The Best One Yet - “Disrupt the gas station” — Instacart’s pivot. Amazon Prime vaccine. EVgo’s gas makeover.

Episode Date: January 25, 2021

We saw a headline about Instacart over the weekend, but we rewrote a completely new one for them instead. To solve the vaccine crisis, we need Amazon Prime Vax. And EVgo went public because electric cars need charging stations. And it’s time for gas stations to be completely reimagined.$CRIS $AMZNGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. And this is Snacks Daily. It is Monday. Welcome back January 25th. This is the best one yet. TBOI, this is the best one yet. Should we just get right into it, Jack? How about we do that? There was one big headline we saw last weekend, Nick, about Instacart. Okay, funny thing. Jack and I think there should be a very different headline. So we wrote a new one. For our second story, our entire economy this year depends on getting you the vaccine as soon as possible. All right, so we got a new thing. Amazon Prime vaccine. I think Amazon actually announced that yesterday. It's basically our second story. Third and final story, Jack. EV Go just went public and it's got an electric charging station business. Time to completely redesign the gas station. That's what we're thinking. Long overdue.

But before we jump into that wonderful mix of three stories, Jack, you may have heard of the international seat vault. I haven't. I haven't heard of it. It is a thing, though. This is a real thing. It's actually located in freezing Norway. and it is the last line of defense for all of our food in the world. Apparently, this is a doomsday situation because all of the world's seeds for growing our food

are stored at this vault way up in Norway in sub-zero temperatures. It's like Noah's Ark, but it's not a biblical thing. And guess what just moved in down the road from the international seed vault? Snackers, this is wild. Get this. An Oreos doomsday vault. It's the same idea they're pulling at Oreos except for cookies, Not like a rare cantaloupe seed. No, that's true.

Snacker Nevedia Ashokin, he gave us the heads up on this thing. It's insane, but it is necessary. The Oreo Doomsday Vault is located at 78 degrees north by 16 degrees east on this world. You're going to have to get your compass out for the longitude and latitude, and it's going to stockpile secret Oreo recipes and thousands of Oreo cookies. Just in case, because Oreos, they're an essential item. They should be high on the list of things we need to preserve in the event of an apocalypse. Plus, the Oreos folks, they're thinking ahead here.

They wrapped the Oreos in Mylar, which protects against negative 80-degree temperatures and Vikings. Fruits, vegetables, grains are nice, but without frosting. Are we even a civilization? Jack, so true. Let's hit our three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about the hair ain't food.

It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you.

Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, Instacart just made two big headlines. Well, technically one headline. One headline you probably read in the news. The second headline is the one you're reading in this news. We made it up. Yeah, this is the one Jack and I came up with over the week. weekend. Now, Snackers, over half of online grocery delivery, that's Instacart. They're doing it.

Last year, the pandemic was a good year for online grocery delivery. Instacart's valuation jumped from 17 billion to 30 billion. All right, so Jack and I are prepping this pot over the weekend, and we notice that there's this headline floating around that everyone seems to like have the same headline about Instacart. Instacart cuts 1900 jobs, including every single employee that voted to unionize at Instacart. Honestly, sad headline. Sad to see about a fifth of this company losing their jobs in the middle of a pandemic, not a fun headline. And if Instacart retaliated against their 10 workers in Chicago that voted to unionize, yeah, that would be kind of messed up. Kind of messed up, kind of sad too. So then Jack and I started thinking, we actually think there's

a better headline here, headline number two. Instacart completely pivots its entire business model. That's right. Instacart completely pivoted its entire business model. You probably know Instacart as a gig tech company just like Uber basically. Connecting essential workers to inessential humans like Jack and me who are hungry. Instacart, you don't want to spend a couple hours at the grocery store shopping, so you pay an independent contractor through the Instacart app to do it for you. And for that lovely digital matchmaking, Instacart takes a hefty little cut of your grocery bill. That's why we were so shocked by Instacart's announcement last week. Yeah, we will be winding down our in-store operations. All right, Snackers, let that sink in. Instacart, a fast-growing company that

wants to IPO, just said they're winding down their in-store operations. Jack, shouldn't they be winding up those operations? Yet, this is a scaling company. I think they're supposed to grow their core business, Nick. Okay, so Jack and I jumped in Snacks. Went a little deeper into that press release. Notice they have a new service that they're calling partner pick. With partner pick, there is no Instacart gig worker roaming the aisles for you, squeeze in the peach to make sure that it's ripe. No, instead, with partner pick, Kroger employees may pick and pack that own peach that they had at the store, and then you would show up to grab that packed picked peach straight up curbside. Game stop, stock, pop drop. The grocery

store employees do the shopping, not the Instacart shopper. That's why we think the real story here, Instacart has a new business bottle. They cut out their own middleman themselves, the shoppers. They just want to provide Kroger's with an app, basically grocery as a service. That's one Instacard's doing. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Instacart? Before your company IPOs, there needs to be a good story to tell. Snackers, Instacart, they want to go public this year, but they're going to need a new story that they can tell investors, a good story. Nick, how about completely pivoting the business model to profitability? Jack, I like the ending of that story. Snackers, weaning away from the gig shopping model avoids for Instacart that whole controversy about

independent contractors and benefits and health insurance and all that. And simply taking a cut of the sales, that can be a highly profitable business if they're just the app. Uber is the OG gig company that still uses independent contractors and they have never made an actual profit. Instacart now has a story why it actually could. For our second story, Snackers, you probably haven't gotten the vaccine yet. Unless you're a nurse like my sister-in-law, but Amazon thinks they can solve that problem. Okay, serious situation. 400,000 Americans have passed away from COVID. So the government has a new goal.

In the first 100 days, vaccinate 100 million Americans. That's the goal. And if you're going to do that, it seems straightforward. Really like three simple things you've got to do. The first, you need delivery. You need to get the vaccines from the factory to the people's arms. Then, second thing you're going to need, you're going to need technology. Am I like eligible yet?

How do I get an appointment? Can I book this thing online? My mom said it crashed like 50 times in Manhattan. And third, you're going to need trust. Vaccines cause some anxiety to some people. They can be kind of scary. So you got delivery, you got technology, you got trust. Jack, Amazon kind of checks those boxes.

Delivery and tech goes without saying they're also, according to a poll from Morning Console, Amazon is the number four most loved brand out there in America. So that's good on the trust factor. So they can kind of hold your hand going through this thing. So Jack and I noticed over the weekend that Amazon actually opened a huge, vaccine clinic in Seattle at its headquarters building. Amazon should have called it prime Vax. That's what we're going to call it. Now, it was one day only. It was actually yesterday. And the goal was to vaccinate a whopping 2,000 people in that single day. Which is probably

more than like the city of New York managed to do yesterday. Probably. It's a sad situation. And for Jeff Bezos, he's hoping this is the first of many. Also kind of some good karma helps with this conscious. When you're the richest man in the world, you try to use your resources to help the world. So related to Operation Prime Vax, we also noticed that Amazon offered the federal government complete assistance in vaccine distribution. This is an untapped resource Amazon is. Totally. Nick, it has 650 physical sites in this country.

Yes, they do. Which are arenas of logistics and cardboard and conveyor belts and emptiness. Now, Snackers, we know what you're thinking. Wall Greens, it's closer to your apartment. Easier to get the vaccine. I'd rather just walk around the corner, hit that in the East Village. But one single Amazon fulfillment center can probably fill up the entire population of the county that you live in. Your whole town fits in Doc E on the left side of the facility.

But Snackers, as you know, Amazon is not UNICEF. No, it is not. No, it is not. So unsurprisingly, he also asked Joe Biden to designate all Amazon workers as top priority next in line to get the vaccine because they're frontline workers. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy? over at prime fax. The government was not designed to distribute vaccines. The private sector was. All right, Snackers, so far, you got two and a half million Americans who have been fully vaccinated. We're talking both shots, one and number two. For like two months into having the vaccine, that's not a good start. And it's probably because every state has been on their own.

And now we know that President Biden wants a national strategy, but honestly, the federal government not, was never really made for this, not really their thing. Well, if you need delivery, the U.S. Postal Service, Nick? Fantastic with ballots. Surringes, though? Slightly different than the letter to Nana. Okay, what about the military? I'm pretty sure they could handle

like 300 million syringes. Incredibly capable, incredibly efficient, kind of terrifying if we all had to show up there. Yeah, that'd feel like Marshall. So we are glad to see the government partnering up with America's most innovative, efficient problem-solving sector. Three words, the private sector.

For our third and final story, before you can have electric cars, this part is key. You need the electric charging stations. So we got two stories from two different companies approaching electric car charging two different ways. Completely different strategies. First off, Jack, we got EV-Go here. Electric charging network going public via a SPAC for $2.6 billion. EV-Go helps electric vehicles go with its 800 fast charging stations located in 34 different states. Oh, Jack, that number is not high enough for you. They're tripling it through a partnership with

General Motors. Okay, their competitive advantage. Their chargers are faster than Tesla chargers. You get 100 miles of charge and 25 minutes of charging. Like Coach Lars Tiffany always says, speed kills. And Nick, the company acquiring Evigo and taking it public has an aggressive name. It does have an aggressive name. Jack, you want to do the honors on this one? Climate Change Crisis Real Impact Number One Acquisition Corporation. Jack, it sounds like either a weapon or a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Starring Al Gore. And once this deal closes, which is probably in a couple months, the name of the company will change to EV-Go, and the ticker symbol will change from CRIS, what it is today, to EV-Go, what it will be in two months. That's the key with specs.

Now, that's what's going on with this public company, EV-Go. But the other company is still private, and it is called Volta. They just raised $125 million to continue expanding beyond the 23 states their electric chargers are already in. Now, for its competitive advantage, this is what Jack and I thought was so fascinating. Volta is a charge. station, that is not a charging station. Think of it more like a parking spot that happens to have a charger, but it's just a parking spot at like your favorite retail store. Yeah, charging, it takes a little time.

It's going to be 30 minutes until you get a full charge on one of these puppies. That's why Volta parks their charging parking lots right outside of like a J-Crew. So you can spend those 30 minutes while your car is charging, finding the perfect fit of jeans. And then get this Snackers. Then they can partner with the store that they're just outside of, because the charging station is also a giant screen. Yes, and on those giant screens, you're going to see promotions for the stores, like a 40% off Jay Crucino ad.

Because it's Jay Crew, they were already 40% off. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the entire electric charging universe? Nick, you and I have been saying this. Gas stations are so overdue for disruption. All right, Snackers, worst retail experience in our economy. The menu at the gas stations hasn't changed in like, three decades. Nick, you know I drove across country in 2018 to California? We snacked across the country. You were doing this from hotel rooms. We stopped at like 20 gas stations and not one of them had sparkling

waters, but they did have 11 different versions of Mountain Dew. Snackers, I'm going to tell you, Jack is not the same if he doesn't have a spin drift in his left hand. By the way, my funny bones never been the same since I slipped on a slim jam walking into the bathroom. The Clorox fumes get to you too. Snackers, the electric car revolution that is coming will create an interesting dilemma for the future of the gas station. Yeah, because on the one hand, most people won't visit them anymore. You're just going to, like, charge at home in your garage charger. 95% of your charges will be plugging into the wall of your garage. But on the other hand, if you've got a long road trip, you're going to end up having to spend like a half an hour fully charging your car.

And then you're going to drive like another 300 miles to another station. So Evie Go has a clean slate to reimagine what gas station convenience stores could look like very soon. Volta, they think gas station convenience stores should go extinct. Spend that 30 minutes while your car is charging at your favorite shopping place instead. Snackers, which one of those futures do you think it's going to be? Hit us up at Robin Hood Snacks. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to start the week? Instacart just laid off a fifth of their workers because they're letting the grocery stores bag their own bags.

Yeah, they got an IPO coming up. Instacart, though, now has a profit story that they can tell. Amazon has delivery skills, tech prowess, and the trust of most Americans. We're thinking Prime Vax. Prime Vax, that could be the solution this year. Third and final story, electric charging stations could look two different ways in the future. Snackers, take a moment, reimagine the gas station or a parking spot of J-Crow. It might just become a parking spot like Tripoli.

Honestly, it could just become J-Crew. Now, time for our snack fact today. This one sent in by an old-time snacker, Sean Danino from lovely Rosita, California. Danino, I met this guy at Michigan. A hundred years ago, Snackers, you could, order a fourplex, like a four-story apartment building, out of a series catalog for the inflation-adjusted price of $65,000. Shocker, I don't know how they went bankrupt, Jack. That's so strange. True. That seems a little underpriced, but still nice to know how affordable housing was 100 years ago.

Well, as some contexts we can sprinkle on in California right now, the median cost of producing one unit of affordable housing is between $600,000 and a million dollars. depending on the city. That's why my buddy Sean is working on affordable housing in California. Snackers, we love being with you to start the week. Remember, the best way we grow is if you refer one friend and then we double in size. It's the most simple truth. If everyone invites one snacker to join, we double in size. Where you just did the math, it just checks out. HY HYSD. Have you had your snacks daily? Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. And before we go, Snackers, happy birthday and congratulations to Emily Yaskovich.

who has taken her driver's test and had a birthday. Big shout out to Jeremy and Julia, who both just finished their GRE in San Francisco, California. And Nate Brown just got the new internship over at GEICO. Congrats to Adrian and Claudia for getting engaged in New Jersey. Emily and Dylan, they got the anniversary in Bloomington, Minnesota. So did Isaac and Francis in Orlando, Florida. Different weather, Sue and Drew bought a house in St. Louis, great names.

That is fantastic. And congratulations Benito Camelo for getting promoted and listen to Snobo. Max daily, 30 days in a row. Jack, 30 episodes in one day. That is an important correction. Thank you, Nick. Happy birthday, Asan and Bilal twins in California. Happy birthday, Zara Mez from the Marina District in San Francisco.

Great neighborhood. Charlotte Connolly, congrats in New Orleans. And Ivy Zelvey in Potomac, Maryland. And Rachel Mosley in Rose Hill, Kansas. And Christian from Providence, Rhode Island, where they do Dunkin' Donuts. Yes, they do. And Eastside Pockets. Jack, I own stock of Amazon, Nick on stock of Tripoli.

The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is not an offer or sale of a security. The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.