Walmart relies on more than 140,000 warehouse workers to do jobs that aren't easy, but don't seem all that complicated either-until you try to teach robots to do them, The Wall Street Journal's Sarah Nassauer writes.

For instance, pulling items out of cardboard boxes to send out individually is a no-brainer for (Walmart's) humans, but it turned into one of the many challenges bedeviling the company's decadelong, multibillion-dollar quest to automate its warehouses. Eventually, Walmart and its robotics partner designed small robots on wheels with motion and obstacle sensors, and are now installing them in more than a dozen warehouses.

What makes the automation campaign so tricky is keeping warehouses in service while they are re-engineered, said Rob Montgomery, head of supply-chain operations for Walmart U.S.

Many of the nation's largest retailers are struggling through similar automation transitions as pressure grows to boost sales and ship merchandise to homes faster without spending a fortune on additional workers or facilities. And the rapid growth of Amazon-which is ahead of its retail rivals on automation-has dialed up the urgency.

-- United Parcel Service plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers in the U.S. for the peak holiday shipping season. (Reuters)

Number of the Day

2.28 Million

Estimated container imports into the U.S. in September, in 20-foot-equivalent units, down from 2.3 million boxes in August but up 8.2% from a year earlier, according to the National Retail Federation's Global Port Tracker.

Food Supplies

Taylor Farms, the produce company linked to the summer's deadly cyclospora outbreak, is suspending sales of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico during the parasite's peak season, the WSJ's Jesse Newman reports.

CEO Bruce Taylor said the company won't sell iceberg lettuce in the U.S. or Canada that was harvested or processed in the region between May 1 and Aug. 31, starting next year. The period covers central Mexico's rainy season, Taylor said, and it matches the time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees an increase in illnesses caused by the cyclospora parasite.

Taylor's comments in an open letter Thursday come days after the FDA released details from its investigation into what became the largest U.S. cyclospora outbreak on record. To date, neither the agency nor Taylor Farms has publicly identified what caused the cyclospora outbreak.

-- Just 11% of U.S. adults say they have a "great deal" of confidence in the federal government to regulate food safety, with 36% saying they have a "fair amount" of confidence, according to a Gallup poll. (Axios)

Energy

America's largest oil refiners are on track for stellar third-quarter profits, spurred on by the conflicts in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine that have sent the world scrambling for fuel, the WSJ's Collin Eaton and Benoît Morenne write.

Wall Street analysts project that independent U.S. fuel makers (Valero Energy), (Marathon Petroleum) and (Phillips 66) will surpass the near-record earnings they posted in the second quarter, which were the highest since the onset of the Ukraine war.

The companies are collecting on record-high margins for diesel and other fuels as global supplies shrink and prices skyrocket. They are benefiting from the "crack spread," as the gap between the price of crude and the price of fuels widens.

-- President Trump said the U.S. won't attack Iran before the November midterm elections, citing productive discussions with Tehran. (WSJ)

-- Iran and its Houthi allies launched separate attacks on a tanker near Qatar and on Riyadh. (WSJ)

-- BP temporarily curbed output and removed all personnel from two Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of Hurricane Isaias. (WSJ)

-- Devon Energy agreed to sell its Eagle Ford assets in Texas to Crescent Energy for $4.2 billion. (WSJ)

"The energy order has re-established itself. It's not like sustainability is gone, but it's not at the top, and it's not the overall defining strategy around the world." - ConocoPhillips Executive Chairman Ryan Lance

In Other News

-- The WTO raised its forecast for global goods-trade growth to 3.9% for this year and 4.1% for next year, driven by an AI investment boom. (WSJ)

-- Borrowing rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose to 7.4% from 7.28% last week, according to Freddie Mac. (WSJ)

-- U.S. jobless claims fell to 197,000 in the week through Oct. 3, marking the fifth consecutive weekly decrease, the Labor Department said. (WSJ)

-- SpaceX reached a deal to buy cellular spectrum licenses from Grain Management to help build a mobile network. (WSJ)

-- PepsiCo cut its full-year earnings outlook as it faces inflation, higher advertising costs and continued weakness in North America, even as it works to cut costs and revive sales. (WSJ)

-- Anglo American warned it may close its Brazilian nickel business if the European Commission blocks its sale to MMG. (WSJ)

-- Ocean carrier CMA CGM signed a two-year agreement with Danish logistics company DSV to cut 12,000 metric tons of CO emissions by using biofuels derived from cooking oil. (Journal of Commerce)

-- Teledyne Raymarine Commercial released a browser-based system for ship and shore teams to plan compliant voyages. (SplashTECH)

-- A U.S. trade judge certified a group lawsuit representing importers that haven't yet made tariff-refund claims as a class action. (Bloomberg)

-- Mitsubishi Materials is getting recycled tungsten for carbide tools from Vietnam to avoid Chinese export restrictions. (Nikkei Asia)

-- Chinese and South Korean carriers drove a record high amount of Arctic containership traffic in September, though the biggest global liners are avoiding the Northern Sea Route. (Lloyd's List)

-- STG Logistics has named the former head of UPS Freight Jack Holmes as its CEO. (TruckingDive)

-- North American orders of Class 8 heavy-duty trucks fell 9.5% year-over-year to 18,700 units, according to preliminary ACT Research data. (Transport Topics)

Dow Jones Risk Journal Podcast

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About Us

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.