Scoop and Score, Package Panic Parade, & Gratuity Gritstorm
Good morning! ☀️
Hope you didn’t plan on swinging by Rite Aid—unless you like shopping in ghost towns. The pharmacy chain just filed another Chapter 11 and is pulling the plug on nearly 950 stores.
Meanwhile, if a mystery package showed up on your porch, congrats… you might’ve just been “brushed.” No, not in a good-hair-day way—more like a scammy "free gift" so someone can fake a five-star review with your name on it.
And over in the land of lukewarm fries and tipping drama, a new “living wage” fee is sneaking onto restaurant receipts—and folks are spicy. Welcome to the age of fine-print fury.
Let’s dash. 🏃♂️
“Dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.”
Rite Aid Is Melting, But Thrifty’s Getting Scooped
Rite Aid just filed for another Chapter 11, planning to shut down nearly 950 of its 1,240 stores after failing to land a buyer or financing. But hey—there’s a bright spot in the freezer aisle: the iconic Thrifty Ice Cream brand is getting picked up for $19.2M by Hilrod Holdings LP, led by none other than Monster Beverage CEO Hilton Schlosberg.
And Rite Aid’s not alone. Forever 21, Joann Fabrics, Party City, and At Home are also scaling back or shutting down thanks to inflation, debt, and low foot traffic. But investors are still circling beloved brands—and where there’s value, there’s freight.
Why Logistics Should Care:
Retail closures shake up freight flows, trim regular lanes, and trigger big-time supply chain shifts. New ownership of legacy brands like Thrifty? That means new distribution networks, restructured cold chain routes, and fresh opportunity for last-mile carriers.
🔥 Hot Take:
Retail’s crumbling. But if you’re in cold chain logistics, this is your moment to chill and conquer. Rite Aid’s meltdown could be your big scoop.
Surprise Package? It Might Be a Scam
Got a mystery box on your doorstep? Before you pop the bubble wrap, here’s the deal: it might be part of a brushing scam—where shady sellers send random junk (socks, kitchen gadgets, keychains) to real addresses just so they can leave fake “verified” reviews.
The kicker? If it landed at your house, your personal info may already be out there—name, address, maybe even payment details. That’s a potential gateway to identity theft, credit fraud, and phishing attacks.
USPS says: report it, lock down your accounts, and don’t scan sketchy QR codes. (No free AirPods are hiding behind that link. Promise.)
Why it matters (Logistics Edition): Brushing scams clog up delivery data, mess with demand signals, and waste last-mile bandwidth. If your network can’t spot ghost freight, you’re literally delivering lies.
🔥 Hot take: Scam shipping is the new porch pirate—except this one burns your ops budget.
Service Fee or Sneaky Surcharge? 🍽️💸
A new “living wage” fee is popping up on restaurant bills—and it’s got people heated. Some diners are vowing never to return. Others say it’s just the cost of doing business in an era of inflation, rising wages, and serious tip fatigue. One commenter nailed it: “You wanted no tipping? This is what it looks like.” 👀
Meanwhile, in California, these fees were banned under new junk fee laws. Some spots (like Backhaus Bakery) are scrapping tipping altogether and just raising prices to pay staff better. Whether you love it or hate it, this convo isn’t cooling down anytime soon.
💼 Why Logistics Should Care: Customers are done with shady fees—whether it’s a mystery restaurant charge or a surprise “fuel surcharge TBD” on a freight invoice. If your logistics pricing isn’t transparent, you’re playing with fire.
🔥 Hot Take: If people rage over a $4 burrito fee, you better believe they’ll notice a mystery charge on a 5-figure shipment. In 2025, clarity is currency. Own your pricing or risk losing trust and business.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for July 17, 2025, from iLevel Logistics Inc.