Target is testing new fulfillment models for overnight delivery of online orders. In Chicago, the retailer stopped fulfilling ship-to-home online orders from some of its busiest stores. In Cleveland, it opened a new facility aimed at overnight deliveries. In San Diego and other cities, gig workers handle delivery of some packages.

The WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes the tactics are part of a push to cut shipping costs, speed deliveries and improve the in-store shopping experience as the retailer strives to turn around a yearslong sales slump. Target has increasingly used its roughly 2,000 stores, which sit within 10 miles of 75% of the U.S. population, to fulfill online orders as a way to streamline inventory and cut shipping costs to better compete with rivals such as Walmart and Amazon.

This presents challenges, such as items appearing available for same-day delivery that sell out in the store before an online order is completed. In-person shoppers have to share aisles with workers focused on online-order fulfillment. Target says it is tailoring its fulfillment strategy to the individual markets it serves to address those challenges.

• Kroger’s CEO said the grocer is cutting costs across its operations to help lower prices, after the company swung to a quarterly loss as expenses increased. (WSJ)
• Dollar General posted higher profit and raised its full-year outlook, saying increasingly stressed lower-income customers continue to spend on everyday and seasonal items. (WSJ)
• Walmart started drone deliveries to customers within six miles of a half-dozen Atlanta-area stores. (Atlanta News First)

U.S. Steel plans to restart steelmaking at an Illinois plant where the Trump administration intervened to keep production going. The WSJ’s Bob Tita writes that the company stopped making steel at Granite City Works two years ago and had planned to further curtail operations before the administration blocked the move in September.

The company now sees signs of rising demand that justify restarting one of Granite City’s two blast furnaces early next year to produce molten iron for steel. U.S. Steel also is expected to need the mill’s capacity as some of its other mills undergo $11 billion worth of improvements promised by new owner Nippon Steel. The company expects to add about 400 employees to operate the blast furnace, raising the plant’s workforce to about 1,200.

Two former board members at independent federal agencies who are Black allege President Trump removed them because of their race. Robert Primus served on the Surface Transportation Board, which will review the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads. Alvin Brown is former vice-chairman of the National Safety Transportation Board.

The pair said in complaints filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., that their firings lacked cause and violated their constitutional right to equal protection under the law, the Journal’s Esther Fung writes. A White House spokesman said competence was the only factor guiding the administration’s personnel decisions. Primus was fired in August, and had served on the STB since 2021, after Trump nominated him for the role.

• New unemployment claims fell to 191,000 in the week ending Nov. 29, the lowest level in three years, the Labor Department said. (WSJ)
• From January to November, U.S. firms laid out plans to cut 1.17 million jobs, the highest year-to-date level since 2020, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.
• Eurozone retail sales were unchanged in October, following a revised 0.1% increase in September. (WSJ)
• Rio Tinto said its Nuton unit, which uses bacteria and acid to extract copper from otherwise uneconomic deposits, produced its first batch of metal in the Arizona desert. (WSJ)
• Hormel Foods said it was taking “targeted pricing actions,” updating its distribution network and cutting jobs to offset pressure from higher commodity prices as it swung to a quarterly loss. (WSJ)
• Billionaire investor Josh Harris’s firm, 26North Partners, struck a deal to take a controlling stake in Middleby’s kitchen-products division, which houses Viking, Aga and other brands. (WSJ)
• Amazon could expand its nationwide delivery network and pull the packages it sends through the U.S. Postal Service, as talks over negotiated service agreements stall. (The Washington Post)
• Hapag-Lloyd made an offer for New York-listed Israeli carrier Zim Integrated Shipping Services. (Globes)
• China plans to launch a free trade port project across the island province of Hainan on Dec. 18. (Nikkei Asia)
• Italian prosecutors demanded documents on governance and internal controls from 13 luxury fashion companies as part of a probe into alleged exploitation of Chinese workers. (Associated Press)
• Lawyers for the families of two victims killed in the crash of a UPS jet filed wrongful death lawsuits that also name engine-maker GE, and Boeing, which bought the maker of the MD-11 jet. (WDRB)
• The Port of Savannah’s container trade with Vietnam has risen 38% over the past five years to 379,000 20-foot-equivalent units in fiscal 2025, Georgia Ports said. (WJCL)

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.