Category: 3. Business

UK ministers have appointed insolvency advisers to make contingency plans for the potential collapse of Thames Water.

The company, which supplies 16 million customers, has been racing to pull together a deal to avoid financial collapse.

In a development first reported by Sky News, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has signed off the appointment of FTI Consulting to advise on plans for Thames Water to be placed into a special administration regime (SAR).

The appointment indicates that FTI is the frontrunner to act as administrator if the government enacted an SAR, although a court would ultimately approve such a step.

The government has been trying to avoid such an outcome, with the Treasury threatening that a potential £4bn bill from the SAR could be forced on to Reed’s department. This process would ensure that the taps stayed on for customers but would heap immediate costs on to the government.

However, the government’s Water (Special Measures) Act contains a provision for SAR costs to be recouped from customer bills further down the line.

Thames faced embarrassment earlier this year when its preferred bidder, KKR, pulled out of a deal at the last minute. Now, its class A creditors, who hold the bulk of the company’s senior debt, are in talks with the regulator, Ofwat, about a deal to inject capital into the company, which has £17.7bn of net debts and regulatory gearing of 84.4%.

The company has been trying to get Ofwat to write off more than £1bn in expected fines from failures to invest in infrastructure to stop sewage spills, in order to secure a rescue deal. Chris Weston, chief executive of Thames Water, told a recent parliament committee that the company could not afford to pay these fines and continue to invest and operate as was expected by the regulator.

A company spokesperson said: “Our focus remains on a holistic and fundamental recapitalisation, delivering a market-led solution, which includes targeting investment-grade credit ratings and returning the company to a stable financial foundation.

“Constructive discussions with our many stakeholders continue.”

Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “Thames Water has been sacrificed on the altar of privatisation. It’s sinking without a trace under a deluge of debt, while huge amounts of cash from inflated customer bills have flooded out to directors, shareholders and loan servicing.

“If you want an advert for why private companies shouldn’t be involved in certain sectors, this is it. Yet another damning indictment of Thatcher’s terrible legacy.

“The government must now intervene to find a water-tight solution that protects Thames’ millions of customers and gives immediate guarantees for the thousands of loyal workers and their pensions.”

Thames Water faced fury recently over plans to pay senior staff members millions in bonuses from a controversial £3bn loan granted by the class A creditors. The company has been banned from paying performance-related bonuses to its chief executive and chief financial officer because of its poor performance.

A government spokesperson said: “The government will always act in the national interest on these issues.

“The company remains financially stable, but we have stepped up our preparations and stand ready for all eventualities, including applying for a special administration regime if that were to become necessary.”

FTI Consulting declined to comment.

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) will stop accepting series mark applications from the end of this year, bringing it in line with the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

Currently companies in the UK can file six variations of a trademark with non-distinctive changes – such as colours – as part of the same application and have to pay only one application fee for this, but the rules are set to be streamlined within the next few months.

Maureen Daly, an IP law expert and partner at Pinsent Masons, said the move would widen the IP regulation gap between the UK and Ireland.

“While series applications can be tricky as they can give rise to objections if they are not properly drafted, they do provide brand owners – particularly SMEs – with flexibility as well as costs savings,” said Daly

“This new development further sets the UK apart from Ireland.”

The changes come as UKIPO looks to simplify the registration process for trade marks, with the current series mark system – which allow for up to six changes that do not substantially change the identity of the mark, such as colours or minor spelling variations – but this has created potential delays for filings over confusion as to what counts as a series.

While the EUIPO does not allow series marks, Ireland’s national trade mark system currently does – but Daly warned that this may change depending on how reaction to the UK’s shift in approach lands with users of the service.

She added: “While the Irish IP Office has not announced any plans to remove series marks, Irish businesses and legal advisors should monitor this because if the UK experience shows minimal negative impact, the Irish IP Office might consider adopting a similar move in the future.”

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Pune, August 12^th 2025 – Tech Mahindra (NSE: TECHM), a leading global provider of
technology consulting and digital solutions to enterprises across industries, in collaboration
with Coresight Research, a leading research and advisory firm specializing in retail and
technology, unveiled a global survey report titled “Store of the Future: Unlocking
Performance Through Innovation.” The report provides timely, data-backed insights into
how retailers are modernizing their in-store operations by focusing on unifying the shopper
journey, enhancing the shopper experience, optimizing labor productivity, and maximizing
store sales – the four pillars of building the “Store of the Future.”

The report defines the store of the future as a technology-enabled, data-integrated retail
environment designed to elevate customer journey while driving back-end efficiency. Based
on a survey of 360 retail decision-makers across North America and Europe, the findings
highlight how leading retailers are turning to technology to solve core operational challenges,
from ineffective store management to inventory inaccuracies – with 92% actively investing in
tools to enhance in-store operations.

Sampath Saagi, Head of Diverse Industry Verticals Group (DIG), Americas, Tech
Mahindra,

said,
“The “Store of the Future” is more than just a connected space, it’s a
dynamic, data-driven environment where seamless customer experiences meet operational
efficiency. This report envisions equipping retailers with actionable insights and a practical

roadmap to navigate their transformation journey – helping them identify where to invest,
improve store performance, and deliver greater value to customers. Through our
collaboration with Coresight Research, we aim to empower the industry with data-led
strategies for building smarter, future-ready stores.”

Key findings highlight an industry in transition:

• 92% of retailers are actively investing in technologies to boost in-store operations.

• 84% of respondents acknowledge persistent operational inefficiencies that affect
  margins and revenue.

• Enhancing shopper experience emerged as the top priority for 40% of retailers
  building future-ready stores.

• 57% are investing in advanced data analytics, making it the most widely adopted
  technology, while automated inventory tracking is seen as the most critical need.

• Retailers anticipate that technology will drive benefits, including improved product
  availability, greater automation, and real-time data insights.

• Automated inventory tracking is viewed as the most critical capability for future store
  operations.

• The top three benefits of technology adoption are greater product availability,
  increased automation, and access to real-time data.

The report outlines that despite widespread optimism towards technologies, challenges
remain, such as high implementation costs and data security concerns, that continue to slow
adoption, underscoring the need for a phased, strategic approach to digital transformation.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, said,

“Building the “Store
of the Future” goes beyond deploying isolated technologies; it requires a clear understanding
of core operational challenges and a cohesive blueprint to solve them. Success hinges on
aligning investments with both near-term performance goals and long-term scalability to
create a true competitive edge.”

The report provides global retailers a roadmap for building scalable, secure, and future-
ready retail environments – “Store of the Future.”

For more information about Tech Mahindra’s retail solutions, click here

About Tech Mahindra

Coresight Research is a research and advisory firm specializing in retail and technology.
Established in 2018 by leading global retail analyst Deborah Weinswig, the firm is
headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Lagos, Hong Kong, Shanghai and
Mangalore (India). The firm provides data-driven analysis and strategic advisory to clients
including retailers, brands, real estate owners, enterprise technology companies,
accelerators and more. For more information, please visit https://coresight.com/

About Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra (NSE: TECHM) offers technology consulting and digital solutions to global enterprises across industries, enabling transformative scale at unparalleled speed. With Cisco Confidential 150,000+ professionals across 90+ countries helping 1100+ clients, Tech Mahindra provides a
full spectrum of services including consulting, information technology, enterprise applications,
business process services, engineering services, network services, customer experience &
design, AI & analytics, and cloud & infrastructure services. It is the first Indian company in the
world to have been awarded the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Seal, which
recognizes global companies that are actively leading the charge to create a climate and nature-
positive future. Tech Mahindra is part of the Mahindra Group, founded in 1945, one of the
largest and most admired multinational federation of companies. For more information on how TechM can partner with you to meet your Scale at Speed™ imperatives, please visit https://www.techmahindra.com

For more information on Tech Mahindra, please contact:

[email protected]

Abhilasha Gupta, Global Head – Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Tech
Mahindra

Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]

Later stages for some products include one in which the crude extract is purified, with fats, waxes, lipids, and other solids filtered out. Other products cook for 24 to 36 hours in a vacuum oven to purge away residual solvent, the pressure inside the oven lowered so that the solvent evaporates without any of the good stuff boiling off.

Using solvents isn’t the only way to make an extract. Raw Garden sends a small amount of its harvest to a partner facility, where it’s turned into a hashish-like product called rosin via a simpler process, using only ice water, heat, and pressure. But hydrocarbon extraction is scalable and highly efficient: Raw Garden’s facility processes around 1,200 pounds of cannabis a day, and has plans to expand.

This isn’t to say there’s no art to it. A concentrate’s consistency—that is, whether the live resin turns into something creamy or crispy or oily—results from the strain one starts with, as well as small, inspired interventions during extraction. What if we whipped the extract before purging it? What if we cured it so that crystals form? Extract bound for vape cartridges sometimes involves an additional step, in which terpenes are evaporated and collected in a distillation column, then selectively reinserted to achieve specific scent and flavor profiles. In Raw Garden’s vape lab, a colorful aroma wheel shows a hundred-plus fragrances one might allegedly encounter in cannabis, like apricot, sage, pine tar, and espresso. “We’re taking aromatic compounds from plants,” says vice president of agricultural operations Casey Birthisel. “There’s a lot here that’s parallel to the perfume industry.”

Some medical professionals see more alarming parallels, however, to drugs ostensibly harder than cannabis. The sky-high potency of concentrates has raised red flags, as multiple epidemiological studies have found correlations between their frequent use and increased risks of psychosis and cannabis use disorder, a form of dependence. Those risks seem particularly acute for teenagers. Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize recreational pot, are among the states where bills to limit THC potency have been introduced, then rejected or withdrawn amid industry pushback.

Meanwhile, according to analyst Adams, sales of marijuana flower made up about 70 percent of the recreational market when the first legal retailers opened in Colorado in 2014. Today, according to point-of-sale data from Adams and market research firm BDSA, that number has dropped to 40 percent. In the same span, sales of vaping and dabbing products have climbed from around 15 percent of the legal market to 32 percent, though the pace of that growth now seems to be slowing.

Using data from nearly 3.7 million Chinese physicians spanning 11 years, we found that between 2011 and 2021, 19.4% of physicians changed workplace at least once, and the national annual physician turnover rate increased from 1.6 to 4.4%. Geographically, physician turnover in China tended to favor more economically developed regions, such as the eastern region, urban areas, and provincial capital cities. Institutionally, physician turnover between different types of institutions demonstrated reciprocal exchanges with nearly balanced volumes, but there has been a growing appeal for primary care physicians. Younger physicians, those with higher degrees, and those with senior professional titles were more likely to change their workplaces. Non-permanent employment contracts, lower income, heavy workload, and working in rural areas or for a primary care institution were also risk factors for physician turnover.

Given the limited nationwide research on physician turnover, we identified only one study applied comparable definition of turnover in U.S. reporting national physician turnover rates using Medicare billing data, which increased from 3.7% (2010) to 4.2% (2020). Since 2014, the rate stabilized above 4%, peaking at 4.3% in 2018 [24]. This study reported similar level of national turnover rate but a more significant increase over the past decade. According to a previous survey conducted in 2013 across 11 western Chinese provinces, approximately 29.1% of the 5046 rural health workers indicated intentions to leave [25]. Their results were higher than our finding of 19.4%, which can be attributed to the fact that turnover intentions are generally higher than actual turnover [26]. Furthermore, their study participants came from the western region and rural areas, which were found to have higher turnover risk in this study. Monitoring the long-term dynamics of physician turnover in China is necessary to determine whether the rate will continue to rise or stabilize and whether it will be influenced by relevant policies.

Our analysis identified increased NTR in primary care institutions. In comparison, a survey of Chinese primary care physicians in 2005 reported that over 8% of health workers left primary care institutions annually, with the majority moving to higher level healthcare facilities [27]. Such improvements were most likely attributable to China’s substantial investments in primary care institutions in underserved areas [17]. Our findings indicated that economically developed regions, such as eastern China and urban areas, demonstrated stronger attractiveness to mobile physicians, which is consistent with research findings from other countries. A 2015 study of Australian general practitioners found a net turnover trend toward major cities [28], while another investigation into Australian primary care physician retention also identified remoteness as a critical factor influencing workforce turnover [29]. Similarly, a nationwide study of all general practices in the UK between 2007 and 2019 revealed that practices in the most deprived areas had higher turnover rates [30]. In terms of the direction of turnover, the overall physician mobility is relatively consistent with the population flow. According to the national population census data released by China, from 2010 to 2021, the proportion of urban population increased by 14.2 percentage points. Guangdong province is the largest province in terms of physician turnover inflow and has also experienced a population increase of 21.7 million over the past decade. The northeast region, as a major turnover-outflow area, has seen a population decrease of 11.0 million.

Our findings indicate that 14.4% of physician turnover occurred between provinces during the study period, although this proportion is increasing. Similar patterns have been observed in studies from Australia, with just 10% of physician mobility occurring across states [28]. Besides, between 2011 and 2021, while some provinces experienced net turnover losses, the total number of physicians and physician density in all provinces of China increased significantly [16] due to substantial physician inflows during this period. Therefore, current physician turnover is unlikely to have a significant impact on the geographic distribution. However, future studies should quantify such impacts to mitigate potential adverse effects. In addition, given the declining trend in physician inflows, physician turnover may increasingly influence geographic distribution in China in the future.

This study also discovered several turnover circuits in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, the Sichuan–Chongqing urban agglomeration, and the Yangtze River Delta region (Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui), which align to China’s regional coordinated development strategies [13]. These areas exhibit geographical proximity but disparities in socioeconomic development levels and medical service capacity. Under the framework of these strategies, standardized professional title evaluation systems and unified social security policies have been implemented across regions, ensuring continuity in benefits for mobile physicians and effectively reducing institutional barriers to talent exchange. Notably, regional collaborations have been significantly enhanced, such as jointly established regional medical centers and delivered telemedicine care, which may encourage the formation of turnover circuits. For instance, elite medical hubs in Beijing and Shanghai that construct regional medical centers usually require physicians to undertake rotational assignments of months in partner regions (e.g., Tianjin, Anhui), exposing them to the professional and living environments of less-developed areas, which has been found to be positive factor to foster the willingness to relocate and practice in underserved regions [31]. Conversely, physicians in less-developed areas gain access to joint training programs and academic exchanges, improving job satisfaction while creating pathways for career advancement to higher tier institutions. However, further research is needed to investigate the turnover patterns within these circuits, as well as the mechanisms for addressing or exacerbating the imbalanced allocation of medical resources.

This study explored the factors that influence physician turnover in China and found that younger physicians, those with higher levels of education, senior professional titles, lower income, and heavier workloads, as well as those working in rural areas or primary care medical institutions, were more likely to leave their current jobs. Previous studies on the factors influencing physician turnover in individual provinces in China or other countries [30, 32, 33], as well as studies on the factors influencing physician turnover intentions [11, 12, 34], have yielded similar results. Over the past decade, physician turnover in China has been characterized by competition for highly educated and senior professional-level talents in developed regions. Non-permanent employment contracts were found to be an important risk factor for physician turnover in this study, which is consistent with the findings of a study conducted in Hubei, China [35]. Physicians with permanent employment contracts are more likely to feel a greater sense of belonging and are more loyal to their workplace.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report turnover among 3.7 million Chinese physicians across the Chinese mainland over an 11-year period. We developed a cohort based on individual-level data, allowing us to not only quantify the level, trajectory, and characteristics of Chinese physician turnover but also to identify individual and institutional factors that influence physician turnover. However, this study has limitations. First, we define turnover rate as the first recorded job change between 2011 and 2021, ignoring job changes that some physicians may have experienced prior to 2011. Nonetheless, our findings suggest that physician turnover prior to 2011 was likely to be low and had little impact on our results. Second, although CHSI requires institutions to update physician information, such as education and professional titles on an annual basis, some institutions may fail to keep up with changes in a timely manner, potentially underestimating the proportion of physicians with higher education levels and senior professional titles in the retention group. However, as more medical institutions use the data collection system for personnel management, and many provinces use it as a qualification check for professional title evaluation, the impact of this issue on our results is being mitigated. Third, the lack of physician turnover causality data prevents differentiation between voluntary (e.g., career transitions) and involuntary turnover (e.g., layoffs), which, however, might require distinct policy interventions. Fourth, the data we used is collected for government management purposes and reported by institutions, with little information on individual physician characteristics, such as marital status and families, which could be potential confounding factors. Fifth, due to limited access to related data, we could not integrate social factors such as population mobility, demographic shifts, and regional healthcare demand patterns into consideration, which would have further enhanced the policy relevance of our findings.

In summary, China is experiencing a rising turnover rate. Future policies should pay more attention to central, northeastern regions, and rural areas while continue strengthening the primary care physician workforce. Effective intervention may prioritize young professionals and senior experts by ensuring competitive salary packages, and controlling work-related burnout—measures proven effective by multiple studies [36]. Although current mobility patterns may not yet significantly impact overall distribution, continuous monitoring is necessary to guide physician turnover. If physicians continue to concentrate in developed regions, it may increase the fiscal load on healthcare systems and reduce operational efficiency [37]. This study also aims to provide an actionable solution for monitoring nationwide physician mobility by longitudinally linking individual-level administrative data, potentially addressing research gaps in other countries. Finally, updated health workforce data are crucial for understanding the dynamic changes in medical human resources. This will support evidence-based policy advocacy, scientific workforce planning, and effective governance at the regional, national, and global levels.

Billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk says he plans to sue Apple for not featuring X and its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot app in its top recommended apps in its App Store.

Musk posted the comments on X late Monday, saying, “Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Grok is owned by Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI.

Musk went on to say that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action.”

He gave no further details.

There was no immediate comment from Apple, which has faced various allegations of antitrust violations in recent years.

A federal judge recently found that Apple violated a court injunction in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.

Regulators of the 27-nation European Union fined Apple 500 million euros in April for breaking competition rules by preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store.

Last year, the EU fined the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for unfairly favoring its own music streaming service by forbidding rivals like Spotify from telling users how they could pay for cheaper subscriptions outside of iPhone apps.

As of early Tuesday, the top app in Apple’s App Store was TikTok, followed by Tinder, Duolingo, YouTube and Bumble. Open AI’s ChatGPT was ranked 7th.

Delivery drones are so fast they can zip a pint of ice cream to a customer’s driveway before it melts.

Yet the long-promised technology has been slow to take off in the United States. More than six years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved commercial home deliveries with drones, the service mostly has been confined to a few suburbs and rural areas.

That could soon change. The FAA proposed a new rule last week that would make it easier for companies to fly drones outside of an operator’s line of sight and therefore over longer distances. A handful of companies do that now, but they had to obtain waivers and certification as an air carrier to deliver packages.

While the rule is intended to streamline the process, authorized retailers and drone companies that have tested fulfilling orders from the sky say they plan to make drone-based deliveries available to millions more U.S. households.

Walmart and Wing, a drone company owned by Google parent Alphabet, currently provide deliveries from 18 Walmart stores in the Dallas area. By next summer, they expect to expand to 100 Walmart stores in Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.

After launching its Prime Air delivery service in College Station, Texas, in late 2022, Amazon received FAA permission last year to operate autonomous drones that fly beyond a pilot’s line of sight. The e-commerce company has since expand its drone delivery program to suburban Phoenix and has plans to offer the service in Dallas, San Antonio, Texas, and Kansas City.

The concept of drone delivery has been around for well over a decade. Drone maker Zipline, which works with Walmart in Arkansas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, began making deliveries to hospitals in Rwanda in 2016. Israel-based Flytrex, one of the drone companies DoorDash works with to carry out orders, launched drone delivery to households in Iceland in 2017.

But Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said drone delivery has been in “treading water mode” in the U.S. for years, with service providers afraid to scale up because the regulatory framework wasn’t in place.

“You want to be at the right moment where there’s an overlap between the customer demand, the partner demand, the technical readiness and the regulatory readiness,” Woodworth said. “I think that we’re reaching that planetary alignment right now.”

DoorDash, which works with both Wing and Flytrex, tested drone drop-offs in rural Virginia and greater Dallas before announcing an expansion into Charlotte. Getting takeout food this way may sound futuristic, but it’s starting to feel normal in suburban Brisbane, Australia, where DoorDash has employed delivery drones for several years, said Harrison Shih, who leads the company’s drone program.

“It comes so fast and it’s something flying into your neighborhood, but it really does seem like part of everyday life,” Shih said.

Even though delivery drones are still considered novel, the cargo they carry can be pretty mundane. Walmart said the top items from the more than 150,000 drone deliveries the nation’s largest retailer has completed since 2021 include ice cream, eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Unlike traditional delivery, where one driver may have a truck full of packages, drones generally deliver one small order at a time. Wing’s drones can carry packages weighing up to 2.5 pounds. They can travel up to 12 miles round trip. One pilot can oversee up to 32 drones.

Zipline has a drone that can carry up to 4 pounds and fly 120 miles round trip. Some drones, like Amazon’s, can carry heavier packages.

Once an order is placed, it’s packaged for flight and attached to a drone at a launch site. The drone automatically finds a route that avoids obstacles. A pilot observes as the aircraft flies to its destinations and lowers its cargo to the ground with retractable cords.

Shakiba Enayati, an assistant professor of supply chain and analytics at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, researches ways that drones could speed the delivery of critical health supplies like donated organs and blood samples. The unmanned aircraft offer some advantages as a transport method, such as reduced emissions and improved access to goods for rural residents, Enayati said.

But she also sees plenty of obstacles. Right now, it costs around $13.50 per delivery to carry a package by drone versus $2 for a traditional vehicle, Enayati said. Drones need well-trained employees to oversee them and can have a hard time in certain weather.

Drones also can have mid-air collisions or tumble from the sky. But people have accepted the risk of road accidents because they know the advantages of driving, Enayati said. She thinks the same thing could happen with drones, especially as improved technology reduces the chance for errors.

Woodworth added that U.S. airspace is tightly controlled, and companies need to demonstrate to the FAA that their drones are safe and reliable before they are cleared to fly. Even under the proposed new rules, the FAA would set detailed requirements for drone operators.

“That’s why it takes so long to build a business in the space. But I think it leads to everybody fundamentally building higher quality things,” Woodworth said.

Others worry that drones may potentially replace human delivery drivers. Shih thinks that’s unlikely. One of DoorDash’s most popular items is 24-packs of water, Shih said, which aren’t realistic for existing drones to ferry.

“I believe that drone delivery can be fairly ubiquitous and can cover a lot of things. We just don’t think its probable today that it’ll carry a 40-pound bag of dog food to you,” Shih said.

DoorDash said that in the areas where it offers drone deliveries, orders requiring the services of human delivery drivers also increase.

That’s been the experience of John Kim, the owner of PurePoke restaurant in Frisco, Texas. Kim signed on to offer drone deliveries through DoorDash last year. He doesn’t know what percentage of his DoorDash customers are choosing the service instead of regular delivery, but his overall DoorDash orders are up 15% this year.

Kim said he’s heard no complaints from drone delivery customers.

“It’s very stable, maybe even better than some of the drivers that toss it in the back with all the other orders,” Kim said.

For some, drones can simply be a nuisance. When the FAA asked for public comments on Amazon’s request to expand deliveries in College Station, numerous residents expressed concern that drones with cameras violated their privacy. Amazon says its drones use cameras and sensors to navigate and avoid obstacles but may record overhead videos of people while completing a delivery.

Other residents complained about noise.

“It sounds like a giant nagging mosquito,” one respondent wrote. Amazon has since released a quieter drone.

But others love the service. Janet Toth of Frisco, Texas, said she saw drone deliveries in Korea years ago and wondered why the U.S. didn’t have them. So she was thrilled when DoorDash began providing drone delivery in her neighborhood.

Toth now orders drone delivery a few times a month. Her 9-year-old daughter Julep said friends often come over to watch the drone.

“I love to go outside, wave at the drone, say ‘Thank you’ and get the food,” Julep Toth said.

___

AP Video Journalist Kendria LaFleur contributed from Frisco, Texas.