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Coronavirus leads to more use of contactless credit cards and mobile payments despite cost and security concerns
With consumers worried about touching surfaces during the coronavirus pandemic, the use of mobile payments and contactless credit or debit cards has significantly increased in the past few months, according to research released today by the National Retail Federation and Forrester.

“Health experts say there is no clear evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted by cash or credit cards but retailers are putting health and safety first and have rolled out a variety of no-touch payment options in order to err on the side of caution,” NRF Vice President for Government Relations, Banking and Financial Services Leon Buck said. “While mobile payments and contactless cards have accounted for a minority of payments in the past, the pandemic has clearly driven consumers to change their behavior and retailers to accelerate their adoption of the technology.”

The State of Retail Payments study, conducted for NRF every other year by Forrester, found 67 percent of retailers surveyed now accept some form of no-touch payment. That includes 58 percent that accept contactless cards that can be waved past a card reader or tapped on the reader, up from 40 percent last year, and 56 percent that take digital wallet payments on mobile phones, up from 44 percent. Many retailers also allow customers to pay online or over the phone and then pick up merchandise in-store or at curbside, avoiding the need to touch card readers, sign for transactions or enter a PIN.

Since January, no-touch payments have increased for 69 percent of retailers surveyed. Among retailers that had implemented contactless payments, 94 percent expect the increase to continue over the next 18 months. As of the time of the survey, 19 percent said no-touch accounted for more than half of their in-store transactions while 30 percent said it was 10 percent or less. nrf.com

Retail profits won't rebound until 2022 at the earliest, Moody's says
Moody's reduced its forecast for the retail industry as "performance takes a dive," according to an emailed report issued Thursday by the ratings agency. Companies in the industry remain under "extreme stress" related to COVID-19 and the ensuing closures, increased costs and other pressures, Moody's analysts said.

The analysts now expect operating income for the industry to decline by 25-30% for 2020, a significant downward revision from Moody's past estimates of a decline of up to 5%. And the analysts don't anticipate operating profit to return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2022. retaildive.com

Virtual school is another setback for struggling retail industry
Back-to-school season is the second-biggest revenue generating period for the retail sector, after the holidays. But retailers say typical shopping sprees will be smaller with students learning at home — another setback for their industry, which has seen a slew of store closures and bankruptcy filings since the pandemic hit.

Research firm GlobalData expects the lowest level of back-to-school spending for elementary and high school students since 2015 — while spending for back-to-college shopping would crater nearly 40% from last year, per the Wall Street Journal. axios.com

Back-to-School is About to Look Different. Here’s What Merchants Need to Know to Prepare.

Cultivate empathy for your employees as they start the school year with uncertainty

NYC Schools Can Reopen, Cuomo Says, Making It One of Few Big Cities With In-Person Classes

1.8M jobs added in July, unemployment falls to 10.2%
as some states halt reopening, others press ahead
The U.S. added 1.8 million jobs in July as payroll growth slowed amid a split-screen economy that had employers stepping up hiring in parts of the country that continued to let businesses reopen, even as COVID-19 spikes forced Sunbelt firms to pull back and lay off workers.

The unemployment rate fell to 10.2% from 11.1% in June, the Labor Department said Friday.

Starting in late June, nearly half the states paused or reversed reopenings because of surges in coronavirus cases, a rollback that particularly hit Texas, Arizona, Florida and California. Those losses were more than offset by net job gains elsewhere in the country as states relaxed restrictions.

The number of Americans on temporary layoff fell by 1.3 million to 9.2 million as more laid-off workers at restaurants, malls, gyms and other outlets were called back amid state reopenings.
 
Leisure and hospitality, the sector hit hardest by the pandemic, gained 592,000 jobs in June, mostly in restaurants and bars. Retail added 258,000; professional and business services, 170,000; and health care, 126,000. usatoday.com

CVS Says Covid-19 Test Delays Are Abating

‘Broken’ coronavirus tracking system leaves California in the dark: ‘We have no idea’

Ohio Gov. DeWine tests negative for COVID-19 hours after testing positive

Luxury items lose their luster in the pandemic

Coronavirus relief talks grind to a near halt, dimming chances of a stimulus deal
 

Protests & Violence

DOJ's Anti-Crime Effort Expands to 8 Cities
Operation Legend expanded to Memphis and St. Louis
Thursday, the expansion of Operation Legend was announced in Memphis and St. Louis. Operation Legend is a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime. The Operation was first launched on July 8 in Kansas City, MO., and expanded on July 22, 2020, to Chicago and Albuquerque, and to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee on July 29, 2020.

Operation Legend is named in honor of four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept early in the morning of June 29 in Kansas City.

As part of Operation Legend, Attorney General Barr directed the ATF, FBI, DEA, and U.S. Marshals Service to significantly increase resources into Memphis and St. Louis in the coming weeks to help state and local officials fight high levels of violent crime, particularly gun violence.

Memphis is currently experiencing a significant increase in violent crime, with homicides currently up more than 49 percent, reported gun crime up 23 percent, and aggravated assault shootings up over 19 percent over 2019. Similarly, homicides are up in St. Louis nearly 34 percent and non-fatal shootings are up over 13 percent. justice.gov

Police Reform: 'How cities can tackle violent crime without relying on police'
One of the most robust findings in criminology is that putting more police officers on the streets leads to less violent crime. Yet, as recent police killings and violence against protestors have reminded us, policing also produces staggering costs that many communities are no longer willing to bear. These seemingly incongruous views represent a tension at the core of any efforts to reform, defund, or abolish policing.

In an interview with Vox, Princeton University sociologist Patrick Sharkey describes what an alternative model of public safety might look like that didn’t rely so heavily on police:

"There’s a basic conclusion from the research on what creates safe neighborhoods: Police are effective at reducing violence, but they aren’t the only ones who are effective.

There’s lots of evidence telling us that other core institutions in a community — institutions that are driven by residents and local organizations — can play a central role in controlling violence. But we’ve never thought of these organizations and residents as the central actors responsible for creating safe streets, so we’ve never given them the same commitment and the same resources that we give to law enforcement and the criminal legal system. When we talk about how to respond to violence, the default response in the US is always to focus on the police and the prison.

The next model should be one driven primarily by residents and local organizations as the central actors. Police still certainly have a role to play, but responding to violent crime takes up only a tiny fraction of police officers’ time. So the idea here is that we can rely on residents and local organizations to take over most of the duties that [officers] currently handle and make sure neighborhoods are safe." vox.com

Portland: Mayor Ted Wheeler Hints at Bringing Back City's Gun Violence Reduction Team

Atlanta: Ex-officer charged in death of Rayshard Brooks sues mayor, city over firing

Seattle: Police Identify Suspect in Killing During June Protests

Utah protesters who splashed red paint and broke windows could face up to life in prison because of "gang enhancement"
 

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