Getting goods from point A to point B hasn’t gotten any easier since the pandemic has eased, Hope writes.

• Why it matters: Businesses say profits are being limited by transportation bottlenecks that they’re urgently trying to solve.

Driving the news: Walmart is now the latest employer to bump trucker pay as it tries to keep up with shoppers’ demands.

• Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance continues to push forward with automated solutions, including drone delivery of household goods and over-the-counter drugs. 

State of play: Consumers still want everything delivered while labor shortages and working conditions in transportation worsen.

• The trucking industry lost 4,900 jobs last month, the first monthly decline since the start of the pandemic.
• In 2021, there was a record deficit of 80,000 drivers, the American Trucking Associations trade group said — though some critics point to this as a lobbying tactic.

Walmart’s starting salary for truck drivers is now between $95,000 and $110,000 a year, up from an average of $87,000, a spokesperson told WSJ. 

• What they’re saying: “I have nothing against investment bankers. They could all retire and nothing much would change. [Truckers] all quit, everything comes to a halt,” President Joe Biden said this week at a White House event promoting his administration’s Trucking Action Plan.
• For context: Investment banking analysts, who are also questioning their own quality of life, start at $110,000 at JPMorgan.

The big picture: Walmart and other retailers have also been testing autonomous trucks and vehicles to replace more than 500,000 long-haul and last-mile delivery drivers.

The number of Americans who filed a new claim for unemployment insurance benefits last week was the lowest since 1968, Axios' Neil Irwin writes.

Why it matters: The claims numbers are just the latest sign of an exceptionally tight labor market.

• The 166,000 new claims filed last week come exactly two years after the all-time peak of 6.1 million new claims filed in the first week of April 2020, as the pandemic set in.

Go deeper.

🤳 The New York Times' executive editor told his reporters to spend less time on Twitter. (Axios)

⚖️ The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson 53-47 to the Supreme Court. (CNBC)

American Airlines is about to start moving people at much lower altitudes, Nathan writes.

Driving the news: The airline announced Thursday that it will offer bus connections to several smaller regional destinations from its Philadelphia hub.

• Transportation service Landline will provide 50- to 70-mile rides to and from airports in Allentown/Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Why it matters: With airlines facing pilot shortages and looking to chop unprofitable routes, customers will have to consider alternative options like this to get to less popular destinations.

How it works: Upon landing at the Philadelphia airport, passengers with a connecting bus will de-board, enter the terminal and find the gate where their bus is set to depart.

• Going the other way, passengers traveling to Philadelphia will go through security at their local airport first, then board a bus.

Of note: United Airlines has been using buses to connect passengers to regional locations from its Denver hub since last year.

Oddsmakers will be biting their nails this weekend if Tiger Woods has a serious chance to win the Masters, Nathan writes.

What’s happening: Bets have poured in on the golf legend to win the tournament in his dramatic return to golf after a devastating car crash in 2021.

• The pre-tournament odds on Woods to win hovered in the range of about 50-to-1, meaning you'd net $50 for every $1 bet if you wagered on him to capture the title.

Catch up quick: Woods finished his first round -1 on Thursday, well within reach of the leaders in the four-round tournament.

Be smart: Don’t cry any tears for the sportsbooks, even if Woods prevails. The house always wins in the end.

"It’s kind of a bummer for me. If there’s no Spirit anymore, who are we going to make fun of?"