Raphael Stevens

Women spend $15.4 billion more on out-of-pocket expenses annually compared to their male co-workers according to an analysis from Deloitte Consulting.
While women use about 10% more medical care, they spend 18% more out of pocket.
Deloitte analysts say employers could close that cost-sharing gap by redesigning benefits at a cost of about $11 per month per employee.

Luis Alvarez | Digitalvision | Getty Images

High health-care costs are hitting women in the U.S. workforce much harder than men.
Working women spend $15.4 billion more in out-of-pocket health expenses annually compared to their male counterparts, according to a new analysis of employer-sponsored health plans from Deloitte Consulting.

The study found women spend 18% more than men on copays and deductibles, on average. That’s after excluding costs associated with pregnancy and maternity, according to the new report, and despite total health expenditures for women that are just 10% higher than for men.
“This is a problem we’re identifying that business leaders can actually solve within their own organizations. The takeaway being that women get paid less, and that they pay more for health care,” said Dr. Kulleni Gebreyes, U.S. chief health equity officer at Deloitte Consulting.
The result, she said, is a disproportionate financial burden.
Women tend to utilize more medical care than men, in part due to annual gynecological exams and the high costs of breast cancer imaging.
While annual exams are often fully covered, follow-ups that can result from those visits incur copays and trigger deductibles. Many of those services are often more expensive than the typical deductible, leading to a higher cost-sharing burden.    

Deloitte analysts say employers could close the $15.4 billion cost-sharing gender gap through enhanced benefits design, at an estimated cost of $133 per employee per year, or about $11 per month.
“Our ask is that companies look at their data; examine if and where the gaps exist and step back to have more of an equitable design process to come up with what are the health benefits that would meet the needs of their workforce,” said Gebreyes. More

Sales of newly built homes plunged in August from July.
Higher mortgage rates weighed on affordability.
Sales were still higher than they were a year earlier.

Sales of newly built homes fell 8.7% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 675,000 units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
That is the slowest pace since March. Sales were still 5.8% higher than August 2022.

The Census count is based on signed contracts during the month, and mortgage rates took a sharp jump higher. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed loan ended July at 7.04%, according to Mortgage News Daily. By Aug. 22, it was at 7.48%.
“Very stretched affordability means demand will be unable to recover in the near term, causing new home sales to fall back from 675,000 annualized in August to 600,000 annualized by the end of the year,” wrote Imogen Pattison, assistant economist at Capital Economics.
The median price of a newly built home sold in August was $430,300, a drop of 2% compared to August of last year. Homebuilders have been lowering prices as well as offering more incentives, such as buying down mortgage rates. They had slowed those incentives last spring, when rates went below 7%, but they are ramping them up again.
One of the nation’s largest homebuilders, Lennar, recently reported strong earnings, but that was for a quarter where mortgage rates hadn’t hit their highest yet. Lennar Chairman Stuart Miller, however, noted buyer incentives in the release.
“Homebuilders continued to use incentives, including buy-downs, to offset rising interest rates and tighter capital, which limit affordability,” said Miller.

Homebuilders continue to benefit from the extremely tight supply of existing homes for sale, but that boost may finally be overcome by higher interest rates. Builder sentiment dropped into negative territory in September for the first time in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ monthly survey.
In September, 32% of builders said they cut prices, compared to 25% in August. That’s the largest share of builders reducing prices since December 2022, when 35% were doing so.
The average price cut was 6%.
“High mortgage rates are clearly taking a toll on builder confidence and consumer demand, as a growing number of buyers are electing to defer a home purchase until long-term rates move lower,” Robert Dietz, NAHB’s chief economist, said in a release. More

UPS is hiring more than 100,000 seasonal workers to help with the holiday shipping rush, the company announced Tuesday.
As a result of the newly ratified Teamsters agreement, seasonal workers will make between $21 and $23 per hour, depending on the position.

A UPS worker sorts packages in New York on Dec. 18, 2017.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

UPS plans to hire more than 100,000 seasonal workers again this year to support the holiday shipping rush, the company announced Tuesday in a press release. This year, though, they’ll be starting with a higher pay.
As a result of a contract agreement with the Teamsters union that was ratified in August, seasonal workers’ pay will start between $21 and $23 per hour, depending on the position. 

The Teamsters deal with UPS comes as workers from pilots to aerospace manufacturing employees have pushed for and won higher pay.
Package handlers and driver helpers will make $21 per hour, while delivery and tractor-trailer drivers will make $23 per hour during the holiday season, a UPS spokesperson said. Last year, package handlers’ starting pay was $15.50 per hour and delivery drivers made a minimum of $21 per hour.
The company said it is hiring both full- and part-time positions, primarily drivers and package handlers. Some permanent positions are also available. 
“We’re proud to offer industry-leading pay for UPS part-timers, full-timers and seasonal employees alike,” Nando Cesarone, UPS’ executive vice president, said in the release. “We’re looking forward to delivering yet another leading on-time performance this holiday season and helping thousands of workers kick off their UPS careers in the process.”
Nearly 80% of the company’s seasonal positions do not require an interview, UPS said in the release.
The carrier hired the same number of seasonal workers in 2022. More

The effect of theft on retailers’ bottom lines is largely in line with what it has been in past years, according to a key National Retail Federation study.
The findings come as the industry is increasingly saying crime is cutting into profits.
Many companies said they are most concerned about violence associated with theft.

Locked up toothpaste to prevent shoplifting are seen at a Duane Reade drugstore and pharmacy on August 24, 2023 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images

Retail theft has caught the attention of the masses in recent years, from startling smash-and-grab videos during the depths of the Covid pandemic to corporate earnings calls where retailers like Target and Foot Locker are discussing losses from organized retail crime more than they ever have.
But the effect of theft on retailers’ bottom lines is about the same as it has been for years, according to the latest data released Tuesday in the widely used industry survey conducted by the National Retail Federation.

Total retail shrink grew to more than $112 billion in 2022, up from $93.9 billion the year before, according to the newest National Retail Security Survey. The metric, which accounts for various types of inventory loss including theft, damage and vendor error, generally rises as retail sales climb.
While retailers and the NRF are increasingly saying crime is cutting into profits, losses from internal and external theft last year were largely on par with historical trends. They made up 65% of total shrink, the survey found.
External theft, which includes organized retail crime, was again reported as the largest source of shrink last year at 36.15%, but that was slightly below 37% in 2021. Internal theft, or goods stolen by employees, rose slightly to 28.85% from 28.5% in 2021. Process and control failures and errors made up 27.29% of shrink in 2022, up from 25.7% the year prior.

Sources of retail shrink in 2022

External theft (including organized retail crime): 36.15%Internal/employee theft: 28.85%Process/control errors: 27.29%Unknown: 5.88%Other losses: 1.32%Source: NRF National Retail Security Survey

Retail shrink climbed in absolute dollars, but when reported as a percentage of sales as is commonly done, average annual shrink increased to 1.57%, up from 1.44% in 2021. The share is largely in line with past years. Average annual shrink was 1.62% of sales before the pandemic in 2019, though it was as low as 1.33% in 2017, according to previous surveys.

The NRF conducted the online survey of senior loss prevention and security executives in the retail industry. The results for 2022 include 177 retail brand respondents, which the organization said accounted for 22% of retail sales in 2022.
The NRF report said 78% of the retailers that responded to the survey do not include e-commerce goods in their shrink calculation and 57% don’t include supply chain losses, so “the actual dollar loss associated with shrink (and with theft in particular) is likely heavily underreported.”
It’s not necessarily the amount of theft taking place that most concerns the industry, but rather the increased violence associated with it.
“Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category,” David Johnston, vice president for asset protection and retail operations at the NRF, said in a press release.

Locked up deodorant to prevent shoplifting are seen at a Duane Reade drugstore and pharmacy on August 24, 2023 in New York City. 
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images

Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported more violence associated with organized retail crime than a year ago. In the last survey, 81% reported an increase in violence.
Meanwhile, 45% of retailers in the survey said they have reduced specific store hours to deal with crime and violence, nearly 30% said they somehow changed store product selection, and 28% reported closing a specific location because of crime.
Companies identified Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, New York and Seattle as the five cities and metropolitan areas most affected by retail crime.
Unsurprisingly, nearly all respondents, 93%, support some type of federal organized retail crime legislation. Congress passed one law, called the Inform Act, that aims to deter the sale of stolen goods online, and lawmakers have introduced another that calls for stiffer penalties for theft offenses. The NRF supports the bill and previously told CNBC it helped to write it.
Internal, or employee theft, also concerns retailers because “an employee who decides to steal or collude with outsiders to steal often does so at a higher loss per incident than external thieves.” Some companies have identified goods stolen by workers as a major issue and taken steps to address it, even as the industry focuses more on external theft in public, CNBC previously reported.
The NRF study said the average dollar loss reported for an internal theft was $2,180 per investigation in 2022, in line with 2021 and 2020 levels. The average dollar loss for external shoplifting incidents, for comparison, was $1,063 per incident.
It’s not only high-value products that are being stolen, but also consumable items that are easy to resell and often difficult to track. So while luxury items often get the “smash and grab” attention, energy drinks, beauty products, candles and detergent are also among the products thieves target. More

The Professional Pickleball Association and pay-TV network The Tennis Channel are teaming up in a push to further popularize the sport.
Tennis Channel will have the rights to produce and air a vast majority of the matches on its pay-TV and streaming platforms, as well as create a 24/7 free, ad-supported streaming channel dedicated to pickleball.
The joint venture comes as the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball have agreed to merge.

Carvana PPA Tour
Courtesy: Carvana PPA Tour

Professional Pickleball is getting a dedicated home: The Tennis Channel.
The PPA Tour and Tennis Channel announced on Tuesday they are teaming up via a joint venture in a push to further grow and popularize the sport that has been picking up steam in the U.S.

As part of the partnership, Tennis Channel will produce all PPA Tour events and have the rights to broadcast a vast majority of them on its pay-TV network and streaming platforms.
“It’s going to create so much more access for people,” PPA Tour owner Tom Dundon told CNBC. “I think this makes it way easier to bring to the masses.”
The pair will also create pickleballtv, a 24/7 standalone free, ad-supported streaming channel featuring matches as well as entertainment surrounding the sport.

Studio rendering of pickleballtv
Source: Tennis Channel

For the PPA Tour, the joint venture will allow Tennis Channel to take the reigns on producing all of its content both for its own platforms as well as the Tour’s other media partners, including Disney’s ESPN, Paramount’s CBS and Prime Video.
“A lot of emerging sports sometimes have trouble with production, quality and consistency,” said Dundon. “So when we deliver a program to Fox or ESPN, they know it’s perfect. It makes it a lot easier for them to want to carry us and cover us.”

While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the agreement allows Tennis Channel owner Sinclair to retain the option of an equity stake in Pickleball.com, the parent company of the PPA Tour. Dundon added it’s a 50-50 partnership between the two entities, noting the PPA Tour will put the capital in and Tennis Channel will bring its production and media expertise.
Read more: Pickleball is loud. The people behind it say they’re trying to fix it.
“If you look at what Apple did with [Major League Soccer], the MLS does all of the production. So I think we’re just consistent with where the [media] world’s going where we can produce it cheaper, with scale,” Dundon said.
He foresees the joint venture propelling further media rights deals with the help of Tennis Channel executives that are familiar with TV carriage negotiations and building up streaming platforms.
“This partnership is really the seminal moment for what is still in many ways the nation’s sport…And we get to take 20 years of right decisions and mistakes and apply them directly to expand pickleball and the PPA,” Ken Solomon, Tennis Channel president, told CNBC.

Tennis Channel will have the rights to show most PPA Tour matches, and those that air live on other media networks will be shown on a same-day delay and will be available on-demand on Tennis Channel platforms.
Pickleball is not new to the 20-year-old Tennis Channel. The network first aired a PPA Tour event in 2021 and expanded its coverage of pickleball in 2022.
Solomon said pickleball ratings have been strong to date. There are 25 PPA Tour events on the 2023 calendar. The network already produces events for the PPA Tour, Dundon added.
The joint venture will also allow Tennis Channel to use its marketing and advertising prowess to sell pickleball to sponsors and advertisers by combining their offerings.
Solomon said for traditional tennis fans, they don’t have to worry about the paddle sport taking over the bread and butter of their network. The network will not air pickleball in time periods where they have rights to live tennis.
“These things, [tennis and pickleball], go together beautifully. It’s like peas and carrots,” he said.
Solomon said the Tennis Channel is currently looking at broadcast enhancements through cameras, the use of artificial intelligence, and a jib shot at the net that will allow the audience to see the tension of patience versus pulling the trigger with a slam or drive.
It’s been a busy few months for professional pickleball. The PPA Tour, which is a tour-style format pitting the best players in the world against each other, and Major League Pickleball, which features team play, announced earlier this month they are merging. This followed a dramatic few weeks of uncertainty surrounding the future of the professional sport as the leagues engaged in a spending war to compete against each other.
In the last few years, pickleball has seen unprecedented growth as professionals and amateurs turn to the sport in droves. According to the annual Sports & Fitness Industry Association Topline Report, pickleball has seen 159% growth over the past three years. Last year, 36 million people played the sport, leading to the growth of both public and private courts all over the country.
The sport has also attracted big name players like Bill Gates and the Kardashians to celebrity owners like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and Kevin Durant. More

Resale platforms at fast-fashion retailers like H&M, Shein and Zara are projected to have a minimal impact on reducing emissions, a new study has found.
The companies can have a greater impact on the environment if they focus on using more sustainable materials or recycling.
Premium apparel companies like Ralph Lauren can meaningfully reduce their emissions with resale, the study found.

A worker makes clothes at a garment factory that supplies Shein, in Guangzhou, China. Shein is set to produce goods in Brazil for the Latin American market, instead of shipping them from China.
Jade Gao | AFP | Getty Images

Fast-fashion retailers like Zara, Shein and H&M are using resale platforms to reduce their carbon footprints, but the programs are projected to do little to reduce emissions, a new study released Tuesday found. 
The brands could more effectively reduce their toll on the environment if they redirected those efforts to their supply chain, such as by using more sustainable materials or investing in recycling innovations, according to the analysis.

The study was conducted by Trove, which helps brands like Lululemon and Canada Goose implement resale programs, and Worldly, a data analytics firm that focuses on ESG, or environmental, social and corporate governance. The study’s methodology was validated with third parties and reviewed by Deloitte, McKinsey and University of California, Berkeley, among others, Trove’s founder and one of the study’s authors Andy Ruben told CNBC.
The study analyzed five brand archetypes, spanning fast fashion to premium apparel, and how reselling previously owned items could affect their overall carbon emissions between 2023 and 2040.
It found that fast-fashion retailers, which create about 11.5 kilograms (25.3 pounds) of carbon dioxide for every item they make, will only reduce their emissions by 0.7% with resale programs.
In comparison, premium apparel brands like Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren create about 16 kilograms of CO2 for every item they make, and could reduce those emissions by 14.8% with resale programs, the analysis said. Outdoor brands, like Patagonia and the North Face, create about 12.5 kilograms of CO2 per item and could reduce emissions by 15.8%, according to the study. 
The projections factor in lower production of new items, which would help to cut emissions. Companies could offset decreased sales of new products with revenue gained from reselling a previously owned item. 

The findings come as a slew of companies – from apparel retailers like Gap to home goods companies like The Container Store – implement resale programs to capture customers who care about sustainability, or might just be looking for a deal. The initiatives allow companies to make money off of items they’ve already sold and show investors and consumers they’re focused on sustainability, especially as they prepare for new ESG reporting requirements from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 
Ruben said it takes a lot of work for fast-fashion retailers to implement resale programs, but “you’re not getting a lot of juice for the squeeze.” 
“It really comes down to how many people want your items after you’ve sold them the first time,” Ruben said in an interview with CNBC. “So if you sold an original T-shirt for $8, and you resell it for 20 cents, you’re not offsetting much revenue and you’re doing a lot of activity that adds to the carbon footprint to move it back around.”

‘It’s misplaced effort’

Fast-fashion retailers have faced broad criticism for the negative impacts they can have on the environment. Some of the largest players in the space – H&M, Zara and Shein – have started resale programs in a bid to be more sustainable. 
Earlier this year, H&M announced it was partnering with ThredUp to debut a resale program that allows customers to shop for pre-owned items. Zara and Shein both announced peer-to-peer resale platforms last fall. 
The programs, which some criticized as insufficient, help the environment in the sense that it’s more sustainable to buy a used item than it is to buy a new product. However, the programs can be difficult for fast-fashion retailers to scale profitably, which could limit investments in the efforts. Further, the study indicates resale platforms aren’t enough to meaningfully increase sustainability at fast-fashion companies.
“It’s misplaced effort,” said Ruben. “What they’re basically doing is moving around items that hold none of their value, which is a marketing program.”
Both Zara and H&M are working to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 and have disclosed some of the progress they’ve made in reducing their water consumption and using more sustainable materials, among other initiatives. 
In a statement, an H&M spokesperson said the company agrees with Trove’s report, which is why it’s “working with different levers” to reduce its impact on global carbon emissions.
“We are working towards decarbonizing our supply chain and logistics operations by strengthening the availability and usage of renewable energy and funding the innovation and distribution of technology needed,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the company is increasing its use of recycled and more sustainably sourced materials, and aims to increase its use of recycled fibers to 30% by 2025.
Zara didn’t return a request for comment from CNBC.
Shein, for its part, often touts its inventory-light model as a crucial factor that reduces waste on the back end. The company has invested in strategies that reduce water use throughout its production process and launched its “evoluSHEIN” product line, which features garments made with recycled polyester, forest-safe viscose and other materials that are more eco-friendly.
“We continue to scale SHEIN’s on-demand business model, which allows us to achieve average unsold inventory rates in the low single digits, dramatically reducing waste, and invest in building circular systems and accelerating sustainable solutions through sustainably focused materials, technologies and production processes,” a Shein spokesperson told CNBC.
“As a fashion leader, we acknowledge our role in creating a more sustainable and responsible fashion industry, and SHEIN Exchange is just one step we are taking as part of our larger commitment to prioritizing waste reduction and circularity,” the spokesperson said.
To reduce their impact on the environment, fast-fashion retailers are better off redirecting their resale investments into recycling innovations and sustainable materials, among other practices that can reduce emissions, said Gayle Tait, Trove’s CEO. 
“What the research is underpinning is that brands have to demonstrate meaningful investment into shifting their model,” said Tait. “When they’re kind of skirting around the edges, by doing either a branded peer-to-peer site or working closely with a marketplace, they’re not actually shifting their model. They’re continuing to do the things that got their carbon emissions.” More