The Best One Yet - 🐾 "My Frenchie’s got a fever” — Modern Animal’s vet. China’s paper protest. Frontier’s vacation subscription.

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

Chinese citizens are staging once in a generation nationwide protests — And China’s Zero Covid Policy is infecting the world’s economies. Modern Animal just raised $75M to make your dog stick its tongue out via text message. And Frontier Airlines just borrowed from the Olive Garden, offering an all-you-can-fly pass for $599.$CHWY $AAPL $ULCCFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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. It's Tuesday, T-boy Tuesday, November 29th. And today's pod is the best one yet. I see what you're doing over there. I like it. It's a T-Bine. It's a T-boy.

Jack, what's our first story for the pod? Stocks are dropping after the biggest protests in China in 30 years. And it's all about a blank piece of paper. For our second story, we're looking at Modern Animal, a company that just raised $75 million for the next phase of the puppy economy. Oh, puppy's first eye engagement. And our third and final story is Frontier Airlines. Who's a good boy?

Who's a good boy? They just made two huge moves in travel. All right, six syllables, two words for you. Subscription, vacation. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix of stories. Honestly, I guess the syllables. I'm really glad that worked out, Jack. I wasn't sure about that one.

Black Friday. We just finished our biggest Black Friday for sales ever. We Americans spent a combined $9 billion on a whole bunch of of T-Ws. My favorite T-W this year was a Friolator. Yeah, the fri-Later. That's a T-I-W-U, a thing I won't use. A $79 T-W-W-W-for me, please. But the real winner of Black Friday wasn't Walmart, it wasn't Amazon, and it was not Target. The real winner of Black Friday was plumbers. Plumbers. Plumbers, plumbers got a Black Friday boom this year. Get this, Yetties. The biggest week of the year for the plumbing industry? All year long. Is this week.

And beginning on Black Friday, plumbers get 50% more calls than usual. They do. But you can't blame human waste. And Edna's baked yams were heavy, but they weren't that heavy. And you can't blame Black Friday like plumbing deals either. Yeah, because plumbers don't do promo codes. They just don't. The reason for the Black Friday plumbing pop is interested.

The reason for the Black Friday plumbing pop is your leftovers. It's your leftovers because you stuffed your sink with stuffing. Yeah, it is you cramp. casserole down the drain. You're in Sincorator, just said see you later. Bessies, if you push potato skins into those pipes, they're just not going to work. So, congratulations America on the record numbers, but Black Friday's not a shopping holiday. No, no, no, no, no, Black Friday is a plumbing paloosa, Jack. It's not about deals, it's about drains.

Less potpourri, more pipes. Get ready for more spaghetti. Let's hit our three stories. dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best. 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. For our first story, stock markets worldwide dropped yesterday. And it's all because of the protests in China. When China's economy is sick, the rest of the world coughs. Okay, Jack, you and I have seen China's government censor like a whole bunch of things. They censored a lot.

What they censored in the past week, though, was one of the strangest things we've seen. Okay, Yetis, get this. Everyone in the world, everyone in China, everyone across the planet is watching the World Cup right now. But in China, authorities cut from the local broadcast, any shot of the stadium that included the crowds in the seats. You can see Ronaldo. You can see the ball getting kicked around.

But you can't see the fans in the stands. And why is that check? Because fans at the World Cup in Qatar aren't wearing masks. And yet, everyone in China has to still wear a mask. And that's because of the zero COVID policy. So viewers in China could potentially be so triggered by these mask-free faces that they would get angry. That was the fear of the government. Because after three years of aggressive, draconian policies to have zero cases of COVID,

China just had a record number of COVID cases last week. Record number of cases. Get this. One third of China is living under a lockdown right now. Right now, 400 million people in China are forbidden from leaving their homes. Sit down, stand up, sit back down again. More people in China are locked down in their buildings than the entire population of the United States. For the Chinese, November of 2022 feels like February of 2020 all over again. People are stuck in their offices. They're stuck in their homes. They're stuck in factories for weeks at a time. And they can't leave. If you fly to China, you have to quarantine for eight days in a hotel.

But something changed last week that converted simmering frustrations into nationwide on the street protests. Okay, so this began in an apartment building, in Western China, where a fire started on a top floor. But the firefighters couldn't get to the fire to put it out because of the quarantine barricades blocked them from entering the building. So because of the quarantine measures, 10 people ended up dying. in this fire. Ten preventable deaths, it sparked anger that rapidly spread on social media that was directed at China's zero COVID policies. Now, typically, if bad things about China spread on Chinese social media, the government shuts it down. Immediately. Like posts are immediately deleted by an army of censors. It's not going to go viral. But in this case, China's censors

couldn't keep up with the massive volume of angry posts. And here's the amazing thing. To protest the censorship, protesters in China then started holding up blank white pieces of paper, like printer paper. Blank white pieces of paper. It's the ultimate protest against censorship. So what began as a protest against zero COVID is now a protest against the Chinese government and censorship. Nick, it's even bigger. People are chanting for the ouster of President Xi. And in some cities, they're chanting for democracy. We thought we would never see this because you go to jail for that in China. Now, so far, the government has not resorted to. physical violent repression of the protesters like they did at Tiananmen Square.

Like they did 30 years ago. But this week has become a moment of truth for not only China's zero COVID policy, but also for President Xi. It's a historic moment. And we're thinking about all the Yetis listening from China right now. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the world? When China becomes sick, the world economy coughs. Yeties, China's public health crisis is now a political crisis.

and could become a humanitarian crisis. And that means economic pain for the rest of the world. Because, Jack, what happens when the number two economy and number one growth engine of the world hits a crisis? U.S. stock markets fall, like they did yesterday. Because Shanghai closed its stock exchange. Oh, and oil hit the lowest price of the year yesterday. Because China's factories aren't pumping out Tewos.

And to pick one company, Apple stock fell by 2%. Because three out of four iPhones is made in shutdown. China. China's economy could be getting sick right now. So the world's economy just started coughing. For our second story, modern animal. It's trying to disrupt your local vet with vocal vets. Because sometimes the best thing in healthcare, you just want to text somebody. Jack, can we please? We've been waiting so, so long for this. Can we whip up our favorite four-legged statistic of the year, please? This is a huge four-legged stat. You're going to drop this this weekend yet. Since the pandemic, 23 million American families have introduced a wagging tail to their home.

If so facto, one out of every five American households adopted a pet in the last two and a half years, according to the ASBCA. And despite inflation, all 23 million of those pets are going to get pampered. Yeah. Pets are recession-proof because of our favorite acronym of all time. Puppie. P-U-P-P-P-Y. People ultimately prioritize puppies. Yeah. So the startup modern animal, they realize you're going to spend big on a dog toy. You'll probably spend even bigger for that dog's health.

And that insight, that is why modern animal just raised $75 million to expand their veterinarian membership club beyond California. 20,000 boozy beagles. 20,000 members are paying $129 a year to protect their puppy. Yeah, so, Jack, pets are the new kids, but plants are the new pets. Is that true? You're on to something. It feels like a tattoo. It feels like a tattoo.

Now, yet, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about this story. Modern animal, a bunch of veterinary clinics, has found the rare three-sided marketplace. They serve vets, pets, and also breads. Yeah, they serve breads. More on that last one in a minute. In the meantime, Jack, let's talk about the vets. The veterinarians. Typically, vets make more money the more expensive.

surgeries they perform. But modern animal pays veterinarians a salary. So like there's no incentive to do some surgery when your pooch just needs a pill. That's nice. And it also protects pets. Because modern animal claims they got more humane crates than like regular veterinarians. Puppies appreciate the beautiful succulents in these offices. Would it kill you to put a ficus over here, boss? But finally, Brett loves modern animal too. Brett, as in your buddy, Brett, human being Brett, one of the 23 million Americans we just told you about who adopted a beagle. Let's say Brett's French Fido has a swollen tongue. He'll be able to text modern animal 24-7 to get a response from a vet.

And Brett, the human being, wants a complimentary cold brew at every veterinary location. Which modern animal provides. Yeah, Brett's kind of needy. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies in the puppy economy? The best way to save money on health care, know someone you can text. Yiddies, the best way to avoid. Avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room, you gotta have a friend or a family member who's a doctor who you can text about that thing on your thigh.

My aunt Sarah. Yeah. I've texted her about that thing on my thigh. And my mom's texted her about all my brother's things on their thigh. I texted her about a thing on my thigh. She didn't even know how I was, Jack. In fact, yeah, he is one of the biggest ways to unburden the healthcare system is text messaging. Yeah, one medical offers it for people and modern animal offers it for puppies.

So your poodle pooped something weird today? Yeah, it's weird. You can quickly text a vet, and that helps all three of modern animals users. The ability to not come into the clinic, that saves Brett money, and the veterinarian saves time and resources. And it saves Fido and nervous drive to the doctor's office. Because the best way to save money in health care, it's simply someone to text. It might just be it, Sarah. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood.

You can do just about anything from your phone, but some industries, they've just been slow to move. The finance industry was slow to move from phone to computer and then from computer to app. Robin Hood wasn't. It's the Silicon Valley-based brokerage that's been updating app since it was born in 2015. Using the Robin Hood app for your stocks and crypto is almost as easy as downloading it. So you can invest to your pace on your terms by downloading the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash TBOY limitation supply. Stocks are offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC.

Crypto offered through Robin Hood crypto. All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, Frontier Airlines, Frontier Airlines, just made honestly one of the biggest changes to the travel industry. Jack and I have seen all year long. Frontier Airlines just offered the first ever.

flying subscription. It's subscription vacation. Wait, can you tell me about that phone call you had with Delta Jack? So we're in New York City at the Old Town Bar and we were done celebrating the winds. We were excited. I was in bathroom. But my flight wasn't until 10.30. And that was like later than it had to be. So I called Delta. They said, we can book you earlier, but only if you sit economy. Okay. So what did you end up doing? And I was like, fine. They said, oh yeah, we're also going to give you a $79 credit. I was like, that's good, right? They're like, yeah, that's good. So I'm like, book it, of course.

Then I immediately got upgraded to first class. It was like a win, win, win, triple win. I thought this was going in an entirely different direction. Nick, we had a new win to celebrate. I shouted representative, and they're like, we're right here. Jack just got unobtainium status on Delta somehow. Yeties. Now, calling customer service on Delta, it worked well, it worked very well for Jack.

But that is no longer possible on Frontier Airlines. Frontier Airlines just killed their customer support phone number. Last week, Frontier literally got rid of their customer service line. Like, no more jazzy hold music. That's gone too. If you say representative, there is no representative anymore. Wait time, infinite? Are you kidding me?

So if you want to angrily call Frontier and demand a refund for your lost luggage, I'd like to speak to the manager. You now have to go to their online chat. It's your only option. But Gettys, that wasn't the only big move that Frontier made last week. They actually made something even bigger. They introduced the all you can. fly pass. For $599, you can now fly anywhere in the United States anytime on Frontier Airlines.

It's called the Go Wild ticket. 599 bucks here. It's the price for the first ever flying subscription. Basically what Jack and I are saying is that Frontier just took the business model of the Applebee's breakfast buffet and stuck it on an airline. Olive Garden's unlimited never-ending pasta but unlimited knees getting crushed in the middle seat in row eight. Now this subscription vacation, it starts in May, $599,000. Then you get a seat on any frontier domestic flight and you just pay one penny. That's it. Now, we should warn you about the fine print.

Yeah, like, remember when we said you can fly anywhere, any time? You can't fly holidays. And you can only book one day before the flight. All right. So, Jack, like you could fly to Waikiki or you could fly to Winnipeg. It depends which plane has an open seat at 14th. And on top of that, you still got to pay the famous Frontier fees. Oh, yeah, the bathroom fee, the bag fee, the change fee, the fee, the fee fee.

The fee fee fee. Now, regardless of any of this, Frontier is still getting creative, and we appreciate that. And the stock's up 50% in the past three months. If you live in a Frontier city with like a Frontier airport, honestly, that can be pretty exciting. Live dangerously. You're wild. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Frontier Airlines?

When will we hit peak subscriptionation? Yet he's one of the biggest changes to your wallet. In the last 10 years, it's the subscription model. Instead of buying things outright, we pay every month for access to that thing instead. You got Amazon Prime, Netflix, rent the runway, and that once a month smoothie startup that your buddy referred to you with a coupon code. At some point, I don't know when, too many subscriptions is going to be too much. At some point, the subscriptions aren't cost effective.

They're too many, too much too saturated. HBO Max, Kulu, and Apple TV Plus. And the Frontier Airlines vacation subscription? Nick, I get dog food delivered monthly, vitamins delivered monthly, college and creamership monthly. At some point, consumers are just going to get too saturated with subscriptions. Subscripuration. It's probably coming.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Chinese citizens are protesting against President Xi's aggressive COVID-Zero policy. If China's economy is sick, the world coughs. For our second story, modern animal. They're growing a membership to their veterinary clinics. The best way to save money in medicine? It's just texting. Thanks, Aunt Sarah.

Our third and final story is Frontier Airlines. They just launched an all-you-can-fly subscription for $599 bucks a year. Subscrippsuration? When are we going to hit it? Thanks for the text back, Aunt Sarah. Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one sent in by Al Rubio in San Antonio, Texas. The perfect pocket.

It's not the front right pocket, actually. No, Yeties. The perfect pocket is actually the tiny little. little front right pocket within your front right pocket in your jeans. You know how your pocket has that little pocket? I know that little pocket. I know that little pocket. That tiny little pocket was invented by Levi Strauss 150 years ago.

And here's why. 150 years ago, workers used to carry pocket watches, a little watch on a chain they needed to put in a pocket. So in 1873, Levi's introduced the tiny pocket just for those little pocket watches. And now we don't use them. We ignore them today. And now they just confuse us. And today sometimes you awkwardly.

stick a finger in there. It's weird. Yeties, you look fantastic today. And if you haven't yet, remember to do two things. One, thank your plumber. And two, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Have you had? Aunt Edna's Yams. If you know, you definitely know.

And before we go, congratulations to Winston, who's a good boy? Because he's a French bulldog who won the National Dog Show yesterday. And happy 22nd birthday to Brandon Zew and Ann Arbor. River, Michigan, go blue. And Justin Hampton, happy birthday in Denton, Texas. Happy birthday to Christopher Harrison. Listening in the shower right now,

don't slip in Denver. And a happy birthday to Kate Brink from just outside of Boston, but celebrating in Paris. And congratulations to Jen and Dan, who just got engaged in beautiful Boise Idol. This is Jack.

I own stock of Amazon, Levi's, Netflix, and Disney, and Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Robin Hood. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Like rule number one about a kitchen renovation. Tell your friends about your kitchen renovation. We know the cabinets are expensive. Well, in the pandemic, a lot of companies renovated their businesses focusing on apps and digital. Robin Hood didn't have to. It was built digital from the

start. Robin Hood's mobile first and intuitive design makes investing a little easier for every stage of your investing journey. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto, you can do all that right on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, To get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinood.com slash T-B-O-I. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.