💊 Walmart’s Rx delivery

Prescription tracker… Walmart launched prescription-drug deliveries in six US states yesterday and said it plans to widen the program to 49 states by the end of January (North Dakota has restrictions). By that time, America’s largest retailer says its 4.6K US stores with pharmacies will allow it to deliver to 86% of households in as quickly as 30 minutes. The move keeps the rollback retailer in step with its arch nemesis, Amazon, which has also been widening its med-delivery business.

• More, dashed: Customers can tack their prescriptions onto larger Walmart orders like groceries, home goods, or bikes. The Rx delivery service costs $10, but is free for Walmart+ subscribers.

• Copycat: It didn’t take long for Walmart to match its rival’s prescription maneuver. Amazon said this month it’ll grow its same-day script-delivery biz to 20 cities — covering 45% of US customers — by the end of next year.

• Getting healthy: 12% of Walmart’s US revenue comes from health and wellness, a fraction compared to groceries’ share of 60%. Earlier this year, Walmart shuttered all 51 of its health clinics and its telehealth biz.

Pharm-upheaval… Walmart and Amazon are both jumping into the scripts biz as retail pharmacy experiences some extreme side effects. A mix of pandemic aftershocks, understaffing, and customer frustrations with locked-up toothpaste have chains reeling. CVS announced 3K layoffs this month, adding to 5K last year, and it’s closing 900 stores. Walgreens, which said a quarter of locations aren’t profitable, is shuttering about 1.2K stores over the next three years. Rite Aid, which emerged from bankruptcy last month, has closed 500+ locations.

Stay gold, Ronnie boy… McDonald’s sent a letter to employees saying it doesn’t endorse POTUS candidates: “We are not red or blue — we are golden.” Some customers threatened to boycott the nuggie maker after former President Donald Trump on Sunday worked the fry station at a McD’s franchise in the swing state of Pennsylvania. McDonald’s acknowledged that its brand has become “a fixture of conversation this election cycle.” It also said it’s proud of VP Kamala Harris’ “fond memories of working under the arches,” which Harris has mentioned on the campaign trail. (FYI: 1 in 8 Americans has worked at a McD’s.)

• McFranchise: Because the vast majority of McD’s restaurants are owned by franchisees, owners sometimes make decisions that customers pin on corporate.

• Not just the election: McDonald’s said the Israel-Hamas war caused a “meaningful business impact” as franchisees in the Middle East weighed in on opposing sides.

Frying up favor… Both candidates are courting working-class voters, trying to encourage the demo to show up to the polls for them. Data shows lower-wage workers are less likely to vote than higher-income ones. That push shows up in their agendas: Harris has made expanding the child tax credit and cutting middle-class taxes central to her campaign, while Trump’s pushing for income-tax breaks and lower home-energy bills. The day after Trump’s appearance at McDonald’s, Harris said she wanted to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. Fast-food workers have staged hundreds of strikes in recent years, and this year won a $20 minimum wage in California.