The Best One Yet - 🇺🇸 “America’s Underrated Icons” — NASA, Joy Ice Cream Cones, & The Post Office

Episode Date: July 4, 2024

For the 4th of July, we whipped up 3 of our most American stories yet… 3 underappreciated institutions that are differentiators for our economy: NASA, Ice Cream Cones, and the Post Office. Plus, Nick & Jack’s Ode to America.Enjoy these 3 patriotic pop-biz stories from the past year while BBQ’ing something fantastic:NASA’s first-ever streaming service (from August 2023)Joy Ice Cream Cones’ monopoly on cones (from August 2023)The Post Office’s booming business model (from November 2023)Jack’s on Lake Champlain, Nick’s on Nantucket, so celebrate the wins this 4th. Happy 248th, America.Subscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.00:00 - intro01:42 - Lucky USA04:45 - NASA09:58 - Ice Cream Cones14:54 - Post Office21:16 - Takeaways21:58 - Best Fact Yet24:02 - Takeaways Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday. The 4th of July. In today's pod, it is the best one yet. It's a T-Boy. The top three patriotic business stories that you need to know today. All right, Jack, I got to ask you out, SPF T-Boy on.

Where are you heading for the fourth, man? What are you going, my buddy? We rented a tiny cottage right on Lake Champlain, and my dad's doing a huge barbecue today for all the Kramer brothers. A whole lot of brats, a whole lot of ribs, right, man? What about you, man? We're on Nantucketucket right now. now, and the lobster rolls cost more than the plane tickets.

Oh, surge pricing on the four. It's the worst. I'm going down to a shrimp roll, Jack. I'm getting shrimp rolls right now. In the meantime, Yetis, Jack and I got three fantastic stories for today. Jack, what's on the pod? Nick and I dove into the archive for this one. And our first story is from August 1st, 2023, and it's about NASA.

The newest streaming service is from NASA. It's NASA Plus, and it's free. Because NASA thinks it's the new Netflix. That thinks is the new Netflix. For our second story, we're going back to August 18, 2023, when we covered ice cream cones. There is one company that makes two-thirds of all ice cream cones in America, and that company is Joy Cones. And Joy's key to ice cream success? What is it, Jack?

Boring is better. Boring tastes better. And our third and final story is from November 17, 2023, on the post office. The U.S. Postal Service lost $6.5 billion last year. So we're going to tell you the story, the history, and the business model of the mail. Because we all own the mail. Yeah, we own it. And when you own the mail, Jack, you control your own information.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix, Jack. G.W. would love this mix. Great mix. One of the luckiest things that ever happened to Nick and me, it's that we were born in the USA. The opportunities, the experiences, the quality of life. We had a huge head start compared to the rest of the world. Now, Yeti's on America's 248th birthday, the states can feel far from United right now.

But there are so many fantastic fundamental parts of this country that we can take for granted. It's not just the bald eagles, the barbecues, and the Nicholas Cage. Which are all national treasures? All three of them. But, hey, Jack and I were thinking, can we get a shout out to the institutions of America? The institutions, those mundane establishments that get no love, are actually. a source of our strength. We are talking about institutions like the SEC. If a CEO lies, the Securities and Exchange Commission sues him for fraud. Or Jack, how about the court system? If someone commits a crime, they get a trial, a jury of their peers, and they're innocent until

proven guilty. Even the IRS deserves an H-U-G. You may not like taxes. Who does? No! But the IRS collects rent that pays our nation's bills. Yet he's in America, the truth usually wins. We have freedom of press. Journalists aren't jailed for telling the truth like they are in some other countries. And we got government data that's reliable. It's not propaganda like in some other countries. For publicly traded companies, it's actually illegal to lie. That's why Jack and I have called our stock markets a bastion of truth. For 200 years, we've made progress toward a more perfect union of civil rights. Title IX, we got the best women's sports in the world by far. Hello, Team USA. And that is why America is the magnet of the best ideas yet. Entrepreneurs could go anywhere,

but they overwhelmingly come here and they do it for all those things that Jack and I just said. And then we export our economy, our entertainment, and our ideas to the entire world. Now Yeti's every day on our show, we tacitly touch on all of those things. But on America's birthday, we want to explicitly toast them. Because the secret sauce to our economy, what is it, Jack? It's the people and our institutions. And it's easy to forget how precious they are. Like the SEC and Nicholas Cage. And Nicholas Case.

Jack, let's hit our three stories. Happy Fourth of July yetis. Nick and I, let's hit it. Light them up, baby. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. That's it.

I don't even think they need to practice. 50%. That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show.

First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, we're going back to August 1st, 2023 on NASA. NASA, not just the coolest logo out there, arguably. Amazing. The meatball spaghetti thing. I love that thing, Jack. Also, arguably, the most exciting business model in the world. This was such a good story.

The newest streaming service isn't from Netflix. It's not from Disney and it is not Hulu. It is NASA. NASA Plus. NASA Plus. Because to win wallets and dimes, you need hearts and minds. Yes, you do. But yet he's before we kick off this story, Jack and I were researching it.

We jumped in T-boy style and we discovered some fascinating information, didn't we, Jack? According to Pew Research, what are the three least popular government agencies, Nick? All right, the three least popular government agencies, get this, the IRS, the Fed, and the Department of Education. Yeah, more people leading to listen to this pie. But, Jack, what are the three most popular government agencies? The National Park Service, the U.S. Postal Service, and NASA. Yeah, these NASA isn't just one of the most popular. It's got the highest consumer engagement of any government agency.

We were shocked by the incredible public profile of our space agency. NASA has 95 million Instagram followers. The Postal Service has 300,000. It's not just Instagram. No, it's not. NASA is the eighth most popular brand on Twitter. Eighth most popular brand and the first six are Elon. We flipped open the pages of Fast Company, a magazine dedicated to innovation.

What do we learn, Jack? They ranked NASA the number 17 most innovative company there is. NASA's not even a company. It's a government agency. NASA is the most recognized government logo we have. It's beating the bald eagle. NASA just had a record year of merch sales. NASA.

NASA sells product? Not only they sell in product, NASA has a fashion partnership with coach. Which leads us to today's news. NASA is launching a streaming service. NASA Plus. NASA Max was a little bit too threatening sound. They went with the safely cliche NASA Plus. Now yet he's here is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story.

We've said before that companies are battling over your living room. NASA's joining that battle. Today. And why is that, Jack? Because the nature of what NASA does isn't just sci-fi, something that's very popular. It's sci-non-fi, like science non-fiction. Science non-fiction. And you know what? People want to experience space. And NASA owns all the content relevant to space. Call up Hubble. NASA has a monopoly on space content. Yeah, your favorite YouTuber isn't vlogging from Uranus. Now, historically yet, NASA has had a media side hustle. They've done media content, like on the side.

Right. For example, they have a live stream of the International Space Station. They have cameras pointed at the satellites and they film rocket launches too. But now NASA is going full hustle on media. They want to go all in on media.

NASA Plus has a big content budget. You're going to see high production documentaries, like of Apollo 8, and you're going to see rocket launch pregame shows. It's like ESPN, but for space. Now, that all sounds fantastic, but Nick and I think they should parlay this into fictional content too.

I mean, there's a lot of opportunity we're thinking with sitcoms from Saturn. The Real Housewives of Pluto? Get exhibit in a space suit and pimp my rocket. How about Survivor? Literally. Yeah, just throw them up there. Who can survive up in space? See what happens. Winner gets to live.

Now, there's an interesting business twist that NASA made as well with NASA Plus. NASA Plus will be free to watch, unlike other streamers. You're not going to get subscription. subscribing to NASA Plus. So why is NASA investing big media dollars on high-quality productions and then giving the content to Americans for free? The answer feels like a takeaway moment. So...

Take us to your takeaway. Before you can win wallets and dimes, you must win hearts and minds. Yeties over the past five years, the space economy has emerged out of nowhere. It's no longer just governments participating in space. startups and big tech companies are spending big there too. Yes, SpaceX is the most valuable startup in America. They do rockets and satellites.

Amazon just spent $120 million on a launch facility at Cape Canaveral. Rose Roy's plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, they're not planning. They're already sending tourists to space. All four of those are big space stories we did in just the last year on this pod. Yeties. As the space economy grows, NASA's position within, Senate is getting more crowded. In the future, NASA's going to need more funding if the public will

continue to have a say in space. That's why NASA is launching a free streaming service today to win the hearts and minds of the American public. So that tomorrow, when it needs taxpayer money, it can win our wallets and dimes. Three, two, one. Streaming. For our second story, we're going back to August 18, 2023 on Ice cream cones. Ice cream cones. Yeah. Remember my New Year's resolution last year? Only eat ice cream if it's out of an ice cream cone. Did you make that your second New Year's resolution? Are you still doing it? I think you should. No, it's a mid-year resolution last year, actually. Okay, okay. Two at every three ice cream cones in

America is made by just one company, Joy Cones. Joy dominates the ice cream cone industry because they know their role. Yes, they do. But yet is the most important question. of the summer, what is it, Jack? It's not, is it chocolate sprinkles or rainbow sprinkles? No, no, no, no, we all know the answer to that. Is it dish or cone? Cup or cone, what do you want, Yetis? You got to pick one. Well, trick question. I always get a cone

and then ask them to plop it into the dish. Because we all know the existential problem with the cone, don't we, Jack? What, it's an edible container? You can't do hot fudge on a cone, man. True. Hot fudge on a cone today. Burn unit tomorrow. Yeties, over the last decade,

the ice cream business has had a renaissance in America. Yeah, there are now 17,000 ice cream makers in America. That is an all-time high for making ice cream. But while there's 17,000 distinct ice cream companies, there's basically only one ice cream cone. And that cone, that company, that monopoly is Joy Cones. Joy's flagship factory in Pennsylvania can make 20 million ice cream cones per day. Jack, can we sprinkle out a little context here?

That's enough to serve an ice cream cone to every. Every single New Yorker, twice. Twice. This is a company that was founded a hundred years ago by a couple of Lebanese immigrants. Today, it's owned by the employees, a thousand of whom controlled the cone economy. Because Yetis, the cone is the all-important hardware for your soft serve. Two out of three of those cones is made in America by joy. That's right.

Their market share is over half of the cone market, one company. Keebler is a distant number two in the cone industry at only 15% of the market. Those little elves, they gotta work a little harder, Jack. Joy came to dominate through dozens of cone acquisitions over the years. Yes, they did. And now their cones are the chassis under your chocolate Sunday. But Yetis, while you're thinking about maple or chocolate this evening, we're going to tell you about the dirty little secret of the ice cream business.

Oh, great point, Jack, the dirty secret about the ice cream business. Yeties, here it is. The cone is actually harder to make than the cream. Yeti's ice cream? It's an impressive feat of chemistry. give you that mint chocolate chip. That is not too shabby, my friend. But the cone. The cone is a combination of baking, engineering, and architecture. The cone, it is basically like the invidia of the whole ice cream industry, Jack. Joy has four, 500,000 square feet manufacturing facilities, pumping out cones every day.

Joy, they're basically like a Boeing factory filled with sugar. And wrap your head around this manufacturing process. Yeah, this thing, this is totally proprietary. They're going to mix the batter and then squirt that into their own cast iron cone-shaped mold. And then that batter is going to bake in the mold for about 100 seconds while the mold rotates in a 400-degree oven. Yeties, if you're running an ice cream shop, try pulling that off in the back office. Yeah, try squeezing that Manhattan Project next to the freezer. Sure, some ice cream parlors do waffle cones on their own, but honestly, that's a low-volume business. Most ice cream parlors dread the idea of having to bake their own ice cream cones. And that is.

why the ice cream industry outsources its cones. Joy doesn't dread it at all. For joy, it's a joy. Joy loves that monopoly. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Joy Cones? Familiarity can beat creativity. Yeties, the ice cream industry is unleashing some crazy flavors on us lately. That's the trend. Like Jack, I just saw a balsamic honey cookie dough flavor from salt and straw, I think. That's an outrage. But ice cream parlors are under pressure to differentiate with insta-famous flavors like that one. On the other hand, after 100 years, Joy still only makes three cones, cake cones, sugar cones, a waffle cones. Because Joy knows that the cone plays a supporting role to ice cream. Joy knows it should not be the Picasso on your

Froyo. Joy is the frame at best. Because consumers want a familiar cone so they can focus on the challenge of eating ice cream. And businesses, they also want familiarity. They want a reliable supply of cones they can depend on. So besties, Jack and I love celebrating innovation and creativity on this podcast all the time. But for ice cream cones and for joy, a hundred years of familiarity wins. When it comes to cones, boring is better. Now a quick word from our sponsor. Our third story is from November 17th, 2023, and it's on the post office. You got UPS? You got FedEx. But we all got the post office. They're everywhere. I love those vans. Great vans. I'd love to drive one.

Let's hit a check. Might want to update the logo, though. The U.S. Postal Service just shared its financial performance with us, and we got some numbers. So we're going to jump in T-Boy Stout to the business of the United States Postal Service. Greatest mailman of all time. Who you got in the list, Jack? We all got a list going on. Newman.

Newman. Remember this. When you control the mail, you control information. But the second greatest mailman of all time, who is that, Jack? The Postmaster General, a man named Louis DeJoy. Louis DeJoy Postmaster General, he's been running a 10-year turnaround plan for the entire U.S. Postal Service. And this business-focused postman predicted that this year, the Postal Service would break even. Well, he threw on some shorts and he delivered some numbers.

We jumped in T-boy style. And Jack, what number did they actually announce at the post office? Yeah, he was wrong. They didn't break even. They did worse than break even. They lost $6.5 billion. A post office lost $6.5 billion because revenue slipped 0.4% to $78 billion. $78 billion. That's a big business we're talking about.

Actually, Jack, can we sprinkle on a little context of these postal office numbers? That's slightly less revenue than UPS, a huge corporation. Or FedEx, another huge corporation. It's a lot bigger than like Goldman Sachs doesn't make that much money, right, Jack? Like, Netflix, they're not making that much money. The Russell Service makes twice the revenue of Netflix. But Yetis, they did lose $6.5 billion. So Jack and I had to figure out what were the reasons why?

And the first reason, total mail shipped fell by 9% last year. You're not getting as many love letters these days. You're mostly getting furniture coupons for 12% off your first order $500 or more seek terms and discount supply. Yeah, a lot of junk mail. The second reason, the amount of first class mail fell by 6%. First class mail, that happens to be the profit puppet. for the Postal Service. But Yetis, you can't understand the Post Office's business until we understand the

post office's history. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to the Post Office's history. Jack, take us back to 1776. The first ever Postmaster General of the United States was none other than Benjamin Franklin. Benny Franklin, the USPS, it turns out, is the second oldest government department in the entire country. And it's the only federal government agency. explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7, look it up.

Yeah, we'll pause the pod. Take your time. Don't look it up. Just count on Nick and me. We looked it up for you. Trust us. We spent a lot of time. Now, the first post office was actually behind a bar in a saloon.

So basically, in New Hampshire, you would go and get a drink at a tavern, and then, boom, you'd send a postcard after a beer. I think that was the first drunk text message, Jeff, technically, right? True, true. It was a message sent in text. delete that? And it makes sense that the first post office was in a bar, because historically, the post office was a broader community resource. For example, the post office also offers banking services, including money orders still today. Speaking of today, the U.S. Post Office happens to have

the largest vehicle fleet in the entire world. 200,000 delivery vans. That's more vehicles than the U.S. military has. And all of them have the steering wheels on the wrong side, Jack. Well, the right side, if you're a mailman. That's left right. And the right side directionally. Correct. Correct was the right word. Right.

And yet is this one is a doozy. We found this statistic on the United States Post Office website. According to the USPS, 44% of all the world's mail is delivered by them. 44% of the world's mail is delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Maybe that's why the Postmaster General is paid more than the United States Vice President. Full disclosure, Nick and I don't believe that 44% of the world thing, unless we're the only country that has junk mail. That would explain it. Newman respectfully disagrees.

But Yeties, anytime you think of the Postal Service, don't forget this. You own the Postal Service. That's right, because Yeties, this is the rare case when you are both the customer and the owner. All 330 million of us own the Post Office because it's a public agency. And even more impressive, the Post Office is the rare government agency. that is not funded by taxes. It's funded by stamps and postage fees. Now when the post office loses billions of dollars,

the taxpayers do pitch in, but for the most part, it's financially independent, isn't it, Jack? Because when you control the mail, you control information. Well, it's still not totally clear we need those zip codes. So, Jack, can you lick the back of a takeaway and tell us the takeaway for our buddies over at the post office?

Hold on. I just got a paper cut. Yeti, the U.S. Postal Service is not a profitable business, but it is a public service. Every year, the Post Office reveals its earnings, just like a public company would. And every year, people get mad because it's not performing profitably. But here's the thing, Yeti, the Post Office, it isn't supposed to run like a company. Like, it's supposed to do what a company doesn't do. That's actually the point of the Post Office. For example, the Post Office is present in every zip code in the United States.

Yeah, it's an essential service that serves the entire country where FedEx and UPS do not necessarily want to operate. The post office, they don't set prices to maximize profits. They set prices to serve the people. When it's not profitable for UPS or FedEx to open up in a location that's super remote, like the middle of Wyoming, they just don't do it. But the post office is legally required, too. So yes, the post office most years, they lose money. And we hope that this turnaround finds some waste and cuts it. But the post office, it isn't supposed to be.

business. Like a library, the post office is a public service. Because neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion. From being an unprofitable, but public service. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the 4th of July? NASA launched NASA Plus, a free streaming service giving you an inside look into space. Because before you can win dollars and cents, you have to win hearts and minds. For our Second story, two immigrants founded Joy baking company over 100 years ago. Now, they're the one company dominating ice cream cones. And Joy Cones' one strategy? Boring is better. And our third and final story. The United States Postal Service lost $6.5 billion last year on $78 billion

of shipping and handling. But the post office isn't a business. The post office is a public service. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by George Washington, from Virginia. Interesting. All right. We'll take it. What do we got, Jack? Trivia. What's the capital of the United States? Trick question, because it depends on what time you're talking about. You ready for this yet? Here's, the United States has had nine different capitals. Count them up. We're not talking one, two, three, four. We're talking nine different capitals in our nation's history. Nobody knows this. For give or take the last 200 years, it's been Washington, D.C. But in the first few years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, we actually had eight other capitals.

The first capital, we all know, was Philadelphia. That's where we've signed the declaration. We've all done the class trip down there. We've all seen it live. But did you know that Annapolis, Maryland, and Baltimore, Maryland also served as the capitals? Did you know that Princeton, New Jersey and Trent in New Jersey also served as the capitals? How about Pennsylvania, Nick? Talk to me, Jack.

York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania were both, for short periods, the capital. of the United States of America. In fact, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the middle of Amish country, was the capital of America for 24 hours. But who could forget New York City? It's true. New York City was the host of the first ever presidential inauguration of George Washington. Because yet is, when you're in the middle of a revolutionary war, sometimes got to move the capital a little bit.

And Washington couldn't get inaugurated in Washington because Washington didn't exist yet. Boom, Yetis, drop that on your weekend barbecue and just walk away. America, you look fantastic for 248 years old. What are you doing? You got some work done? Not too shabby. I don't know what you're doing, but keep doing it. In the meantime, Yeti's, the best way you can help grow the T-Boy show is to tell a buddy at a barbecue this weekend, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I.

Have you had the best one yet? And before we go, it's not just America's birthday. We've also got a happy birthday to Benson Pang, a Yeti in Azusa, California. Celebrating with their dad in Hong Kong for the first time in 20 years. And Ashley D. Berry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, can't wait to get married to Ben and is celebrating a birthday. Happy 25th birthday to Matthew Minnick in Durham, North Carolina. And his prefrontal cortex, which has now fully developed. And Sreeja down in Norristown, Pennsylvania is turning 32 years old.

And she's expecting a baby this. fall. Congratulations to Srijat and Cy. And congratulations to Christina G. down in D.C. who just finished her first year of business school. And a huge happy birthday to the Caesar salad. The Caesar salad, which turns 100 today. The Caesar salad. Invented by an Italian immigrant in a Mexican restaurant for American tourists. And spelled confusingly to make you think it's named after a Roman emperor. What is more American than that? I'm sorry, one sec, Jack. I said anchovies on this And to anyone else, celebrating something today. Make it a T-Boy.

Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, I own stock of Netflix.