Notes From All Over, Monday Mid-Afternoon Edition -- June 1, 2020

Amazon: apparently a television crawler earlier today suggested that Amazon was discontinuing all deliveries immediately. A google search suggested that was untrue. Amazon did say they were discontinuing services to some areas in some cities until they can sort out how best to protect their drivers during this period of unrest. Apparently some routes in Portland, OR, might be affected, but the other cities mentioned would not affect me. Link over at Barron's. 

Large retailers that have held up better than their peers during the coronavirus pandemic must now adjust their operations to a new challenge: Nationwide unrest in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Big-box retailers, pharmacies and grocery chains are closing locations and adjusting hours as protestors clash with police and some demonstrations lead to destruction of storefronts and loss of merchandise. It isn’t clear that any of these closures or changes will affect their financial performance. 

The unrest has created challenges even for online-shopping giant Amazon. com. The company has scaled back its deliveries in a small number of cities. Bloomberg reported that Amazon told its drivers in Los Angeles and Chicago to halt deliveries Saturday night, and return any undelivered packages to the company’s pickup locations. It also has scaled down its deliveries in Portland. 

Amazon: this item I found much more interesting. Link here.

Amazon.com Inc will suspend a delivery service that aims to compete with UPS and FedEx in the United States. 

The online retailer told customers that the service, Amazon Shipping, will be paused starting in June, according to the Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the change.

Amazon is suspending the service because it needs people and capacity to handle a surge in its own customers’ orders.

I order a lot from Amazon, and so far I have had no problems. I am amazed how well they seem to be doing, at least based on my experience.

Amazon Shipping: from Axios --

Amazon is emerging as a transportation juggernaut that could threaten carmakers, package delivery firms and even ride-hailing companies.

Why it matters: By building its own logistics ecosystem and investing in promising electric and autonomous vehicle startups, Amazon could lower its shipping costs to the point that partners like UPS become competitors instead.

What's new: Amazon is in advanced talks to buy self-driving tech startup Zoox, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. A deal, if it happens, would follow big investments in another automated driving startup, Aurora Innovation, and Rivian, a maker of electric trucks. 

Much more at the link.

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Grilling This Past Weekend

Lessons learned and/or observations. Everything turned out really, really well, but I had forgotten some things; remembered them as I went along:

It's been a long time since I've done a beer-can chicken. Note to others and myself:

• indirect heat; coals do not have to be as hot as possible;
• plan at least an hour and 15 minutes; if a small-to-medium ("normal") chicken, one might get by with an hour but I would recommend planning on one hour and 15 minutes; for a larger chicken, plan on 90 minutes. If one doesn't use a thermometer, go "long." I generally don't use a thermometer; I did not use a thermometer this weekend
• it's almost impossible to "mess up" beer-can chicken
• I've never had a "bad" beer-can chicken
• I always use a rub but I bet salt and pepper would be enough; I used a pecan rub this weekend; wow, it turned out well
• one side appeared burned but in Texas we call that a "crust"
• the "crust" was superb; it may look "burned" but it's not -- it was crisp (of course), and incredibly tasty; almost as good as pork rinds (LOL)

Steaks and salmon:

• quality steaks: I no longer use a rub on quality steaks; salt and pepper is perfect; I don't like disguising the taste of quality steaks; salt flakes, sea salt, kosher salt, etc., would be best;
• salmon: always on a plank; soak plank at least an hour before cooking
• when I used a plank, I never wrap the salmon in aluminum foil; simply rests on the board; skin-side down if fillet has skin;
• easiest marinade: soy sauce about an hour before cooking;