500 Walmarts will add FedEx Offices
Walmart Inc. will add 500 FedEx Office shops inside its stores over the next two years, building on a pilot program that had been tested in 47 locations.
The Bentonville retailer and FedEx Office, which is a subsidiary of Memphis-based FedEx Corp., revealed the expanded partnership Tuesday after previously opening locations across six states, including Arkansas.
The move is part of Walmart's efforts to make its stores a "one-stop shop" for customers as it competes with Amazon.com. Daniel Eckert, Walmart's vice president of services and digital acceleration, said shipping and printing are some of the services customers wanted available in Walmart stores.
Walmart's FedEx Office locations will give shoppers access to packing, shipping and printing solutions, according to a news release. Customers also can direct their packages to be held at any of the locations for up to five business days. FedEx Office locations will be available in roughly 12 percent of Walmart's 4,700 U.S. stores when the expansion is completed.
Brian Philips, chief executive officer of FedEx Office, said the initiative builds on a shared goal of "providing customers convenience and value." FedEx Office has about 1,900 locations in the U.S.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
Pace of air-bag replacements criticized
WASHINGTON -- Members of a Senate panel voiced frustration Tuesday with the pace of repairs for vehicles with defective Takata air-bag inflators and urged regulators to complete work on a federal rule that would require automakers to use email and other forms of electronic communication when notifying car owners about recall campaigns.
Takata air-bag inflators can explode with too much force and spew shrapnel into drivers and passengers. At least 22 people have died worldwide, and more than 180 people have been hurt.
A yearslong recall involves about 50 million Takata air-bag inflators in the United States. To date, about 21 million defective air bags have been repaired.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee recently asked the 19 automakers involved in the Takata recall to provide the repair rates for their vehicles.
Nelson said the completion rates for the most widely affected companies ranged from Honda Motor Co.'s 70 percent and Toyota Motor Corp.'s 61 percent to Fiat Chrysler's 41 percent and Ford Motor Co.'s 22 percent. He said BMW failed to provide the committee with its most recent figures.
"Overall, these recall completion rates are disappointing, unacceptable and remain a cause for great concern," Nelson said.
-- The Associated Press
Google buys building in NYC for $2.4B
NEW YORK -- Google Inc. has finalized the $2.4 billion purchase of New York City's Chelsea Market building.
The management company Jamestown Properties announced the sale of the former Nabisco factory on Tuesday. The building is directly opposite Google's New York City headquarters in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
Google has about 7,000 employees in New York, the most of any location outside of its Silicon Valley headquarters.
Google and Jamestown say they'll work together to ensure a smooth transition with minimal impact to tenants.
The building's office tenants include Major League Baseball and the Food Network.
Jamestown will continue to manage Chelsea Market's popular food hall, which draws millions of visitors every year.
-- The Associated Press
United halts animal air-cargo program
CHICAGO -- United Airlines on Tuesday suspended PetSafe, its program for transporting animals in the cargo holds of planes, after a series of missteps.
"We know we need to improve, but we also know the best way to do that is to stop and take a look at this," said Charlie Hobart, a company spokesman.
Last week, a French bulldog died after being placed in an overhead bin on a flight from Houston to New York. A day later, a German shepherd headed from Oregon to Kansas wound up in Japan after being mixed up with a Great Dane during a connection in Denver. (The dog was flown back in a private jet.) Another dog, bound for Akron, Ohio, was mistakenly loaded onto a flight from Newark, N.J., to St. Louis. The plane made an extra stop in Akron, where it was reunited with its family.
United said it would cease taking new PetSafe bookings until May 1. The change will not affect animals permitted to travel in plane cabins or already booked reservations. Customers who want to cancel or rebook pets' travel during the review will be allowed to.
United transported about 140,000 animals last year, significantly more than any other U.S. airline. Of the more than 500,000 animals on flights with U.S. carriers last year, 24 died in transit; of those, 18 were on United, according to the U.S. Transportation Department.
-- The New York Times
Orbitz says credit-card data put at risk
NEW YORK -- Expedia Inc.-owned Orbitz said hackers may have accessed 880,000 credit-card numbers used to book travel through the site and other companies serviced by Orbitz, including American Express Co.
The news pushed Expedia shares down 1.5 percent to $109.63 at 2:31 p.m. in New York.
In addition to the cards, hackers may have stolen names, dates of birth, phone numbers and addresses of consumers who booked through Orbitz in 2016 and 2017. Orbitz also provides a back-end booking system for other companies, which may also have been affected, Orbitz said in an email. American Express said that could include people who booked through Amextravel.com.
The hack is the latest headache for Expedia stemming from its $1.6 billion acquisition of Orbitz in 2015. While Expedia was integrating Orbitz's back-end system with its own, the network crashed, causing downtime that affected sales enough to cut into quarterly revenue, the company said in July 2016.
Expedia shares have declined more than 8 percent this year as extra spending on improving its HomeAway short-term rental site and marketing its various brands around the world eats into profit.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 03/21/2018