Amazon Stops Accepting New Online Grocery Customers Amid Surging Demand
Amazon is putting new grocery delivery customers on a waitlist and cut shopping hours at some of its Whole Foods stores. This is to try and get orders to the company’s already existing customers getting their food online. This waitlist began Monday, April 13 after the company saw they couldn’t complete all the orders with available delivery slots. “We still expect the combination of restricted capacity due to social distancing and customer demand will continue to make finding available delivery windows challenging for customers,” Stephenie Landry, vice president of Grocery at Amazon, wrote in a blogpost. “If you are able to do so safely, we kindly encourage our customers who can, to shop in-person.”
Airlines
Delta Air Lines Changes Boarding Procedure to Accommodate Social Distancing
Delta Air Lines has changed its boarding procedure, beginning back to front, regardless of when, where or how much a passenger booked. This is to minimize the amount of time passengers spend next to others. However, those sitting in Business or First class as well as the Diamond Elite members in the company’s loyalty program can board the flight whenever they want.
The airline did say, though, that “customers are encouraged to help with good social distancing practices by waiting for their row to be called” in the Forbes article linked above. This new process is temporary and should remain in effect until the end of May.
There are multiple options for contactless purchasing.
Contactless Delivery
For people who want no-contact
Pay Ahead for Carryout
This cuts down on the contact needed by already purchasing the product and only needing to pick it up
Low-Contact Carryout
For those who are shopping in stores, the brand recommends customers use Apple Pay, Google Pay or a credit card to keep cash handling at a minimum.
Loyalty and Rewards
Visa Teams Up with Start-Up for Bitcoin Rewards Card
Visa, teaming up with start-up Fold, has introduced a card that rewards its users with bitcoin, and not the normal cash or airline miles, to try and give customers another option for rewards. Visa is rewarding customers, as up to 10 percent of cash purchases with the co-branded debit card from Fold and Visa will be given to the users in bitcoin. "People are not interested in spending bitcoin right now, but are interested in accumulating it," Fold Chief Executive Will Reeves said in an interview in the Straits Times article linked above. "If people don't understand bitcoin as money yet, they certainly will understand it as a better reward."
Reddit to Bring an Ethereum-Based Rewards System
Reddit is introducing an Ethereum blockchain-based reward system, which will reward its customers with points they can use. In the FAQ section in the Reddit post detailed, it states that, “Users can spend points to buy special memberships in their community. A special membership unlocks exclusive features in the community,” the post detailed. “The points are destroyed (“burned”), making everyone else’s shares of points go up. This ensures that buying memberships rewards the community as a whole.”
Confirming the prospect, a Reddit spokesperson said, “We continuously experiment with ways to support communities on Reddit. In this instance, we’re working with one community to test a feature that represents a user’s involvement in a community. We value and seek out community feedback as we continue to explore features that engage our users and communities.”
Innovation Comcast Makes More Than Two Dozen More Entertainment Networks and Subscription Video Services Available for Free Comcast has announced that it has made on-demand programming for more than […]