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Patreon lays off 17 percent of its employees

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Admin

Patreon, a platform that helps creators to generate more income from their work, has laid off 80 employees, or around 17 percent of its total headcount, amid the global economic slowdown and fears of a recession. The company is closing its Berlin office, which housed sales and marketing employees. Patreon is centralizing those operations in the US. A Dublin office is also shutting down and Patreon will offer nine engineers there the option to relocate to the US in order to centralize resources. An office in Porto, Portugal will remain open to provide support to creators and users in Europe.

The layoffs have impacted four teams — Go-to-Market, Operations, Finance and People — CEO Jack Conte wrote in a letter to employees. Patreon will offer affected workers at least three months of severance and those in the US will receive COBRA healthcare coverage through the end of the year. The company will also offer resources to help them find a new job and waive a one-year equity vesting cliff for pending stock options.

Last week, Patreon let go five members of its security team for different reasons. Conte said this “was part of a longer-term strategy to continue distributing security responsibilities across our entire engineering team, bring new areas of expertise into Patreon internally, and continue partnering with external experts.” However, he noted that the company is ramping up its investment in security.

Why Patreon is laying off?

Conte wrote that the layoffs are part of a restructuring that will see Patreon plow more resources into its product, engineering and design departments. However, the company is scaling back recruitment and the size of its operations.

“I’m more confident than ever that the world needs a better economic system for creative people, and Patreon will keep building that system for creators over the decades ahead,” Conte said. “However, the pandemic introduced volatility to the broader trend, starting with a rapid acceleration during COVID lockdowns. In response, we built an operating plan to support this outsized growth, but as the world began recovering from the pandemic and enduring a broader economic slowdown, that plan is no longer the right path forward for Patreon.”

This is just the latest in a long line of recent layoffs at notable tech companies. Apple, Google, Meta, Peloton, Netflix, Snap, Paypal, Unity and others have all reduced their headcount or pumped the brakes on recruitment in recent months.

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Matternet’s delivery drone design has been approved by the FAA

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Admin

Matternet has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its Model M2 drone delivery drone design. In a press release, Matternet explains that the Model M2 is the first non-military unmanned aircraft to achieve Type Certification by the FAA, which determines that an aircraft’s design meets regulatory standards.

The California-based Matternet has been testing its Model M2 drone over the past four years in the US as part of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program. Matternet says getting the green light from the FAA could help streamline the process of “implementing new networks and getting approvals.”

Partnership with UPS

Matternet partnered with UPS in 2019 to deliver medical supplies in North Carolina, and later started delivering prescriptions in Florida. Matternet also expanded its footprint to Switzerland, where it teamed up with the Swiss Post to deliver lab samples and blood tests. The program was briefly suspended in 2019 after its drones suffered two crashes in the country, but Matternet has since announced that it’s taking over the Swiss Post’s drone delivery program starting in 2023.

In a statement, the FAA says Matternet’s Model M2 drone “meets all federal regulations for safe, reliable and controllable operations and provides a level of safety equivalent to existing airworthiness standards applicable to other categories of aircraft.” The four-rotor drone’s been approved to carry four-pound payloads and fly at an altitude of 400 feet or lower with a maximum speed of 45mph.

Matternet’s announcement comes as other tech (and retail) giants begin ramping up efforts to get their own drone delivery services off the ground. In May, Walmart said it’s going to expand its drone delivery network — which it launched last year in partnership with DroneUp — to Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia by the end of 2022. Amazon also announced plans to jumpstart its stalled drone delivery program in June, eventually bringing drone-powered deliveries to Lockeford, California and College Station, Texas. Wing, the drone company owned by Google parent Alphabet, recently launched tests in parts of Texas and started working on drones capable of carrying larger payloads.

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Uber Eats and Nuro are making autonomous food deliveries in Texas and California

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Admin

More Uber Eats customers would be getting their orders from vehicles with no delivery personnel in sight. That’s because Uber has signed a 10-year partnership with Nuro to use its autonomous, electric vehicles to deliver food orders in the US. They’ll start in Houston, Texas and Mountain View, California this fall before eventually expanding their service to the greater Bay Area.

Same Rates for Deliveries

According to TechCrunch, customers won’t get to choose and won’t even know if their order is being delivered by a Nuro bot when they make their purchase. That also means they’ll be charged the same rates for delivery regardless of what the delivery method is. Also, they’ll get a refund for their tip if they choose to give one via the app and a Nuro vehicle shows up instead of a human worker. They do have to walk outside to get their order themselves, though, and that could be quite a hassle in the rain.

Based on the video the companies released to show what a Nuro delivery would look like, customers would have to key in a code to open the vehicle door and get their order. Nuro introduced its third-gen delivery vehicle, which comes with an external airbag to protect pedestrians, earlier this year. Since it has yet to formally launch its new vehicle model, it will initially use its second-gen cars called the R2 for the partnership. The R2 was designed to be completely driverless and is equipped with 360-degree and thermal cameras, lidar and radar to effectively navigate roads on its own.

Safety Guidelines

Nuro’s vehicles have been making deliveries in Houston since 2019 for other companies like Walmart. In California, it was granted the state’s first Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Permit in 2020, giving it the authority to operate a commercial autonomous vehicle service. As TechCrunch notes, that would allow Nuro to receive a fee for every Uber Eats delivery in the state.

Tesla reduces Model Y delivery time to 4 weeks

Posted on August 19, 2022August 19, 2022 by Admin

You do not have to wait for 12 to 20 weeks to buy a Model Y of Tesla in China as Electric auto giant Tesla said on Thursday it has slashed the delivery waiting time for its Model 3 and Model Y cars in China as it ramps up output at its Shanghai plant after upgrading production lines.

Waiting Time Reduced

According to Economic Times, “The waiting time has now been reduced to four to eight weeks for the rear-wheel drive Model Y sport utility vehicle. Meanwhile, buyers of other versions of the SUV and Model 3 sedans will have to wait for at least 12 to 20 weeks.

Earlier, a buyer in China had to wait for eight to 24 weeks after placing an order for the best-selling models, reported Reuters citing Tesla.”

Seeking Alph said, “The waiting time for the rear-wheel drive Model Y sport utility vehicle is now four to eight weeks, while buyers of other versions of the SUV and Model 3 sedans need to wait for 12 to 20 weeks.

The EV giant previously said a buyer in China had to wait for eight to 24 weeks after placing an order for the best-selling models.

The company has completed a major upgrade of the production lines at its Shanghai plant, its most productive manufacturing hub, and is ramping up output with a target of making 22,000 Model 3 and Model Y cars combined each week.

Chief Executive Elon Musk has said production is a bigger challenge for the company than demand. It is struggling to increase output in its Berlin and Texas plants, while production losses during a two-month COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai hurt Tesla’s profit margin in the second quarter.

The company has paused taking orders for its Cybertruck outside North America, and also for Model 3 Long Range vehicles in the United States and Canada, citing big delivery backlogs.”

Walmart from now will charge suppliers for fuel and pickup

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Admin

Walmart is going to charge its suppliers starting next month. They took this step in as the price of fuel is increasing day by day. This move will decrease the company’s expenses regarding transportation.

Other moves

Not only this. Walmart’s chief merchandising officer and chief operating officer for Walmart U.S. said the company will also impose a “collect pickup charge” calculated as a percentage of the cost of goods received and a fuel surcharge based on the cost of fuel to transport the goods.

According to a report by Reuters, “The move comes more than a month after Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, cut its full-year profit outlook blaming rising costs of labor and fuel. Fuel costs, in particular, ran over $160 million higher than it had anticipated.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the details of the memo, which was addressed to Walmart’s “Valued Collect Suppliers”

“This program is a result of Walmart adapting to the significant transformation and increased costs seen in the transportation industry over the past few years,” the memo sent on Friday read.

“The changes outlined… allow us to share cost accountability with our Collect suppliers, helping to enable us to meet our everyday low price commitment to our customers,” it said.

A Walmart spokesperson said while confirming the memo’s details, “The Collect program positions Walmart and participating suppliers to adapt to the dynamics of the current economic environment,”

Reaction of the suppliers who use Walmart’s services

Walmart sent mail about the charges they are going to put to the suppliers. “I have an unknown expense and nothing I can do about it,” said one supplier who received the email. “This is, for all intents and purposes, a retroactive charge,” since many suppliers already have product order agreements in place with Walmart for the coming year, said this person.

The world is yet to see how the other suppliers handle this matter.

Tag: Retail