New York
I Tried Using an App to Unlock Cabinets at Drugstores
Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll find out about an app that lets customers open locked cabinets in three CVS stores in Manhattan without having to seek assistance from an employee. We’ll also get details on revenue for the first month of congestion pricing.
The locked cabinet opened when I held my cellphone over the lock. The trouble came after I took the exfoliating cleanser off the shelf and put it in my shopping basket.
I was in the CVS store on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, using an app on my smartphone that is supposed to make shopping easier. It does, when it works. Does it make shopping faster? I’m not sure.
CVS, like other chain drugstores, moved to fight shoplifting by putting lockable cabinets in its stores in New York City — and putting everyday items like toothbrushes and over-the-counter pain medications inside. A shopper has to press a button, which triggers an announcement over the store’s public address system — “Customer assistance needed in the skin care department,” in my case. An employee then walks to that aisle, unlocks the cabinet and waits while the shopper picks out the exfoliating cleanser. The employee then closes and relocks the cabinet.
Last month CVS updated its app, adding a feature that lets shoppers at three stores in Manhattan unlock the cabinets with their smartphones. No customer assistance necessary.
The marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower said there was a 17 percent increase in downloads of the CVS app in January. Sensor Tower said the jump might have been driven by shoppers who wanted to use the app in the three stores, where shoppers with the app can do what I did.
When everything goes smoothly, the app allows shoppers to avoid having to wait for a store employee to appear. And that’s good for business, as restricting access to products deters thieves but also shoppers.
“When you lock up your products, you lock out your customers,” Brittain Ladd, a strategy and supply chain consultant, said last month, adding that CVS and Walgreens “have really gone wild in terms of putting Plexiglas all throughout their stores.” A CVS spokeswoman, Tara Burke, said as much when she told me that “we know keeping products locked up can be inconvenient.”
But she also said that shoplifting remained a problem. Theft from CVS stores has increased 30 percent since 2020, she said, adding that locking up products was “a measure of last resort.”
CVS introduced the app as a pilot program at the store on Bleecker Street and two others: at 630 Lexington Avenue, at 53rd Street; and the one I tried first, at 540 Amsterdam Avenue, at 86th Street. I was looking for cough syrup and razor blades.
I logged in but couldn’t get the app to open the cabinet with the cough syrup. A store employee who had walked up the aisle to help someone else saw me holding my phone over the lock and said, “Here, let me.”
I moved on to the razor blades, where the app opened the lock on the cabinet.
But I got messages about an “unexpected error” a couple of times, so I logged out and then in again. And at least once a message appeared saying that the unlocking function was not available in that store.
I left wondering if the app was really ready for prime time, which is why I decided to go to the other two stores.
At the one on Lexington Avenue several days later — when I needed more cough syrup — the app did not open the cabinet despite several tries. “Sometimes it works,” said the employee who unlocked that cabinet for me.
But the app did unlock the cabinet next to the one with the cough syrup. I didn’t need anything from there, but I’d been curious to see what would happen.
Things went better at the Bleecker Street store. I started with the exfoliating cleanser, and the app unlocked the cabinet on the first try. But when I tried to lock the cabinet after taking out the item, it wouldn’t lock.
It took me a minute to see why: The other sliding door in the cabinet had slipped open. I closed it. The lock clicked.
In Aisle 8, I got an “unexpected error” message. I logged off and logged in again. That time, the app unlocked the cabinet with unexpected fanfare. A bell rang and a recorded voice said, “Thank you for shopping at CVS.”
I went on to Aisle 10. At the toothpaste cabinet, there was another “unexpected error.”
That was when I noticed that the cabinet I was trying to unlock was already open.
Weather
Today, expect a mostly cloudy sky and a high near 53. Tonight, the sky will turn partly cloudy, and the low will be near 39.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Friday (Losar).
The latest New York news
The money from congestion pricing is rolling in
Of the $48.6 million, the M.T.A. counted $37.5 million as net operating revenue, money that will go toward financing a number of major transit repair projects. The rest will pay for expenses related to installing cameras and other equipment to record and process the tolls.
Jai Patel, the co-chief financial officer of the transit agency, said that 95 percent of the tolls were recorded in the peak period, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. “That seems like a big number,” Patel said, “but the program itself is to reduce congestion, and so peak tolls would be best.”
She also told an M.T.A. committee meeting on Monday that congestion pricing was expected to generate about $500 million in revenue during its first year.
The M.T.A. will leverage the money, borrowing significantly more in municipal bonds. Its planned projects include modernizing subway signals, some of which were installed during the Depression; making stations more accessible for riders with disabilities; and extending the Second Avenue subway line to East Harlem.
Those projects may be put on hold if the Trump administration succeeds in rescinding the congestion pricing program. And a protracted legal fight with the federal government could scare away investors, said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a civic watchdog group.
“The market may have a different take on how risky they consider congestion pricing now,” she said, noting that it was unusual for the federal government to renege on an agreement for a program like congestion pricing. The Biden administration approved it in November, after President Joe Biden lost the election.
METROPOLITAN diary
Halloween on the A
Dear Diary:
It was Halloween a few years ago, and I was on an A train traveling from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Most of the passengers in the car were in costumes that included Prince, Elvis, Madonna and a stuffed toy. No one was talking, and everyone seemed to be traveling alone.
At one point, three young men carrying a boom box got on the train and took positions as if getting ready to put on a show that was most likely going to include somersaults.
As soon as the boom box clicked on, all of the costumed passengers jumped up and started to dance. The would-be acrobats clicked off the music.
No, no, sit down, they said. We are trying to make a living here.
Everyone sat back down, laughing. Then the box clicked on again, the costumed passengers jumped up to dance again and the acrobats asked them to sit down again.
The sequence played out three more times before the young men finally gave up and went to another car.
We all kept laughing.
— Carol Williams. Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
A starry season on Broadway means a starry list of Tony nominees: John Lithgow, Daniel Radcliffe, Lesley Manville and Rose Byrne all picked up nods on Tuesday morning as the first groups of nominees were announced on CBS.
Among the other nominees for performances in leading roles are two longtime Broadway favorites: Nathan Lane and Kelli O’Hara. This is O’Hara’s ninth Tony nomination (she has won once).
The race for best new musical — traditionally the category with the greatest financial impact — came down to four shows, all of which could use a box-office boost: “The Lost Boys,” “Titaníque,” “Schmigadoon!” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).”
For best new play, the nominees include Bess Wohl’s “Liberation,” which on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, as well as “The Balusters,” by David Lindsay-Abaire; “Giant,” by Mark Rosenblatt; and “Little Bear Ridge Road,” by Samuel D. Hunter.
Lane (“Death of a Salesman”), Lithgow (“Giant”) and Radcliffe (“Every Brilliant Thing”) were all nominated as best actor in a play, alongside Will Harrison (“Punch”) and Mark Strong (“Oedipus”). Byrne and O’Hara, co-starring in a revival of “Fallen Angels,” will face Carrie Coon (“Bug”), Susannah Flood (“Liberation”) and Manville (“Oedipus”), in the race for best leading actress in a play.
The nominees for best leading actress in a musical are all first-time nominees: Sara Chase (“Schmigadoon!”), Stephanie Hsu (“The Rocky Horror Show”), Caissie Levy (“Ragtime”), Marla Mindelle (“Titaníque”) and Christiani Pitts (“Two Strangers”). The race for best leading actor in a musical, dominated throughout the season by Joshua Henry of “Ragtime,” also features Nicholas Christopher (“Chess”), Luke Evans (“The Rocky Horror Show”), Sam Tutty (“Two Strangers”) and Brandon Uranowitz (“Ragtime”).
The nominations are being announced in New York by the actors Uzo Aduba and Darren Criss. A half-dozen top categories were first made public on “CBS Mornings,” and the full slate is set to be read at 9 a.m. on the Tony Awards YouTube channel.
The nominations announcement begins a monthlong award period as the 857 Tony voters — mostly people who work in theater or who help finance Broadway shows — finish seeing the latest productions, while the productions, constrained by newly restrictive rules limiting campaigning and promotion, look for ways to remind voters about the strengths of their nominees. The awards ceremony will take place on June 7 at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by the musician Pink and broadcast on CBS.
The season has been a mixed bag for Broadway. Overall attendance and grosses are up over last season, but profitability rates are low because of skyrocketing production costs, and there is rising consumer concern about ticket prices. Only six new musicals opened this season, down from 14 last season.
The Tony Awards, which honor plays and musicals performed in the 41 Manhattan theaters that make up Broadway, are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing. This year, 19 plays and 11 musicals are eligible for awards because they opened on Broadway between April 28, 2025, and April 26, 2026.
The nominees were chosen by a committee of 55 people with theater expertise or experience, but who do not work on, or have a financial interest in, the season’s shows.
Some noncompetitive awards have already been announced.
Lifetime achievement awards will go to André Bishop, who last year stepped down after leading Lincoln Center Theater for 33 years; Jules Fisher, a lighting designer; and James Lapine, the playwright and director. Mary-Mitchell Campbell, a music director, will receive the Isabelle Stevenson Award, which honors volunteerism.
This year’s Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater will go to the 1/52 Project, which supports early career designers, as well as to Jake Bell, a production manager; Kenn Lubin, a signage designer; and Loren Plotkin, an entertainment lawyer.
Seated before an array of New York State senators on Monday, Lara Blume McGee was asked by one lawmaker why it had taken her so long to go public with the details of how Jeffrey Epstein had abused her.
She paused for a moment, another victim of Mr. Epstein’s by her side, and leaned forward to speak into the microphone in the State Capitol.
“Fear,” said Ms. Blume McGee, who had been 17 and an aspiring model when Mr. Epstein abused her. It took her about 20 years to come forward.
“Jeffrey Epstein was a great manipulator,” she added, explaining that she feared being sued and having her life ruined by his capacity for retribution.
Ms. Blume McGee was among four women who testified in the State Capitol about the trauma Mr. Epstein inflicted upon them and the lasting damage he did to their lives. The appearance of two of the women — Ms. Blume McGee and Carine Silva De Deus — had been expected, but two other women — Glendys Espinal and Alexandra Golematis — also came forward. Both said they were speaking publicly for the first time about their experiences with Mr. Epstein.
Their testimony comes as State Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat from Brooklyn, seeks support for legislation intended to update state sex-trafficking laws. The goal, Mr. Myrie said, was to better equip the state to handle the kinds of crimes that Mr. Epstein was accused of committing by criminalizing the actions of people who helped perpetuate his behavior.
If passed, the laws would also allow Mr. Epstein’s victims to sue his associates and his estate in state court for punitive damages. State law prevents people from seeking punitive damages from the estate of someone who has died.
“Trafficking is not sustained by one single actor. It is not just Jeffrey Epstein,” said Kathryn Robb, a lawyer who has been pushing for these sorts of legislative changes across the country.
“It is a network that includes financial backers, businesses and other intermediaries, who often escape accountability,” she added. “This bill will disrupt that.”
Ms. Espinal, a Bronx native, said she first met Mr. Epstein during her sophomore year of high school, when she was brought in to give him massages. The demands from the financier quickly escalated, and she said she still has post-traumatic stress disorder from these interactions, which occurred between 2005 and 2008.
“What was going through my head at the time was just pure shame and intimidation,” she said.
Mr. Myrie’s bill, which has no companion legislation in the Assembly as of yet, is not state lawmakers’ only effort to reckon with Mr. Epstein’s legacy and the pain he caused hundreds of women.
Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter, a Democrat from the Syracuse area, and Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat representing parts of Manhattan, have introduced a bill that would close what they call the “Epstein loophole.” In the state’s laws relating to prostitution, the buyers of a sex worker’s services, or those facilitating them, are excluded from punishment under the statute relating to people being punished for “advancing prostitution.”
“New York should act quickly and close the Epstein loophole, which would have prevented men like Jeffrey Epstein and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs from being charged with trafficking at the state level,” Ms. Hunter said in a statement last month.
“This bill is necessary to ensure that traffickers and sex buyers are held accountable, while survivors of sexual exploitation are given the care and support they need,” she added, explaining that the law would also reduce punishments for those who perform sex work.
Mr. Epstein and his estate have settled several lawsuits with victims in recent years. The New York Times reported in February that a recent court filing showed that his estate was valued at $120 million, though the estimate might be an undercount.
Nathan Werksman, a lawyer for the women who testified on Monday, said that time was of the essence to change the law and give Ms. Blume McGee and others the chance to seek financial damages from Mr. Epstein’s estate.
Mr. Myrie’s bill, which the Senate Codes Committee passed on Monday, creates a one-year look-back period so that people can sue for actions that fall outside the statute of limitations. In this manner, it resembles the Adult Survivors Act, which in 2022 opened a one-time window in New York permitting people to file sex-abuse lawsuits after the statute of limitations had expired.
“The Epstein Estate is a finite amount of money that is dwindling every day, every week, and every month,” Mr. Werksman said.
“Jeffrey Epstein was able to escape criminal accountability, and his estate can escape civil liability if the estate dwindles down to nothing,” he added.
Lawyers for Mr. Epstein’s estate did not respond to emails seeking comment.
How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It’s a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion.
We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people — rich, poor or somewhere in between — live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?
For almost 32 years, Gerald DeCock’s life in New York City has revolved around his apartment in the Hotel Chelsea. His 750-square-foot studio is where he paints, does yoga every morning, meets clients for haircuts and never, ever cooks — all for $2,700 a month, a steal for the prime Manhattan location. Rooms in the recently renovated hotel typically start at about $500 a night.
That may all be about to change. After a yearslong legal battle, the hotel’s owners may evict Mr. DeCock, who believes he has the only unit that is not rent-stabilized in the residential side of the building.
He isn’t ready to think about starting over. He knows it will be difficult to find a place he can afford downtown, near his friends and his favorite restaurants.
Now, Mr. DeCock is hoping for a miracle — or at least a check from the building’s owners that can help him land on his feet. (The hotel’s press representatives did not reply to requests for comment.)
Between cutting hair and selling paintings, Mr. DeCock, who is 67, made $70,000 last year.
No ConEd Bills
Mr. DeCock arrived in New York in the early 1990s after a stint in Paris, doing hair for photo shoots. He bounced around apartments in Chelsea before a friend told him about a newly available unit in the hotel, where she lived at the time.
The $2,000 per month studio was small, but had high ceilings. It looked like the somewhat sterile hotel room it had been, with white walls and not much else to it, except for an old stove that never got especially hot.
He moved in on Oct. 1, 1994, and has been there ever since.
There is no sign that any corner of the walls was ever bare. The apartment is a riot of color, with every inch, including the floors and one side of the oven, painted in bursts of hot pink and gold and purple. His paintings line the walls, and there is always incense burning. All the other doors on the floor are painted a muted black. He has papered his with overlapping triangles of fuchsia, silver and bright blue.
Over the years, as Mr. DeCock has decorated and redecorated, he has made his apartment the hub of his social life and his workplace.
He sees clients for haircuts at his home, or sometimes meets them in their own homes, so he does not have to rent space at a salon. He charges $150 to $200 per haircut and has been seeing some of the same clients for decades. Last month, he made about $6,000 on haircuts alone.
The apartment is warm and well-insulated in the winter, because it’s on a high floor. Though the studio tends to get stuffy in the summer, the air conditioning bill has always been covered by the hotel, because it’s impossible to sort out whether the residents or hotel guests who share the hotel’s floors are using the energy.
Mr. DeCock doesn’t think he’s ever seen a ConEd bill for this apartment.
Home Is Where the Fumes Are
The walls are covered in a patchwork of paintings he has created on his kitchen table or on the floor, largely motifs of moons, suns, crosses and other “spiritual” symbols.
Most of his paintings are done on 16 inch by 20 inch canvases and sell for $500, though he has one 10 foot by 10 foot piece he is hoping to sell for $20,000.
He sold a package of 21 paintings to the hotel, at a 20 percent discount, for about $8,680 total. He sees the sale as a good reason for the hotel’s owners to keep him in his home, even though they could turn his apartment into a large hotel room. “I’m your brand, man,” he said, referring to the owners. “What are you doing?”
As Mr. DeCock has started to face the likelihood that he’ll soon have to move, he hosted a sale to empty out dozens of paintings. He made about $6,000 over a few days, as friends, neighbors and at least one local celebrity streamed in and out of his apartment, toting paintings under their arms as they left.
Mr. DeCock tries to keep the cost of his painting materials low. He sticks to inexpensive canvasses from Michaels or Blick Art Materials right across the street, where a pack of twenty 16 x 20 inch canvasses sells for $51.49. And he uses only acrylic paint, which is less expensive than oil-based paint. It also gives off fewer fumes, which is helpful, since he paints a few feet away from his lofted bed.
“I call this place the vortex,” Mr. DeCock said of his apartment. “It brings out the creative juices.”
In My Neighborhood
Mr. DeCock hasn’t left New York in as long as he can remember. He barely even goes to Brooklyn.
“Everything I do is in the neighborhood,” he said. It’s where he meets friends, eats his meals and takes long walks on the piers by the Hudson River.
What Mr. DeCock doesn’t do, he said, is buy clothes or shop for much of anything, including groceries. He does not drink coffee at home. His fridge is empty save for a bag of grapes recently brought over by a friend, and he stores his paint bottles above the freezer. There is a sole bottle of vinegar in the pantry.
Mr. DeCock, who is a vegetarian, stopped cooking after the pandemic, when he admitted to himself that he was terrible at it.
Now, he goes out for almost every meal — although he often skips lunch or dinner without noticing. He might run across the street for an order of the $27 seitan scaloppine at his favorite vegan restaurant, or walk a few blocks to a Mexican restaurant, where he’ll order the vegetarian enchiladas for $24.50.
When Mr. DeCock is home and not working or sleeping, he’s often watching television. His big splurge is cable, his Spectrum bill is $250 a month. He also pays for Netflix, $19.99 a month, and Hulu, $18.99 a month. A Colorado native, Mr. DeCock sometimes misses nature, so he compensates by watching reality television shows about people who have to survive in the wilderness.
It reminds him that he’s happy to live in New York and really happy to be in his apartment at the Chelsea.
“I’ve had a life here,” he said. “It’s defined me.”
We are talking to New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save.
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