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Amazon is expanding its same-day delivery services for its Pharmacy. In an announcement Wednesday the company said plans to bring Amazon Pharmacy to nearly 4,500 locations around the country, which is an addition of around 2,000 cities and towns by the end of 2026. Amazon Pharmacy was first launched in 2020 in 45 U.S. states. By 2023, it served some locations in all 50. But the service has been continuously expanding to cover a growing number of locations since its launch while offering same-day delivery in more cities. Per Amazon’s announcement, the most recent expansion will now offer same-day delivery to its newly served customers in Idaho and Massachusetts. “Patients shouldn’t have to choose between speed, cost, and convenience when it comes to their medication, regardless of where they live,” John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy, said in the announcement. “By combining our pharmacy expertise with our logistics network, we’re removing critical barriers and helping patients start treatment fastersetting a new standard for accessible, digital-forward pharmacy care.” Amazon Pharmacy has served as a competitor to traditional pharmacies since its launch, offering home delivery on most name brand and generic prescription medications. In 2023, Amazon also launched RxPass, a monthly subscription that offers Prime members in the U.S. as many generic versions of medications as they need for a $5 monthly fee. Additionally, in December, the delivery giant began testing in-office pharmaceutical kiosks filled with medicine at certain One Medical locations. The kiosks aimed to help combat pharmacy deserts, or areas in the U.S. where traditional pharmacies have become more and more scarce. According to research published in JAMA Network in 2024, around 15.8 million people in the U.S. live in pharmacy deserts. Unsurprisingly, areas with decreasing access to pharmacies are disproportionately affecting more socially vulnerable individuals.Amazon’s announcement addressed the issue of a growing number of unserved communities in the announcement, explaining, “In pharmacy deserts, Amazon Pharmacy helps fill critical gaps through 24/7 access to licensed pharmacists, automatic refills, and PillPack from Amazon Pharmacy.” It continued, “PillPack from Amazon Pharmacy organizes medications by dose and time into easy-to-open packets and delivers them monthly to help customers and caregivers manage multiple prescriptions more reliably. In 2025, Amazon Pharmacy also introduced a caregiver support feature to help families manage medications for loved ones.”
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E-Commerce
Threads is testing a simpler way for people to nudge their feed in a specific direction without digging through settings or retraining the algorithm long term. The new feature, called Dear Algo, lets users tell Threads what they want to see more or less of for a short period of time. Instead of relying only on likes, follows, and past behavior, you can now directly ask the app to adjust what shows up in your feed. It works by writing a public post that starts with Dear Algo, followed by your request. For instance, Dear Algo, show me more posts about podcasts, or Dear Algo, show me fewer posts about spoilers for Heated Rivalry. After you post it, Threads adjusts your feed for the next three days based on what you asked for. The change is temporary on purpose. During a live NBA game, you might want your feed filled with reactions and commentary. A day later, you might want to move on to something else. Dear Algo lets you make those shifts without permanently changing how the algorithm understands you. A public request others can use [Image: Meta] These requests are regular posts, not private settings. Other users can see them, interact with them, and repost them. If you repost someone elses Dear Algo request, Threads applies those same preferences to your feed for three days. This turns feed preferences into a kind of discovery tool. If someone you follow is deep into a niche conversation you have not seen yet, you can try their version of the feed for a few days. A more direct way to guide the feed [Image: Meta] Most social platforms offer some form of feed control, but its usually tucked into menus or tied to long term settings. Controlling your algorithm shouldnt be complicated. It should feel like a normal part of using the app, Connor Hayes, head of Threads at parent company Meta Platforms, tells Fast Company. We saw our community experimenting with Dear Algo posts to shape their feed, which inspired us to turn that behavior into an official feature that feels unique to Threads. He added, When what you care about shiftswhether its a big game tonight or a TV premiere next weekyou should be able to tell your feed to shift with you. This is about making Threads the most timely and essential place for whats happening right now. Where it is available Dear Algo is rolling out now in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, with plans to expand to more countries.
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E-Commerce
If your employer offered you a lump sum to permanently ditch the job that stresses you out like no other, would you take the money and runor worry about what it might cost you later? I never thought Id actually encounter this career conundrum. Looking back, Im surprised by the choice I made. The all-company virtual meeting initially seemed like any of the weeklies that had preceded it. There was a weird icebreaker to get folks loose, various team updates, some HR housekeeping. Then the billionaire who signed all of our checks took the screen. For months, senior leadership had been deprioritizing a project that Iand the vast majority of my colleagueshad been specifically recruited to the startup to produce. They called it a strategic realignment. Or something like that. Our CEO knew many of us werent exactly enthusiastic about the reroute. Achieving this newfound mission, he explained, would require the company to get lean. He wasnt referring to Ozempic. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall like Destinys Childs second album. But those markings might as well have been hieroglyphics, because I sure as hell couldnt decode them. I didnt anticipate what came next. Corporate folks call it a voluntary separation package, (VSP) but at the time, it seemed like both a trap door and an escape. It was a lot like the severance packages that most professionals are familiar with, but instead of outright cutting roles, the company presented every employee with a tantalizing offer: five months of gross salary and half a year of covered health insurance. All that was asked in return was that you leave the company. And dont look back. We had a week to decide. Workflows hit a halt. All outstanding deliverables entered a strange purgatory. For my coworkers, the VSP became the only topic of discussion, as whispers spread about who was clocking out for good, who would remain, and what would be left behind. For some, the decision to secure the bag was a no-brainer. You could have a dope summer, said Gary, one of my Slack homies based in the DMV. He imagined months of passport stamps and midday mischief, and as he spoke, I could damn near feel the beach breeze sweeping across my brow. Gary meant well, but I had to be real. These were the final days of quarantine. The pandemic had ravaged head counts at rival companiesand Black folks like me were often the first out of the door and seldom rehired. Those fortunate enough to be employed held onto their jobs tighter than Stevie Wonder and his locs. I wasnt afraid of chucking the deuces. But I was afraid of starting over in a job market that had already shown me who it was willing to discard first. I didnt have the luxury of pretending this decision was just about vibes. That whole week, the second verse of Donell Jones Where I Wanna Be played on repeat in my head: Do I leave? Do I stay? Do I go? Or think about my life and what matters to me the most? Essentially, I was deciding between the risk of extended unemployment (albeit with a nice runway) or the uncertainty that awaited those who remained at the gig. Dominique Dawes had nothing on the mental gymnastics twirling in my brain. The key to escaping decision paralysis was having conversations with the powers that be. Really, they were more like negotiations. Whats in it for me if I bypass five months of paid freedom and remain on the team? One of our directors hinted that the anticipated departures might open opportunities to ascend the org chart. She couldn’t straight up promise upward mobility, but I was very capable of reading between the lines. For the first time since the offer was announced, the decision stopped feeling emotional and began to feel strategic. If I decided not to abandon ship, it wouldnt be out of fear or blind loyalty. It would be because there was something tangible on the other side of thanks, but no thanks. That week felt like a month, and it ended with an exodus. But I decided to stay put. And it worked out: I was elevated to senior management, and the work . . . well, lets just say the pay bump motivated me to get on board with the new objectives. But sometimes I wonder how the opposite decision mightve played out, considering the stream of job offers that came pouring in once word got out about the company shakeup. Im not a math guy, but Im smart enough to know two salaries beat one. (Gary would agree; he, like some of my other former colleagues, picked up a new gig within a few weeks.) In the end, the voluntary severance was a lesson in recognizing my leverage. It forced me to ask what I wanted, what I was willing to risk, and what decision put me in the strongest position to win. For that one week, my value and my priorities were crystal clear.
Category:
E-Commerce
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