The Best One Yet - 🥳 “Party Pooper with a Purpose” — Airbnb’s canceled party. Olive Garden’s unlimited hiring breadstick. Rivian’s Adventure Network.

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

Bad news for keg stands: Airbnb just permanently banned parties at airbnbs, because it’s down with a little friction. The Olive Garden just hit pre-pandemic hiring levels because The Great Resignation is becoming The Great Reversation. And Rivian just launched an electric truck charging network, but there’s 1 catch… you must love 14-mile out-and-back hikes.$RIVN $DRI $ABNBFollow 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 Wednesday, June 29th, and today's pod is the best one yet, Jack. T-boy for sure. And for the second day in a row, stocks fell yesterday. But also, Jack, for the second day in a row, today's episode is a T-boy. For our first story, we got some bad news for Keg Stans. Airbnb just permanently banned parties.

Because Airbnb is the only tech platform that doesn't hate friction. For our second story, Rivian is launching a charging network for their electric trucks, but with a catch. Yeah, you have to be into 14 mile out and back hikes. Yeah. For our third and final story, the Olive Garden just returned to their pre-pandemic staffing levels of 180,000 strong wine salesmen.

Yeties, the great resignation is becoming the great reversation. Can I get you a refill on that spaghetti and meatballs? Well, I did ask for the Parmesan 10 minutes ago, so let's get that first. Before we hit those wonderful stories. I love these three stories. This is the perfect mix, Jack. Great mix. Those tricky trademarks and crazy copyrights we've been talking about all week. Yetis, it's not just the word the that's been trademarked. It's not just Barbie pink or Tiffany Blue that's been copyrighted.

Yeah, get this. Things you hear, they're getting trademarked too. There are sounds in the airways that are legally owned by someone. We're talking about noises that are getting patent protection. This came to our attention because Yeti Daniel from Denver brought it to us on Twitter. Okay, so Jack, Jack, I jumped in T-boy style, Jack, can we talk about law and order? I'm thinking about thong-dung. Yeah, happens before every commercial. That's protected by the law and order, literally. Jack, what's going on with our buddies over at ESPN?

Da-na-na-da. Da-na-na-da. Yeah, that ESPN sound. It is trademarked serial number 75567156. You'll get a letter from Bristol if you try using them. Jack, what's going on with Homer Simpson? Don't! Or the Afflack Duck. Affleck! Or the Pillsbury doughboy. Who-hoo! Trademark. Trademark. Trademark. trademarked. You stopped using AOL Instagram messenger, give or take, 20 years ago. But here's the problem. If you say, you've got mail on a podcast,

you're going to get sued. Even intergalactic sounds that are protected. Okay, Darth Vader's breathing sound jack? That is 100% trademark protected. So is his lightsaber. B. Bebe, boche. I'm thinking we should probably copyright our cookie crisps I think we're overdue to copyright the cookie crisp jack. Can you whip one up?

Okay, Chris. Which means we got to trademark our takeaways too. Yeti's, more tricky trademarks and crazy copyrights coming tomorrow. In the meantime, besties, hit us up at T-Boy Pot if you got a couple we missed. Now, that's it. Every story. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm.

It's the best one yet, but the tis. 50%. That's a fat tip. T-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. Let's start the show. For our first story, Airbnb is pulling a party pooper.

No parties allowed ever again. But this is party pooping with a purpose. Ah, Jack, let's jump in T-boy style to the house party. When otherwise decent people go out of their way to make a mess. Yeah, it's like the morning after Tanya's 25th, and with each step, your sneakers are sticking to the stone tiles. The cans are clanging as you wade past all those wounded soldiers. Jack, nobody turned off the stereo.

your pet looks traumatized and there's something orange that's in the pool. Dibbs are not going to see what's in the pool. Honestly, who got that pool toy? Yeties, house parties are to homes as hurricanes are to harbors. They're damaging. They're damaging. Yeah. And that's why no homeowner wants their house ravaged by Sal and Sandy from Sigab.

And that is why every six-bedroom listing over in Austin has no parties in all caps right under the title of the listing. Well, now Airbnb is making it official. Airbnb just announced no parties, period, at any Airbnb ever again. The parties have been pooped. Vesties, this all goes back to August 2020 when Airbnb banned parties as a pandemic precaution, like a temporary thing. This was a test.

Here's what was going on. Bars and clubs were closed. So people were moving the ragers into like the Airbnb they rented out instead. Which were becoming super spreader events. So like the whole neighborhood was getting angry at Airbnb because of all these parties. Now it's two years later, Airbnb has looked at the data and they like the results of this test. Yeah, get this, yetties. Turns out complaints from hosts and neighbors around Airbnb's fell 44%.

Fewer noise complaints, fewer emails with subject line, what is that orange thing in my neighbor's pool? Definitely not a pool tie. So Airbnb just issued a PR release saying that the party ban is now permanent. Now, a ban is only as good as its enforcement. So guess who violate the party ban? are going to get suspended from using Airbnb. Jack and I jumped into the numbers. Turns out 6,600 Airbnb users have been suspended in 2021.

And if you violate a second time, you're expelled forever. Two strikes in your out. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies coming down hard over at Airbnb? For most apps, friction conflicts with growth. For Airbnb, friction fuels growth. Okay, Yeties, the goal of every tech app out there. eliminate sign-up friction. The more clicks it requires to set up an account,

the fewer people will finish setting up their account. But what Jack and I find fascinating about Airbnb is that their sign-up flow is the opposite of every other tech platform. It embraces friction. I've signed up on Airbnb as both a host and a guest. As a guest, you need to verify your identity. Airbnb compares your selfie pick

to your real government ID. As a host, Airbnb is committed to verify your property that you're listing and all seven million other properties listed on Airbnb. Honestly, they're even checking some of them on foot probably. Those are big investments in security that are expensive for Airbnb and have definitely caused some people not to finish setting up an account. But guess what? Hosts love that the guest in their house isn't anonymous and is actually held accountable by

Airbnb. And guests love that that three bedroom too good to be true ski condo and Aspen isn't too good to be true. It's actually that good. Besties, for most apps, sign up friction like Airbnb's that would kill growth. For Airbnb, that friction fuels growth. For our second Aldente story, The Olive Garden just said that for the first time in two years, it doesn't have a labor shortage. Good news for Tortolini. Not as good news if you're serving that tortellini. Top theme of the pandemic. Actually, before we even jump in, T-Boy style, Jack, when you worked at the Olive Garden. What was like the most annoying question

they would ask you? Anyone would ask you. Anyone hungry would ask you. Well, they'd say, can I please have the Tucson T-bone? And I'd say, it's the Tuscan T-bone. And no, we're out. So what was the second most annoying thing people would ask you? Okay. The second most annoying thing is, is there a limit

to how many breadsticks I can order? Well, the menu says unlimited, but apparently the breadsticks have been MIA for the last two years. That's right. Because every Italian restaurant from Naples Italy to Naples, Florida, has been out of wait staff the past two years. And it's all because of the great resignation that every media company loves writing an article

on every other week. The great resignation. People reevaluated their lives during the pandemic. They had fresh stimulus checks burn in a hole in their pocket. So they decided to find different work. Well, the problem of the great resignation, that persists today still. In the United States, we just checked last month. There was 1.3 million job openings, not filled in the food and high.

hospitality sector alone. But Jack, cut the carbunara. The Olive Garden just said it's back to pre-pandemic staffing levels. We're back, baby. Here we go. The Olive Garden, like most of the restaurant industry, it hasn't had enough workers to be running the kitchen and pumping out your posthos. But they confirmed on their latest earnings call. The CEO confirmed that they have enough staff for all the restaurants nationwide. Apparently the Olive Garden is staffed up and carboloaded ready to go. In the state of Massachusetts, because I'm on Nantucket right now, and so Jack and I went to the website. We looked at the job opportunities at the Olive Garden. The career page.

They have one manager position open in the entire state of Massachusetts. In the whole state of Massachusetts, which likes their pasta, there were only 13 server jobs without all. Okay. We're talking about the Olive Garden owned by $15 billion dart in restaurants, which also owns Red Lobster and Longharned Steakhouse. They're all back, too. But there's one stat about. hiring at Olive Garden that really just fascinated Jack and me.

The CEO said there's a lot of rehires. Yeah, interesting. Many of the recent Olive Garden hires that have happened are people who used to work at the Olive Garden too. We're talking ex- Olive Gardeners returning to the Garden of Olives. These people are people who know the difference between chicken Alfredo and Fettuccini Alfredo. And they're not going to go with the angel here. They know there's a spaghetti and there's a Capulini and you don't mix up the two.

The way the Olive Garden sees it, they're not. coming back because they miss the incredible wine selection that Olive Garden offers. No, on the earnings call, Olive Garden execs said that these employees who return are a little less comfy out on their own in a high inflation environment. They're coming back to the Olive Garden because they miss the fat tips from the party of six at table seven that ate everything. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our family over at the Olive Garden? The great resignation may be experiencing a great reversation. Yettys, who has power in the labor market, that is a pendulum that is constantly swinging.

Sometimes employees have more leverage, but most of the times employers have more. Well, that balance of power aggressively shifted over to employees during the pandemic. Workers could demand higher pay, higher benefits, and higher work-from-home perks. We covered it past two years. But that balance of power may be shifting back to the employers. It may be reversing because everything's costing more right now. The Fed is intentionally slowing down the economy. and we could have a recession coming.

So the Olive Garden, it's just one chain and one industry. But what Jack and I are noticing is they may be the Carbonara in the coal mine. They may be an early sign that the balance of power is shifting back from employees to employers. The Great Reversation. Now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Okay, so Jack and I got into the news business with our previous company. Markets now. Our goal was basically to democratize financial news for our generation.

Cut the jargon. Talk about the profit puppy. So when we first connected with Robin Hood, there was a chemistry there. We were doing for financial news what Robin Hood was doing for the financial system. Robin Hood was democratizing finance for all, and it started by eliminating trading commissions and building a beautiful app. Remember, we had the same color green. The green was destiny. Destiny, absolutely.

So we sold market snacks to Robin Hood, and we launched Robin Hood snacks. The equivalent of proposing getting married and building a family together in just three years. Much more to come on why we're thrilled that Robin Hood is our exclusive sponsor. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet to get started, you can go to robin hood.com slash T-boy and choose a free stock. That's robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply for a list of other fees. View the fee schedule at RBNh.c.co slash fees.

All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. For our third and final story, Rivian, the only electric truck company in the world is launching a new thing. and it's called the Adventure Network. Because you can't just know your customer, sometimes you got to celebrate your customer. Okay, so many stocks are down this much. It's just, it's down 80%.

They're down 80% since their IPO. Who isn't down 80%? Yeah, they did lose a billion dollars last quarter. But unlike many of the public EV companies that have spacked onto markets, Rivian has actually produced and sold a bunch of cars already. Now, Jack and I should sprinkle on a little context here this year. Rivian is going to make 25,000 pickup an SUV electric cars. Tesla is going to make 60 times as many.

Yeah, so Tesla's doing a lot more than Little Rivian is right now. A Rivian at this point is a bit like a hummingbird. If you see one, grab your camera as quickly as possible and take a picture. They're actually gorgeous. Send us a photo. We've only seen like two or three out. I've seen one in Vermont. Out in the wild.

They're rare, but they're beautiful. I've seen one. But Rivian is beating Tesla in one particular place. And that is the electric pickup truck. Because the cyber trucks, ETA is still TBD. Which leads to the big news that Jack and I saw yesterday, Rivian is not waiting for the government to build a nationwide charging network for its electric trucks. They're going to build their own.

But don't call it a charging network. Rivian calls this thing the Adventure Network. Because Rivian isn't just launching a charging network. Rivian is branding a charging network like it's Disney. Tomorrow, the first electric charging stations branded and owned by Rivian and exclusively for Rivian drivers open up in California and Colorado. But there is just one thing Jack and I should point out about these adventure networks. They're not putting stations where drivers live and work, but where drivers love to play. Yeah, the location of the Adventure Network is in like Yosemite and Death Valley and Sequoia really far away from your home.

Right. the first couple California ones, they're right in the middle of a bunch of national parks. Basically places where spontaneous hiking breaks out. Right. And for 20 minutes at one of these stations, you can fill up for 140 miles worth of range while you're like browsing your AllTrails app for your next hike.

Yeah, you got the Patagonia half zip on. You may as well be charging that truck. So Riven is turning a function, fueling up your vehicle, into a marketing opportunity, the Adventure Network. Because before you toss your now jeans and your REI, leaping bag into the trunk of that Rivian, you're going to want to look up, where's the nearest adventure network? Now, in terms of size, Tesla has 30,000 superchargers. They're leading in this

space. Jack, how many fast chargers is the adventure network? In fact, the whole Rivian network going to have. About a tenth is meant. Three and a half thousand. That's three and a half thousand nozzles you can plug into at 600 different locations. There's going to be three locations in Vermont. Just about as many Rivians as there are from one per person. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Rivian. We've all heard KYC. Know your customer. But it should be CYC.

Celebrate your customer. Yet he's practically speaking, Rivian should put their chargers in the high traffic, high-need locations. Chargers are most needed off of major highways and buy major intersections.

But identity speaking, Rivian is prioritizing with their adventure network what its customers care about most. Nature. We're talking weekend camping trips. That's why you bought a Rivian flatbed in the first place.

We think it'd be awesome, actually, if Rivian partnered with the national park system and equipped all national parks with Rivian chargers. Jack, that's like the next level of the adventure network. Like, they should be in Grand Teton and Acadia and all 63 national parks. Because Rivian would rather be associated

with customers' happiest experiences, even if those are less frequent experiences. Let others handle where I-91 hits the Merrick Parkway. Rivian isn't knowing its customer. It's celebrating them. Jack, can you whip up the untrademark takeaways for us over there? Airbnb has banned parties at all Airbnb's.

For most apps, friction conflicts with growth. For Airbnb, friction fuels growth. For our second story at the Olive Garden, they're fully staffed for the first time in two years. Yeah, what was the great resignation is becoming the great reversation. And our third and final story is Rivian. They announced the adventure network of 600 supercharging locations. Yeah, it's not KYC. it's CYCing. Celebrate your customer.

Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Tomas Bajo, long time bestie over on the north shore of Oahu. Turns out native Hawaiians and Polynesians have always had a unique view of gender. Yeah, in fact, Tomas told us that native Hawaiians historically have recognized males, females, and a third gender. A third gender that wasn't male or female, but somewhere in between. And that gender was called Mahu, and they were known to be healers, caregivers, and teachers in the ancient Hawaiian traditions. In Hawaii, they've always seen gender a little fluid.

Yeah, for hundreds of years, the Mahu were accepted and celebrated by the people of Hawaii. Passed down to Hawaiians today. Happy Pride Month to all the Yetis out there. Our LGBTQ Yeties and besties are the best yet. Just remember that whatever you do, you will get sued if we all giggle like the Pillsbury doughboy. Who-hoo! Jag and I will see him on. It comes so natural than me.

You can't end on a better night. It comes so natural. And before we go, congratulations to little Teddy and Lauren Kramer. They just had a new baby. The name is Winnie. They've got a new daughter. Greta's got a new sister. I've got another niece and they're all amazing.

And congratulations to a men, Silva, who just became a U.S. citizen over in California. Welcome him on. And congrats to Summer Chag, who's starting a new job in social media marketing in the great city of Philadelphia. And Mark Vincent's moving in with his brother Brennan over in Vista California. Congrats to Lily Kiesler, who just got promoted in L.A. And is celebrating at none other than Panda Express. And Justin Radamsky buying that first house over in Atlanta, despite everything Jack and I said yesterday. Justin must be a super millennial.

And happy birthday to a new Sedani turning 24 down in Austin. And happy birthday to Matt Podkinkin in Denver, Colorado. Congrats on that Stanley Cup, too. And happy birthday to Larry Oteza. in La Puenta, California. Who sent us the best fact yet once. And get this, Carly and Lindsay Berkwest, two sisters-in-law with the same birthday. You just don't see that.

And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb and Robin Hood. Now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. So four years ago, we sold our company and we joined Robin Hood. A lot of people asked, when did we decide that selling was the right move? So it was actually in our meeting with the co-ed. co-founders, that's what sold us.

Vlad and Bejou, also former roommates, also met in college. Also, we're hanging out in New York City's East Village after the financial crisis. And they just figured out how the financial system works. So, Vlad and Bejou saw that Wall Street bigwigs, they were getting their fees waived. And they figured out a way to waive commissions for everyone else, too. So we saw a big, bold vision and decided to join these guys. That's where we spent the last three years until now. It makes sense now that Robin Hood would sponsor our newly independent podcast.

If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, you can get started by going to robin hood.com slash T-boy choosing a free stock. That's robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply for a list of other fees. View the fee schedule at RBNhd.co slash fees. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or this podcast.