Industry News

NACS Daily News The penny-per-beverage tax would apply to soft drinks and beverages with added sugar, although diet soft drinks and most juices would be exempt. SAN FRANCISCO – Voters in the town of Richmond, California, will get their chance to decide whether sugary beverages get slapped with a higher tax. The Nov. 6 ballot measure will decide whether the city imposes “what could be the nation’s first municipal tax on soda and other sugary beverages — a penny-per-ounce surcharge intended to fight childhood obesity,” writes the San Francisco Chronicle. The tax would apply to soft drinks as well as Snapple and other beverages with added sugar. Most juice would be exempt, as would diet soft drinks. City council voted 5 to 2 last week to approve the ballot measure. And some councilmembers were not without an opinion: “Even a Twinkie has some nutritional value. But soft drinks have none.…

NACS Daily News The retailer is expanding its corporate social responsibility efforts with the ability to scan the 2-D barcode on the back of a customer’s driver’s license in the New York metro area. DALLAS – 7-Eleven Inc. is taking a new and aggressive approach to enhance its social and corporate responsibility of illegal underage sales of age-restricted products. The retailer is launching a new technology in each of its 7-Eleven stores in the New York metropolitan area that will scan the 2-D code on the back of a customer’s driver license or identification card when age-restricted products are being purchased. This scan will verify the birth date stored on the card but will not store any other information about the customer. “We believe that this new system takes compliance at 7-Eleven to the next level,” said Keith Jones, 7-Eleven’s senior director of government affairs, “Illegal sales of age-restricted items…

Angus Whitley, David Fickling Herald Sun May 22, 2012 David Jones is vulnerable as its share price wallows, industry experts say. DAVID Jones is emerging as a takeover candidate as its shares wallow at their weakest level since the financial crisis, industry experts say. According to an analysis by global finance group Bank of America, the retailer’s property portfolio is worth almost as much as the company, making it a plum buyout candidate. Shares in the high-end department store group have tumbled about 50 per cent over the past year. The share price fell late last week to its lowest level in more than three years – and its lowest level in eight years relative to the value of David Jones’ assets. While the slump has pushed David Jones market value down to $1.2 billion, its real-estate holdings would be worth as much as $1 billion if sold and leased…

CSNews RICHMOND, Va. — Altria Group Inc. is stepping outside its usual comfort zone and getting ready to introduce its first tobacco-less nicotine product, Verve, to the marketplace. The company will sell Verve in more than 50 stores in its home state of Virginia, but has not decided on a national rollout at this time. According to the Wall Street Journal, the tobacco giant will launch the non-dissolving, lozenge-shaped nicotine disc by early June. Altria is probably best known for being the maker of the Marlboro cigarette brand — part of its Philip Morris USA family. This move is just the latest by the big three tobacco companies to capture dollars back from declining cigarette sales. R.J. Reynolds Inc. has already gone to market with Camel Sticks, Camel Strips and Camel Orbs, while Lorillard Inc. is acquiring blu ecigs for $135 million, as CSNews Online previously reported. Instead of containing…

CSNews NASHVILLE — NACStech’s exclusive CIO curriculum continued today with two workshops that delved into the future of mobile payments and building a consumer-centric technology strategy. In the first session, Gray Taylor, executive director of PCATS, presented a thorough analysis of the current payment options in the industry, discussed the disappointing impact of the Durbin swipe fee reform, and mapped out the dozens of mobile payment providers now jumping into the market. Taylor described mobile payments as “a business-altering technology,” and noted that the payments landscape is at an “inflection point.” Traditional card companies are at risk, he said, and market forces can play a role in determining who the ultimate winners and losers will be in the burgeoning arena of mobile payments. Above all, Taylor noted, technology is the catalyst for these changes. He discussed the expected reactions of the major credit card companies and big banks, both of…

Clancy Yeates May 24, 2012 The Age THE Future Fund’s stake in the tobacco industry has swelled by $78 million, an increase of more than 50 per cent, sparking criticism of the fund for investing in companies that are suing the government. The taxpayer-owned fund, which also holds shares in nuclear arms companies, yesterday revealed its tobacco shares were worth $225 million in February, up from $147 million at the end of 2010. Senate estimates also heard that a controversial report written by the fund’s new chairman, David Gonski, last year named himself as a possible next chairman before the government had even considered him. The $77 billion fund was set up by the Howard government to help pay federal public servants’ pensions, but is now under fire for its ”unethical” investments. While the government refuses to intervene in the fund’s investment policies, the Greens say its stake in tobacco…