The Best One Yet - 🎒 “Revenge backpacks” — Tesla’s round-up marketing. Oreo’s cakes. Walmart’s anti-innovation.

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

Mondelez is turning Oreo’s from cookies into cakes because snacking evolved to indulging. The government probe into Tesla’s self-driving could be the end of Elon’s “round-up marketing” fun. And Walmart’s 4 highlights right now are parties, pants, potatoes, and backPacks, but it just lost its legendary crown.$TSLA $MDLZ $WMTGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformLearn 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 Wednesday, August 18th. The Dow fell 300 points yesterday. A blue bottle cappuccino is up to $26, Jack. Coffee prices, they're the worst. You really like expensive coffee, Nick.

I don't even like the coffee in it. I just, I like the cream. More important, Snackers. There are three more pods, including this one. Yeah. So Nick and I take a two-week vacation. Jack, I already miss you. I already miss the Snackers.

Snackers, while we're gone, definitely check out Robin Hood Snacks's daily email newsletter. Yes. Robin and Snacks Newsletter. In the meantime, we're making this pod the best one yet. For our first story, Tesla, the stock has fallen 8% since federal regulators launched a probe into autopilot. Yeah, that was a mouthful, by the way. That was impressive. Elon does three things. He does space. He does doge coin, and he does rounding up. For our second story, Mondalise is turning Oreos cookies into Oreos cakes, donuts, and cupcakes.

Delicious because snacking has evolved into indulging. For our third and final story, Walmart, hit record sales last quarter on vengeful back-to-school spending. But it just unofficially lost, it's number one crown. Snackers, before we hit those three wonderful stories. Wonderful mix today, Jack. Really good mix. There is a secret, hilarious club working from home. Okay, true story here.

It's double working from home. That's the club. According to wonderful reporting by the Wall Street Journal, some people are secretly working two full-time jobs at the same time from home. And here's the kicker. They're doing it without telling either job. I guess the philosophy here is don't excel at your one key job. No, no, no.

Instead, be just good enough at two jobs to not get fired by either. So this way, it gets to work the same number of hours. Yeah, but you get paid, double the pay. And because you're not at the office, you just have to toggle between laptops and you're good. Yeah. Jack, here's my favorite part. No one's ever seen you in the flesh, so no one really even knows who you are. Right.

So you're living like a Mrs. Doubtfire double life. Exactly. But like instead of putting on the wig and the makeup and all that good stuff, you're logging in and out of like different Gmail accounts, two Gmail accounts. Don't accidentally enter a GM Zoom meeting with your Ford account. Be careful with your LinkedIn. Jack, can we talk about that guy? You know the guy I'm talking about.

Yeah. One guy who's kind of a legend at this point, he posted on Hacker News that he maintains at all time since the pandemic about 10 different engineering jobs all at once. That's right. He said that oversight is so low. He can coast for about four to eight weeks before a given job fires him. His words. And then when he gets fired from one of his 10 jobs, he gets a new one to keep it at around 10 jobs.

You got to love that. Jack, we should point out that double dip working may not be illegal. But it may violate a company policy or two company policies in this case. Now, if you are double dipping and you have two Zoom meetings, scheduled at the same time. We got your back. We'll tell you what to do. Here's what you do. You got to have a list of excuses handy.

Oh, man, I'd love to join, but I have to finish this deck by the end of the day. Oh, shoot. I'd love to join, but my internet just isn't working. Oops. I just poured water on my computer. We'll sink async after. A-sync. Let's in our three stories.

You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers. The snacks about to hear rain food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the rob of her family. It's all informational. You know, we're not recommending any securities. Nope.

It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, Tesla's autopilot is under investigation after like repeated, bizarre, kind of strange accidents have been happening. The cause could be Tesla's round up marketing.

Roundup marketing. Jack, can we talk about that? the A word, the autopilot here. Take us back. Well, I'm thinking Leslie Nielsen, 1980 flick airplane. I love where you're going with this. That movie defined the cultural meeting of the word autopilot. The pilot gets sick. He has the food poisoning, flicks that switch. And a little co-pilot inflates like a balloon and starts flying the airport. There you go. Tesla's autopilot, slightly different situation than the 1980 movie. Tesla's autopilot is safety and convenience features built into a Tesla to make driving it easier.

And we've said it before. We'll say it again. Date night snackers, you take them out and you do a Tesla test drive and you just put the thing in autopilot. That's a date night. Pretend it's yours. You just pretend it's yours. It does the driving. Now, Tesla's autopilot will accelerate and break for you.

And it will also turn the wheel to make sure that you stay in the same lane cruising safely on the highway. So, Jack, what you're saying is the highlight of owning a Tesla is never actually driving the Tesla yourself. Right. Autopilot is like an advanced version of cruise control, and it appears the autopilot function doesn't always work. Snackers, that is what brings us to the old national highway traffic safety administration organization that is desperate for an acronym check. The old NHTSA.

They just launched this week an investigation into Tesla's autopilot. All right, so this was triggered by like 11 crashes involving Tesla autopilot going all the way back to 2018. All 11 crashes involve stop vehicles where a first responder, so like a police or ambulance, was helping somebody on the side of the road. And despite like the flashing lights and the big red cones, autopilot Tesla's collided with something in those situations. And 17 people were injured in these 11 accidents, including one death.

This is serious stuff. Now, here's the other surprising thing, Snackers. This isn't the first investigation of Tesla going on with an acronym organization. Yeah. There's actually 30 ongoing investigations, and they all get headlines because everyone's like, oh, did you see Tesla autopilot? There's an accident. Everyone's mom has pointed this out to them. But this is the first investigation focused entirely on Tesla's autopilot system. Right. The other ones are on one-off accidents that autopilot was involved in.

So the old NHTSA, they had the power to enforce a recall of Tesla cars or even require complete changes to Tesla's marketing strategy. And that could mean changes for each and every Model S, X, 3, and Y sold since 2014. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over Tesla? Tesla is practicing Roundup marketing. Roundup marketing. Snackers, Autopilot does not turn a Tesla into a self-driving car. Dirty little secret about Tesla. But Tesla's website might make you think it does.

Yeah, Snackers, we popped over to Tesla.com slash autopilot. Boom. You got a video of a car driving itself. It's a straight out of Hogwarts. Now, there is a human in the driver's seat in that video, but that human is not touching the wheel, not touching the brake pedal, not touching the gas. The car drives itself. Now, here's the thing about self-driving stackers.

There are actually five different levels of self-driving. That's according to the SAE, an international industry group that defines these things. And this Tesla video, it shows like level four or level five drive. We're talking like the top level level. levels of self-driving going on. And that's why we're calling this Roundup marketing, because autopilot today is only level two, according to TechCrunch, Forbes, car and driver, and others.

So Tesla's like level two self-driving. That's basically an advanced cruise control that has like an extra college degree. Tesla does say on their website twice that supervision from the driver is needed at all times when autopilot is engaged. But despite all that, There are entire communities on YouTube and on social media of people violating all those Tesla supervision rules.

There's a video of some guy napping while autopilot drives his Tesla and it's got 19 million views. Tesla's autopilot marketing is rounded up marketing. And this probe could force Tesla to have to change that. For our second story, by the way, do you dip in the milk or not dip in the milk? I'm sorry, what? Did you dip in the milk or are you not going to dip in the milk, Jack? Crookies? Yeah, I'm a big time.

I actually, I put part of the cookie in a spoon and then let the spoon in the milk. You need like a spotter. It's like an engineering degree to pull that off. It keeps it clean. It's a trick question. You get two cookies. One goes in the milk. One doesn't go in the milk.

I'll tell you, I love these spontaneous pre-story questions if they're on it. Second story, Jack. Mondalese just realized it's a hundred and nine-year-old Oreo cookies aren't making enough money these days. So Mondalise is teaching Oreos cookies how to become cakes. Chicago's Mondalese, $90 billion company that doesn't do logistics, but they feed the people who do logistics. Mondalese loves itself a good cabinet and it dominates those hard-to-reach shelves. It does. And Mondalise basically has three types of businesses.

First, it's got snacks. Ritz, crackers, wheat thins. Then it's got candy. Dour Patch Kids. And then it's got its third, more snacks. I actually wouldn't call Chips Ahoy or Tate's cookies snacks. Those are indulgences. It depends on your mood.

But Snackers, in May, Jack and I noticed that Mondalise, this big candy company, acquired a European quassant and cake maker called Chapita. Great pronunciation there, Nick. Cakes and cuisoles are soft-baked goods, and Mondalese is known for hard-baked goods. Pretty good pronunciation there, Jack. That was a sea. Turns out, Mondalise wants its deep roster of chocolates and cookies and baked goods to become cakes. In their latest earnings report, Mondalise explained why. Oh, yes, they did. Snackers, it all comes down to price, proximity, and competition. I was hoping for three peas, too. On the price side, turns out cakes and pastries sell for way more than cookies do. Yeah, the revenue per pound, way better. You pay a premium if you think about it for like the celebratory nature of a stack of sugar and carbs, right, Jack?

You do. You can't stick a candle in a cookie. Just want to put that out there. That's another great point, unless you put frosting on it first. That's true. Or you turn the Oreo the other way. On the proximity side, pastries and cakes are, and I quote from the CEO, closely adjacent to Mondalese's core biscuit capabilities. Huge benefit for their fixed costs. Same machines are going to make a cookie and make a cake. All you got to do is just like change what ingredients go in there. Finally, the competition landscape looks good for Mondalese. When it comes to cakes and the whole like big baked industry, the number one and number two bakers are just 10% of the whole cake industry.

That's it. It's a fragmented market. and Mondalese thinks they can beat the mom and pop bakeries out there with their well-known brand and their ruthless corporate efficiency. And through this one acquisition, Mondalise is already Earth's number three cake, bacon, pastry maker jack. And they've already started. Mondalise has turned their Milka and Cadbury cookies into brownies and cakes.

Uh-huh. And their next move, Mondalise is going to take Oreos and come out with Oreos cupcakes and donuts and potentially Oreos waffles. The soft of the treat, the heart of the profit. So, Jack, I love that. What's the takeaway for our buddies over at Oreos and Mondalese? Snacking has evolved to indulging, and Mondalese noticed. Snackers.

Snacking, I feel so good. Snacking's traditionally been a little bit of food between meals. It's strategically the before and after lunch periods. But the pandemic has us home with nothing to do but eat. That's right. So snacking has evolved into a new thing, indulging. That's why Mondalise's cake business is growing faster. than their snacks business right now. And we're seeing this elsewhere, too. Ice cream sales,

they've boomed by 16% in 2020. We're also seeing it on the stock market. Krispy cream IPO their donut business and McDonald's just announced their first donut business. So snacking, it's evolved into indulging and Oreos noticed. For our third and final story, Walmart had an epic 2020 and they just revealed an epic err, 2021. But comparing Walmart to Amazon is apples, and oranges. Oh, Jack. I feel like we could have done more alternative fruit. What do you think?

Pineapples and Clementines. Well, saying Apple, does that trigger your stock disclosure? Oh, yeah, this is Nick and I own shows of Apple. Snackers, Jack, how big is Walmart and it's $141 billion in quarterly sales? Can you throw some context on it? Sprinkle it on. Every week, 220 million different people head into a Walmart somewhere. All right.

That would be the fifth biggest country in the world, Walmart's, stores. Walmart's biggest sales division is fresh groceries. Yeah. And those fresh groceries are the biggest grocer in the United States. Walmart is so big. How big is it? They haven't suffered from shipping problems like a lot of other companies this year. You know why Snackers? Because Walmart charters its own ships. There are 4,740 U.S. Walmart locations with 90% of Americans living within 10 miles of them. I just want to go back to this for a second. They like called up a Carnival Cruise and they had it move in Walmart goods like between here and China, Jack. The SSS.S. Waltom. This company is such a giant. It is a proxy for U.S. consumer spending,

we think. Yes, it is. And so when we look at the latest earning support from Walmart, Jack, how would this have been summed up for the May, June, July quarter? Walmart exec said it themselves, Americans are coming out of hibernation. That's how they put at Snackers. Online growth massively slowed at Walmart. We should point that out. But that's because people were going in stores again. It was like the Magic Kingdom. Uh-huh. There was a lot going on there. And Jack, can you share with us Walmart's bestsellers from this epic or quarter of all time? Luggage, yeah, party supplies. Okay. And clothing. So what you're telling me is someone goes into a Walmart, walks out and then flies to a nightclub in Panama City Beach wearing their newest romper straight from Walmart. Walmart is everything in that transaction. Walmart had to tell. Back to school sales are also blowing up, but these are revenge back to school sales.

because these parents have a $300 month child tax credit. Oh, yeah, backpacks sales surged last quarter for Walmart. Not too shabby. You're a fourth grader. You haven't seen your classmates in second grade. You have to look well backpacked. You're going to show up with the Jansport that's like triple XL with triple Lisa Frank on this thing. If it's not got a built-in lunch pack with a built-in ice pack, I'm not wearing it.

Can't sit with us. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Walmart? Huge milestone just happened. Amazon passed Walmart this quarter as the number one company in America for sales. Snackers, let that sink in. For the past eight years, Walmart has been number one on the Fortune 500 list, most sales of any American company by far. And technically, Walmart will remain number one when Fortune comes out with their list next year.

But funny thing, that's only because Amazon counts its sales differently than Walmart. When something is sold on Amazon.com by a third-party sales, seller. Yep. Amazon only counts the tiny fee that they take as part of their revenue. So that undercounts Amazon's revenue compared to how Walmart counts its revenues. Our buddies at the New York Times just adjusted Amazon's revenues. Adjusted.

So that we could have an apples-to-apples comparison with Walmart's revenues. And by that measure, Amazon just passed Walmart as the number one company by sales in the United States. Jack, can you whip up our Wednesday takeaways over there? Tesla's autopilot is the focus of the new. investigation. Oh, I love this. Tesla's Roundup marketing, such a great term, could be the cause. Mondalese is a hard biscuit beast historically with snacks like Oreas. That was delicious, Jack. This Prince of the pantry is evolving to cakes.

Walmart is still technically number one in America, thanks to revenge backpack spending. Adjusted, Amazon just passed Walmart. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by legendary snacker, Srinnie Sankar, from lovely Boston message. Maine is the world leader in Maine lobster catching. Yeah, and the oldest lobstermen in Maine, catching lobster isn't a man at all. No, it's a lobster woman. Her name is Virginia Oliver, and she's 101. And get this, three days a week, she heads out at 3.30 a.m. each morning. That's not the break of dawn. That's like three hours before the break of dawn. And Virginia is so old that her son steers the boat, and he's 78 years old, one of the oldest lobstermen in the

whole area. This is definitely the oldest lobster tag team in the world. There's two claws to every lobster. Snackers, you look fantastic. And remember, if you're going to double-dip your work from home, just pretend you spilled water on one of your computers. Shoot! You're going to have to send me the notes for Nicole. Thanks for snacking. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. If you know, you know. And before we go, happy birthday to snack or Heather Nicole in Ewing, New Jersey. and Monica in Rockford, Illinois, and Brian Bonk in Rogers, Arkansas. And Maggie Dong in Kings County, aka Brooklyn, aka New York City. And Kimmy G. in Longmont, Colorado.

Safe travels to Jake White, who's just finishing up a fully-vaxed world road trip to a dozen different countries. Incredible because you can't drive across the world. Very curious how he was doing. My money's on the hot air balloon. Ali Garreeli, after two years, finally got the job at McKinsey. Inzy, congrats. Congrats to Devin Garner, who also got a new gig in Chicago in Logistics.

Ooh, and Mark Santorina just had a baby boy named Elon Marcus in the Philippines. Happy anniversary to Ricky Martinez and Ariana Medina in Garden Grove. And Aaron and Lex just had a birthday, an anniversary, and a new job in Portland, Oregon. Congrats to getting hitched to John and Becca in Raleigh, North Carolina. And Kenny Soto launched his own podcast over New York City. Happy engagement to Mike and Vanessa and East Boston. who started snacking together on their first date. Jack and I don't want to take credit here,

but we don't want to not take credit here. Anybody else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. Robin Hood Snacks, newsletters, and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and do not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

They are meant for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robinood Markets, Inc., Robinto Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principle and past performance. does not guarantee future results.

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