Amazon gives in to Massachusetts tax officials and agrees to turn over third-party seller data at CNBC. “The move — which is the first public case of Amazon handing over seller data to state tax officials — will help the state of Massachusetts identify which Amazon sellers may owe them unpaid sales taxes. It could also mean incredible headaches for the majority of third-party sellers who never comply with various state laws on sales tax collection — if more states follow Massachusetts and demand unpaid taxes from those sellers.” Read more

 

THEN THERE WERE 19? – If Amazon doesn’t pick Denver, “there will be a sense of relief” Colorado governor says by John Frank at Denver Post. “…there are a lot of challenges and lot of hard work we will be avoiding,” Hickenlooper told the City Club of Denver on Tuesday…“Nobody tweet that,” he quipped after his remarks.” Read more

 

Toys R Us plans to close up to 20% of stores via USA Today. “The company noted that some closings may be avoided if it is able to negotiate more favorable lease terms…In addition to closing stores, the company intends to convert a number of locations into combined Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.” Read more

 

America’s Best Employers For Diversity (Wegmans #8, REI #77, Nordstrom #147) by Jeff Kauflin at Forbes. Top 250 list

 

Amazon Go sandwich review: “…quite good and felt like a step up from the typical grocery store experience. The freshness of ingredients really stood out, especially the bread.” by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Sandwich talk

 

Academy Sports & Outdoors to lay off 57 drivers by Paul Takahashi at Houston Chronicle. “Academy Sports & Outdoors will lay off 57 transportation employees after outsourcing their work to a third-party company.” Read more

 

Glassdoor: 50 Best Jobs in America (Data Scientist #1, DevOps Engineer #2) Top 50 list

 

**A message from Innovation Avenue at 2018 Sweets & Snacks Expo – Be first to market with the newest candy and snack products!  Nominees chosen for Innovative Awards go on to enjoy sweet success – see the 2017 Innovation Winners. Put yourself in the center of the single largest gathering of confectionery & snack companies under one roof – schedule your trip now! Chicago, May 22-24, 2018. Website | Exhibitors

 

Amazon’s growing lobbying machine spent a record $12.8 million in 2017 by Matt Day at Seattle Times. “Amazon’s spending was up 17 percent from 2016, and trailed only Google, which spent $18 million, among technology giants…Microsoft’s spending fell 2 percent, to $8.5 million.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Nordstrom investors should expect at least a 10% premium if the retailer goes private, BAM Investments predicts by Ashley Stewart at Puget Sound Business Journal. Read more

 

Amazon sets meeting with Seattle officials in effort to improve relationship with its hometown by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. “It’s not clear exactly who from Amazon and city government will be attending the Feb. 9 meeting. The discussion will be preceded by an optional Amazon campus tour.” Read more

 

7-Eleven Completes Acquisition of 1,030 Sunoco Stores Press release

 

Bolt launches an Amazon-like checkout experience for the rest of online retail by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “Operating in stealth for a year, the payments platform has grown to 100 online merchants who are now in various phases of roll out with its end-to-end solution for managing customer checkout, payment processing, and fraud detection.” Read more

 

10 Safeway stores to be shuttered in British Columbia, impacting 1,000 employees at Vancouver Sun. “Union Local 1518 also said Sobeys indicated that if it gets favourable terms and conditions for its FreshCo discount banner, it may open FreshCo stores at five of the closed Safeway locations.” Read more

 

FOOD STAMPS FOR FIDO? – Washington Post: The surprising argument for extending food stamps to pets “The petition has little chance of succeeding, experts say…But it has attracted the attention of nearly 80,000 signers on the popular petition site Care2.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

GeekWire receives multiple tips this week that Amazon Restaurants recently laid off approximately 50 people by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Read more

 

47% of millennials have $15,000 or more in savings and 16% have $100,000 or more in savings at MarketWatch. Read more

 

Report: 25% of respondents would prefer using a voice assistant to shop today over a website at CNBC. Read more

 

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Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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