The Best One Yet - ✉️ “How much should I tip?” — N&J’s Holiday Tip rules. Nissan’s Honda hug. Databricks’ AI baseball championship. (And 1-800-CHAT-GPT).

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Americans are sick of tips, but Holiday tipping is universally loved… so we share our holiday tip rules.Databricks’ just had the biggest startup fundraise ever… because they put AI in baseball.Nissan & Honda may be merging… because the world’s biggest carbuyer stopped buying.Plus, we present “The 12 Days of Dupe-mas”.And we called the brand new AI phone number: 1-800-CHAT-GPTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Pez: The candy invented to stop smoking 🍬. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, December 19th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. Here's the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, well, this isn't a top thing. Stocks had their second worst day of the year.

S&P 500 fell 3% yesterday. The reason was the big Fed meeting. Classic. Our central bank cut interest rates yesterday, as expected, but signaled that next year there would be fewer cuts than we hoped for. More on that later in the pod. In the meantime, Jack, you're looking fantastic in your T-boy merch, and we've got three fantastic stories.

What's on today's show, man? For our first story, everyone is sick of tipping. Tipping except for one kind of tip. Holiday tips. So Jack and I will tell you who we're tipping this holiday season and how much we're tipping them. Three tipping rules. For our second story, it's Nissan and Honda.

The two Japanese car rivals are reportedly in talks to merge. Because the biggest car buyer in the world, has stopped buying cars from the world. And our third and final story is Databricks. Data Bricks just announced the biggest startup fundraise ever. $10 billion. $10 billion because Databricks used AI to win a world series in baseball. True story. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Jack, fantastic mix of stories. Love the pre-holiday mix. We just talked to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And we did. We did. We did. What did we learned, Jack? the 12 days of Christmas just hit an all-time high. The price of a partridge in your pear tree? That's up

16% from last year. Geese prices are up 15% compared to last year. Hens O'Lay, Jack, that's going to cost you 7% more this year than last year. What's to deal with all these birds? Let's blame the avian bird flu. I think it's the avian bird flu. Overall, buying all the things included in the song The 12 Days of Christmas will cost you $49,000 this year, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. An all-time high, but best. Besties, this is Jack and Nick. This is us right here. We got your back. So we just created a dupe list of the 12 days of Christmas. It's our first ever annual 12 dupes of Christmas. What do we got, Jack? On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. 12 Timu towels. 11 red lobster shrimp deals. 10 waymo's wandering. Nine McRibbs reviving. Eight techies trumping. Seven layoffs looming. Six Nike's tripping. Five goldman feet. Four AI chatbots, $3.00, epic doses.

And one cute top bot on Shee in. The 12 dupes of Christmas. You fantastic, filthy animal. Ho, ho, ho, merry duke mess. Merry dupe miss, Messies. Jack, let's hit our three stories. You can't forget about the Qtop can you. Years before this song, two boys from the northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet. but the best is anonaut is 50% that's a fat tip T-boy city on your at list if you know you know cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start to show first a quick word from our sponsor for our first story everyone thinks tipping has gotten out of control these days but there's one big exception to this tip revolt and that exception is holiday tipping so if you're thinking of tipping the people who've been good to you this year here's how you should do it.

We got to tip an algorithm. Yeties, over the last couple of years, we've all kind of reached a tipping point when it comes to tipping. The pandemic accelerated adoption of digital payment screens, which accelerated tipping. Yeah, because your iPhone is paying for everything these days, the result was tip creep.

Every barista, every store clerk, every cashier asks you for a tip at the end of the transaction. Just one final question before you go. 15% 20% or 45%? Yeah, for the pack of guns. I'm just going to turn the screen around here. It's going to ask you one simple question. But that tip creep led to tip fatigue, which led to a tip revolt. The farmer's market, it's got more tipping going on than turnips these days, Jack. So Americans have actually

reduced the amount they tip this year by 15% according to the data. And now a majority of Americans have a negative view of the tip in general. It's the tip revolt. The tip backlash. But there's one exception to all this anti-tipping sentiment. Get this, it's the holiday tip. People love the holiday tip. While day-to-day tipping is dipping, holiday tipping is increasing. According to a bank rate study, a higher percentage of people are tipping housekeepers, child care providers, dog walkers, and garbage guys this year than ever before. Now, why has holiday tipping bucked the anti-tipping overall trend? Well, part of it is just the timing. It's the simple math of the matter. It's only once a year that you have to give someone a holiday tip,

so it feels less like a financial burden you face every day. Jack has six coffees a day, that's six potential tips, 40% a tip, it can add up over that. There's also a special connection to a holiday tip. Right, because with a holiday tip, you tend to give to people who help you throughout the year. The kind of people who, to quote, cheers...

People you know. You got to know their name. You know your cleaner. You don't know that random barista. Jerry, how you doing? You look fantastic, by the way. Finally, there's psychology. It turns out with all the Christmas movies, decorations, holiday cheer, Mark specials these days, people are demonstrably and quantifiably more generous over the holidays. In fact, regular tipping rises during the holidays. Like in restaurants, coffee shops,

obers, taxicabs, the tips rise 4% in December compared to the rest of the year. So yes, holiday tips are rising, but that still leaves two big questions. Who do you tip? And how much do you tip? Well, Jack, we have a takeaway, but if you could just answer one question right here. Hope you enjoyed your service today. So Jack, what's the take? A takeaway for our buddies who are everyone tipping. Here's what we're tipping this holiday. Now, Yeties, first of all, let's bring on some context. Holiday tipping is optional.

If money's tight, don't stress yourself out. We should point that out. But if you are giving holiday tips, give to the people who've been supporting you and your family all year. Okay, so Jack, I basically have had three rules for holiday tipping going back to my 20s. Ready for these? What is that?

Okay, first of all, cash is king, but checks work too. Like, I love giving gifts. I'm a total gift guy, but when it comes to holiday tips, I'm always doing cash. It's a little awkward asking your UPS guy for your Venmo handle. Yeah, historically, I've actually done 1% of my income as the amount I give. Wow. In New York and San Francisco, though, you got a lot of dormant. That's highly generous.

It is, it is, it is. All right, second rule, I put the cash in an envelope because physical money feels better. That's a psychological study that shows physical money feels better. Do you write a card too? Yeah, and we do write a little card. And then we have a spreadsheet that we track all year, so we don't forget anyone the next year. Nerd alert. Okay.

All right, can I share my... What do you got? What do you got? So I am not nearly as systematic as you and my. But I like where you're going with this, Jack. All right, I'm giving my house cleaner one extra cleaning as a bonus. I'm giving my babysitters, one extra babysitting payment as a bonus. I give my hairstylist, one extra haircut fee as a bonus. Good way to do it.

Teachers, this is a tricky one because we don't pay Wilders teachers directly, but I appreciate them so much. So I get them $100 gift card to the best restaurant in town. Well put, Jack. Now, I almost tipped my therapist. But I thought that might cross some kind of line. No, he's going to start messing with you after that. She charges me enough anyway, as it is.

That's manipulation right there. And you bring up a good point, Jack. Like, our nanny, we're giving two weeks of pay to because she works with us on a daily basis. But, like, Garris, our awesome trash guy, he's amazing, but we're giving him, like a single flat amount, just like we're giving our UPS guy, Carlo, a flat amount. So I don't have a nanny, and I don't know my trash guy.

Full disclosure, I'm not doing nearly one percent. but I'm impressed by your generosity. But either way, Yetis, we got some rules when it comes to Tippin. So this holiday season, come up with your rules. This holiday season, do what feels right for you. For our second story, Honda is reportedly in talks to merge with Nissan, which would be the biggest car merger in history. Why? Because the world's biggest buyer has stopped buying.

Now, Jack, before we were college roommates, I believe your first car was a... Was it an accord? Was it a Honda? A white 1991 Honda cord. Manual transmission. Okay, what did this thing look like? Tinted windows because I was a dumb teenager and aftermarket rims.

It was a vibe. Can you unlock the car? Oh, wait. The handles broken. I got pulled over so many times because of those tinted windows. License and registration, who is in there? I got suspended before I met you. Jack.

Because of the tinted windows. It sounds like a story for another pod. Yeties, Honda. They make a great car. But not. great enough, according to a new report from Reuters. Honda is in talks to merge with Nissan, a company based just 19 miles away from Honda over in Japan. Jack and I jumped in T-Bois style to numbers. That means the number seven and number

nine carmakers in the world combined would be the number three biggest car maker in the world. If this merger goes through, Honda plus Nissan would trail just Toyota and Volkswagen in terms of numbers of car produced. It would be the biggest car deal in history. And that is something Nissan really needs. Nissan is struggling right now. If this went through, it'd be basically a bailout of Nissan. Yeah, because Nissan's profits fell 85% last quarter. Nissan is a company in crisis with their chassis. The Nissan Morano has rental car written all over. Yeah, it does. They haven't changed that thing in like 12 years. So, as you can expect, Nissan stock searched 24% on the merger news, hoping this will save the company. Even though it's just a rumor. But also,

Honda's been struggling too. It's true. Honda's not going through the best times. Honda stock price is lower today than it was 20 years ago when I had a Honda. It's like Jack and I have always told you. When the going gets tough, the tough get merging. And honestly, it looks like a desperate situation for Honda and Nissan right now. It does look desperate. And we have three facts about China that explain that desperation. And they are completely wild. When you hear these facts about China, you're going to sit down, stand up, and buckle up, three more times again. What's fact number one, Nick? Fact number one, Jack, is that more than half of the new cars sold in China are electric. Electric is the future. We know because China is halfway there already. All right, Jack, fact number two, 60% of Chinese buyers choose Chinese car

brands. Buyers in Beijing aren't buying American Fords or German beemers like they used to, and they're not buying Japanese Hondas either. And fact number three, last year China exported five times more cars than they did just three years ago. China exported four million cars last year. Bessies, when we were growing up, China used to import cars because they didn't make them. But now China makes the cars and they're a car exporter. A huge car exporter. Add it all up and Shanghai is the new Detroit Jack. Add it all up and that's a scary situation if you're a Japanese car company. Or frankly, any car company. So Jack, What's the takeaway for our buddies over in the entire car industry? The world's biggest buyer has stopped buying from the West.

Yet is over in Germany, Volkswagen is closing factories in their fatherland for the first time ever because of competition from China. It's such a hit on Germany's national pride that the Chancellor just got ousted. All right, what about in the United States? Well, Biden and Trump actually agreed to put tariffs on Chinese-made cars. They agreed. And in Japan, Nissan and Honda, historic rivals might actually merge because competition from China is that stiff. Besties, the global car industry is being massively disrupted by China's huge switcheroo in the car industry. From car importer to car exporter. And fascinating thing we noticed, it's not just about cars.

Chinese consumers are also buying less other American brands, like Nike, Starbucks, and Apple. Their sales in China are all down. So the way Jack and I see it, this is one of the biggest themes for the global economy that we're going to see in 2025. The world's biggest buyer has stopped buying stuff from the West. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Databricks, the AI startup, just announced the biggest venture capital fundraise of all time. Because Databricks won a World Series baseball championship using AI. True story, we discovered it. Yeties, it is a tough time right now. If you're trying to raise money and you're a plant-based meal

kit direct-to-consumer brand delivery startup. But it's an easy time right now to raise money if you're an AI anything. If you're an AI chatbot, not even a human, you can get Mark andresen to write you a check. Mark, I would like $15 million. Even though business cards kind of make you look old school, if you write AI on it, someone's going to hand you a check. A hundred percent of the time. Well, Databricks is the San Francisco-based company you've never heard of. that just pulled off the biggest fundraise in history. We repeat, a company you've never heard of, just raised more money than any private company before, thanks to AI.

$10 billion. Jack, could you sprinkle on some context, please? That values Databricks at $64 billion. That's right. It's one of the five most valuable startups in the world. It's worth more than DoorDash. It's like 10 lifts. And what does Databricks actually do?

They do AI. But what do you actually do, data bricks? The website says your data, your AI, your future. Yeah, it is, that is intriguingly ambiguous enough that venture capitals wrote Databricks a $10 billion check. But it's not enough for this podcast. So we're going to explain more of what Databricks does with an awesome example. Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style, and we found the best example in the history of humanity. Because Databricks used AI to help the Texas Rangers win the 2023 World Series.

That's right. Databricks basically deserves a World Series ring. We're just going to put that out there. They're actually bragging about it in a controversial billboard looming over San Francisco right now. Yeah, on this billboard, I can see this thing. They got a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, a rival to the San Francisco Giants, and he's holding a trophy. Because last year, the Texas Rangers won the World Series, and they used Databricks Insights for every element of the game. Yeah, as their CEO said, this was basically Moneyball 2.0 in real life. Because his company tracks the bats of every Texas Ranger to measure the launch angle, the velocity speed, and the distance.

They actually determined with Databricks the sweet spot on the Texas Rangers' bats where they should make contact with the ball. Now, you know where the sweet spot is. It's the big part of the barrel, but they got it down to like the millimeter, which makes a difference. It's inch six away from the tip, 25% down the bat. And then they told the players, and the players actually practiced standing closer to the plate or choking up a little, so that they're not.

the sweet spot would have contact with the ball. Now, interestingly, it's not just the on-field player performance. They also apply this to the off-field game financials. DataBrix analyzes the weather, the hunger level of the fans, and the spending data to optimize $1 hot dog night. That's right. For $1 hot dog night, they determined that because it was going to be cloudy and this many people would show up when the weather's like this, that's how many hot dogs they should actually order. DataBricks also says stuff like this. They'll predict that in six days, there's going to be a rain delay because of the weather. So the pitcher won't have five days rest. They'll have six days rest, which is valuable information if you're the manager

of a baseball team. Now, Eddies, this is correlation, not causation. But the same year they signed up with Databricks, the Texas Rangers won the World Series. We're not saying it. The CEO said it. He said they played a small part in the Rangers championship. Stay humble. Stay humble. Now, Databricks is the world's number two most valuable private AI company, and we've got a big takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in artificial intelligence? AI is like electricity. Yeties, AI, it can be hard to wrap your head around. Like, what industries are impacted?

Who's going to use it? How is it going to fit into our lives? But we think AI will be part of every business, every person, and every home someday. And honestly, the best analogy we've heard so far, it's Google's former CEO, Eric Schmidt, who said that AI is like electricity. Electricity was an innovation that is now part of every industry, whether that industry is digital or physical. I mean, Jack, like a product can't arrive to you without electricity being involved in some part of the process. Another example? The internet. It touches every product

and every service somewhere along the line. Well, similarly, we think AI will someday be an element of every business and every product too, like electricity. And an early proof point, AI played a role in the Texas Rangers winning the World Series. So, Yadis, if you're trying to understand who will use AI, it's everyone and everything. AI is like electricity. AI is like electricity. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Americans are tipping 15% less this year than last year, but holiday tipping is an exception. A holiday tipping, paying cash, put it in a card, and say thanks to the people who took care of you. For our second story, it's Honda and Nissan. They're reportedly in talks to merge,

and together they'd be the third biggest car maker in the world. Why are they merging? Well, the world's biggest car buyer has stopped buying Western cars. And our third and final story is Databricks. They just raised $10 billion in the biggest fundraise ever because venture capital wants in early on the AI boom. AI is like electricity. Someday, it's going to touch every part of business. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet.

Here's what else you need to know today. First, yesterday, the Fed cut interest rates across the whole economy by 0.25% courtesy of Jerry Powell. But the central bank forecast just two more rate cuts next year instead of four rate cuts, Wall Street wanted. And why are they doing that, Jack? Why fewer rate cuts? The Fed didn't say why, but it's probably uncertainty about Trump's economic policies. Tariffs and deportations, that could reignite inflation, so the Fed is showing caution before they lower rates further. And it resulted in one of the worst days on Wall Street in the whole year. And second, in one of the best days of the whole year, Taco Bell just made a poultry pivot. They're adding nuggets to the Taco Bell menu.

Fun fact, the founder of Taco Bell was actually a buddy with the McDonald's founders. Oh, it's a great story. We've been studying it. And now 60 years later, they're adding nuggets, just like McDonald's. Nuggets marinated in a jalapeno buttermilk flavor and coated in a mixture of bread, cums, tortilla chips, and calories. That sounds kind of amazing. Actually, right now, one quarter of Taco Bell dishes sold involved chicken. Is that so? Such is so, Jack. And finally, the Supreme Court has accepted TikTok's appeal. The Supreme Court will decide whether TikTok gets banned. On January 10th, the nine esteemed judges of the Supreme Court will start dancing on TikTok. I mean, they will hear TikTok's plea to not be banned. They're going to decide whether

the law that Congress passed is lawful or not. So the fate of TikTok is in the hands of nine people who are too old to know what DeMioram is. Now, time for the best fact yet, and this one is the wildest one we've ever done. Because yesterday, we noticed that Chat CheapT got a phone number, 1-800 chat GPT. It basically takes the chat bot and takes it from a computer screen to a phone. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to be the first ever podcast to call in to 1-800 chat-GTPT and talk to the chat bot. You ready, Jack?

Okay, here we go. Be reviewed for safety. How can I help you? Hey, chat chavit. It's Nick and Jack. How are you doing over there? Hey, Nick. You know, we were just talking about holiday tipping on our podcast.

Do you have any good rules or suggestions for tipping over the holidays? Holiday tipping is a great way to show appreciation. Here are some general guidelines. For regular service providers like cleaners, nannies, or hairstylist, extra tip or a small gift. For postal workers in the U.S., gifts are okay, but not cash tips. And don't forget about building staff if you live in an apartment. It's the thought and your relationship with them that truly counts. Interesting. So Chatsyptee doesn't like cash tips, Nick. Oh, apparently you don't like cash tips, Chad Chaptap. What's wrong? Look at the cash tip.

Oh, I don't have anything against cash tip. Okay. They're actually a common and appreciated way to show gratitude. I just mentioned that in the U.S., postal workers aren't allowed to accept cash tips. That makes sense. It'd be a federal crime. No, chat, GPT, that's so helpful. You know, you should listen to our podcast tomorrow.

It's called the best one yet. We're going to talk about this topic. That sounds fantastic. I can't listen, but I'm sure you're going to get to a lot. We won't hold it against you, Chad, GBT. All right, all right. Tips included, tips included. I guess they took that chat bot and put it on a phone line.

Yeties, you look fantastic over there. Jack, you're looking fantastic in those 12 days of dupe Christmas, too. The 12 dupes of Christmas. Are we going to get those Timo towels? Five Goldman Fees was my favorite part. Oh, never gets old. Yeties, tomorrow is actually our last regular pod before the holidays, but Jack and I have been busy.

We've been whipping up six bonus episodes for you to keep you company over the holidays. They're going to be wonderful. By the way, I'm going to the Bahamas on Christmas Day. Very nice. And Nick's traveling to Hawaii on Christmas Day. I am traveling to Hawaii. Both spending 1225 in the airport. Oh, we got to catch up on Hamilton, by the way.

And I got your gift coming in the mail. Can't wait to see it. In the meantime, Yetis, tell your buddies today, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. That's how we grow the show. Have you had the best one yet? Nick and I will see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. This is Jack.

I own stock of Ford. Nick own stock in Nike, and we both own stock of Apple and ETFs of the S&P 500.