minimum wage

    In a history-making move that would have a direct impact on the retail industry and food service sector, the state of California has moved closer to raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

  • Court rules Puerto Rico can’t gouge Walmart

    A court ruling struck down a provision adopted by Puerto Rico last year that tripled the tax revenue the debt-laden island extracted from Walmart, Reuters reported. [Reuters]

  • Drone data shows ‘close calls’ surge

    Retailers intrigued by the prospect of drone deliveries should be concerned by new data that shows a disturbingly high number of close calls with commercial aircraft.

    The Federal Aviation Administration released data showing the number of incidents in which drones flew too close to a commercial aircraft increased to 1,200 last year from 236 incidents in 2014, the first year FAA began tracking the data.

  • NRF tells Fed to lower swipe fees further

    The National Retail Federation is pressing for a further reduction in per transaction fee banks charge retailers when customers use debit cards five years after the Federal Reserve cut the fee in half.

    In a letter the National Retail Federation sent to the Federal Reserve the trade group said the cap on debit card swipe fees enacted by the Federal Reserve five years ago has helped reduce costs for retailers and consumers but is still higher than intended by Congress and should be lowered.

  • Chip-card payment system delays costing retailers

    Delays in the required certification of payment terminals that accept credit and debit cards with embedded chips are frustrating many retailers, particularly midsized ones, and also costing them as, since Oct. 1, stores that cannot accept chip cards have had to shoulder the cost of fraud — and banks are not shy about passing along the bill, the New York Times reported.

  • Phishing attack exposes grocery chain employee data

    The latest retail security breach may have exposed personal information of workers, rather than customers. According to The Denver Channel, a payroll employee of Phoenix-based, 220-plus-store Sprouts Farmers Markets provided W-2 tax form information from an unspecified number of the retailer’s personnel in response to a request in a fraudulent “phishing” email claiming to be from a company executive. The FBI and IRS are investigating the breach with cooperation from Sprouts.

  • Staples and Office Depot take another shot at FTC

    The CEOs of Staples and Office Depot penned a letter to customers which reveals the extent of their deteriorated relations with the Federal Trade Commission ahead of a hearing that begins March 21 that will determine whether the retailers are allowed to merge.

    In the letter, Staples chairman and CEO Ron Sargent and Office Depot chairman and CEO Roland Smith stop short of actually calling the FTC stupid, but that is the inference from more diplomatically worded prose.

  • Study: Retailers vary and so should retail minimum wages

    Should Walmart and Costco be required to pay employees the same minimum wage?

    The answer is no, at least that’s the conclusion of a new study according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank based in Dallas.

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