The Best One Yet - ⛷️ “Ski-Pocalypse” — Park City’s ski strike. NYC’s traffic tax. The Birth of Gen Beta.

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

The biggest strike in ski history hit during the busiest ski week of the year… and Vail lost $400M.A brand new generation is being born in 2025: Gen Beta… And we found its 1 defining trait.NYC launched America’s largest traffic experiment: Congestion Pricing… And every city is watching.$MTN $SPY $BTCWant more? Check out the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best One Yet. This week’s episode is on The Oregon Trail: “Tricking Kids Into Liking School Since 1971” 🐂 Subscribe at 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. Welcome back. It is Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, January 7th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. SPF T-Boy, you are looking sharp and tan over there, Jack.

How are the Bahamas looking fantastic? Harbor Island in the Bahamas is one of the most beautiful beaches you'll ever see in your life. The pink sand. It's the pink sand. Yeah. We also found a bunch of live conks. which really freaks you out. You see a beautiful shell.

You pick it up and you're like, oh, what is in there? You got to watch your fingers. They'll eat you before you eat them, man. I know. How is Hawaii now? Hawaii was beautiful. Did sunrise canoeing, best surfing of my life?

Jack, I eat so much tuna. I have mercury poisoning. Okay. But besties, we missed you for the entire vacation. So we are happy to be back. And Jack, we've got three fantastic stories for today's tea boy. What do we got, man? For our first story, it's the biggest strike in skiing history.

Park City, Utah has a ski patroller strike. So Jack and I are breaking down the $400 million ski apocalypse. For our second story, it's the most ambitious traffic experiment that just began in New York City, congestion pricing, aka the traffic tax. Because what happens on 42nd Street will affect every city in America. And our third and final story, a brand new generation. is born this year. All 2025 babies aren't Gen Z or Gen Alpha. They're Gen Beta. Gen Beta. Jack and I found the one specific trait that will define this younger, younger generation. But yeties, before we hit

that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Amazing mix of stories for today's T-Boy, Jack. Trigger warning. You have died of dysentery. Besties do the words bison frostbite or fording a river mean anything to you. Because those words are the foundation of the most important video game in history. The Oregon Trail, because Bessie's every red-blooded American student has sat down at a gateway desktop computer at some point to play the Oregon Trail. Some giant computer in the computer lounge at middle school. But Jack and I were curious, what do you know about where the Oregon Trail actually begins? Because the Oregon Trail was invented by three idealistic, 20-something middle school teachers up in Minnesota. They built the game for kids, but the Oregon Trail

eventually IPOed on the New York Stock Exchange. There's actually a case that the Oregon Trail saved Apple, the computer company, early on. And the true story of the Oregon Trail, it even involves Mr. Wonderful. Yeah, that Mr. Wonderful, the guy from Shark Tank. But the wildest part about this primitive computer game, what is it then? Well, Jack, the Oregon Trail, it was never meant to make any money. Which made it make tons of money. And that wild Oregon Trail story is the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. The Best Idea Yet, the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. So Besties later today, after this T-Boy, check out our weekly deep dive show, The Best Idea Yet.

New episodes drop every Tuesday, and they're free to listen. Tap the link in this episode description because the Oregon Trail is simply the best idea yet. You haven't died of dysentery. No, you've survived. And that's why Jack and I got a fantastic show for you today. Jack, let's see. Fifteen 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 an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. Our first story. The biggest ski company in the world has a $400 million problem. This is a ski apocalypse. Because ski patrolers at Park City are pulling off the biggest strike during the biggest ski week of the year. Jack, to tell this story, how about we go back to my bachelor party?

Because it was in Park City. I was hoping you'd bring this up. We skied it to your valley, but we booked a skating rink at Park City. We did. Where we went curling. You know the Olympic weird sport of curling? We like broom the ice. You're making it sound like 80 year old men. We were like 29 years old. It was wild. Well, Park City happens to be the largest ski resort in the United States of America. They have 7,000 skiable and snowboardable acres of terrain. But funny thing, the smallest part of that huge resort has effectively shut it down. Because the ski patrolers at Park City are on strike. The ski.

The Professional Ski Patrol Association is on day 12 of their strike. Now the strike began on December 27th and it's still ongoing. This is the biggest week of the year for skiers and it was ruined because of the strike. But Jack, could you sprinkle on a little more powder context over there, please? Park City is owned by Vail Resorts, which is a publicly traded company and it's one of the two Goliaths that is dominating the ski industry today. It is a publicly traded pure play powder stock, yet he's Vail Resort. happens to own the Epic Pass, which includes 41 different mountains that you can ski on. Vell Resorts is worth $7 billion, and it controls 36% of the U.S. ski industry.

And despite all that massive size, Vail has been brought down to its knees by 204 patrollers in fancy branded jackets. So what did the ski patrollers want? Why have they decided to go on strike during what's supposed to be the holiday cheer season? Well, Jack, the reason the ski patrolers went on strike is because they want a $2 raise. That's right. Two dollars is. The ski patrollers want a base pay of $23 an hour. That's it. Instead, Vail Resorts, the $7 billion ski giant, is playing hardball with the patrolers and will not give them that $2 raise.

Instead, Vail brought in patrolers from other resorts to try to break the backs of the strikers. Basically, they hired ski scabs. That's what Vail did. But it didn't work. No, it didn't. They couldn't hire enough. replacement patrollers. So the resort has had incredibly long lines as only a quarter of the mountain has been open. In fact, three different Yetis DM'd us with photos of what was happening in

Park City saying, you gotta do a story on this. There's something wrong with the business here, man. Park City couldn't safely open the rest of the trails without enough ski patrolers. So people's expensive Christmas and New Year's vacations at Park City have been ruined. In fact, it got so bad that Park City turned off the comments on their social. social media feeds. There's a lot of hate going towards Park City right now. Nobody's got sympathy for the Goliath of the ski industry. On the other side, the patrolers are getting all the sympathy. They even set up a GoFundMe page to help finance their strike because they're not getting paid while they're on strike. And that GoFundMe page has $250,000 in donations in just the last week.

Now, we should point out this ski apocalypse over at Park City, it highlights the housing crisis in America's resort towns. Jack and I jumped into Zillow to be in T-Boyst- And we notice the average home price in Park City, Utah, is $1.6 million. Meanwhile, these ski patrolers, they're supposed to live and work for $21 an hour? Just doesn't add up. No, it doesn't, but it does add up to our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Vail Resorts? Run the numbers before you pick your battles.

Yeah, big question we were wondering here was, was this worth it for Vail? Like, the patrolers are just asking for a $2 increase in their minimum wage pay. could $7 billion Vail just paid it and been done with this? If Vail had agreed to the $2 pay raise, it would have only cost them $900,000 per year. That's a drop in the bucket for Vail resorts. On the other hand, since the strike began, Vail's stock has fallen 6%. And what's the value of losing 6% of your company check? $400 million.

That's right. Because this strike hurts Vail's brand, its loyalty, and it emboldens other potential strikers in the ski industry. Across the other 41 resorts that Vail owns. But Bessie, Jack and I crunched the numbers further, and we discovered that since 20,000 skiers ski Park City each day during the holidays, but half of them couldn't ski during the strike. That's over a million dollars in lost food and beverage revenue just because of this strike. I mean, it's simple math, add it up.

Vales lost millions of dollars in sales and loyalty over an issue that would have cost them just $900,000 to fix. In every business, you got to pick your battles. You got to pick your battles. It's best to run the numbers before you do. For our second story, America's first congestion toll is officially live in New York City right now. But the nation's biggest traffic experiment ever. Now depends on one thing.

The silent majority. Oh, Yeties, we've got some tough news if you're driving from the Upper East Side down to the meatpacking district to go clubbing this evening. man, what is that, Jack? Because as of Sunday, any car entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours has to pay a $9 fee. A $9 fee. Yet is welcome to the world of congestion pricing. Congestion pricing, a policy that is economically brilliant. It is technically. But politically not brilliant at all. Yeah, more on that in a second. This policy is so controversial that six months ago, New York's governor paused the policy at the very last second. Yeah, I remember that, Jack.

During hot inflation summer, she canceled the whole program because she didn't want to lose votes in the suburbs. But post-election, and after lowering the fee from $15 to $9, congestion pricing is live. Yes, it is the biggest traffic experiment in America. Honestly, the biggest traffic experiment since the stop sign. It's live. And yesterday was the first busy workday in New York City.

this new system in place. And how do we do, how to go? What are people saying, Jack? Everything went pretty smoothly. Basically, this congestion pricing scheme, it operates much like EasyPass, and it controls the lower half of Manhattan. It's actually the same technology as EasyPass. The city set up 1,400 cameras at 100 points across Manhattan Island, and those cameras read your license plate as you drive through. If you have Easy Pass, it will charge your EasyPass account $9 if you're a car, $22 if you're a truck. And if you don't have Easy Pass, then the mail you a bill in the mail and hope you actually pay that thing. Now we know what you're probably thinking. What about ubers and taxis? Yeah, they have to pay this congestion fee too, but only a

dollar and 50 cents, not nine dollars. Now we know what you're feeling fellow New Yorkers. You already got a lot of fees living in New York, so it feels kind of cringe to pay another one. It's already one of the highest taxed cities in the country. You may not be thrilled about this congestion fee. But the big question Jack and I had as this experiment begins is, Will this experiment succeed? To find out, we're going to look across the pond because London launched the same traffic tax and they've had it in place for 22 years.

That's right. London launched a traffic tax congestion plan in 2003 and it's been working great for those 22 years. Now, the goal of congestion pricing fees is to reduce the number of cars on the road during peak hours. Because traffic is terrible for a city, you got major costs like noise, pollution, road rage, wasted time. Walk in here! So a congestion tax, it nudges people during peak hour to not drive a car, but instead walk or take

public transit. Now, Jack, could you please whip out the whiteboard and tell us what happened over in London over the last 22 years with this same plan? The amount of traffic on the road dropped by 30%. People took the subway instead, or they just walked. In fact, with fewer cars on the road, London let pedestrians take over the same lanes that used to be reserved for cars. So London has more broad, roomy sidewalks, which make

for a more livable city. Now, New York City, on the other hand, they don't expect traffic to fall by 30%, but they do expect it to fall by 10%. And they do expect to bring in about a billion dollars in fees every year thanks to this new plant. And all of the revenue from this new congestion fee, it's going to go to funding the public transit system. But that led Jack and I to discovering this wild fact that tells the whole story. New York City's subway trains move more people every day than all of America's airlines combined. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies is over in traffic? It's the silent majority versus the loud minority.

Yet is, interestingly, the biggest group opposed to this congestion pricing plan? It's people in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, the bridge and tunnel crowd. People who commute by car into Lower Manhattan are pissed. And they are really loud about their anger that they're going to have to pay nine bucks. But that's the minority, because the vast majority of New Yorkers, they don't take a car. They take public transportation around. That's what we do. On a typical weekday in New York City,

3.6 million people take the subway. Let's compare it to how many people travel in airplanes. The Sunday after Thanksgiving this year set a record for air travel in America with 3 million people flying. That means that New York City subway moves more people on its average day than America's entire aviation industry

on its biggest day. Yeah. And if you add in the 1.4 million bus rides, and the one million people taking the train, then six million people take New York City public transit every single day. And now every one of those people will benefit from fewer cars and more money for the subway. So here's the big question. Will the silent majority New York subway riders

reward their politicians for this grand experiment that prioritizes them? Or will the louder minority commuting car drivers put the pressure on to end the biggest traffic experiment in America? Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, it's not just the beginning of a new year, it's also the beginning of a new generation. Because all babies born in 2025 are part of Generation Beta, and this new generation has one critical trait.

Yet is anthropologists, sociologists, and scientists, they have historically defined the generations of which we all are. Sometimes they use milestone events to bookend a generation. Yeah, like baby boomers. They're called baby boomers because after World War II, there was a boom in babies. But usually, they define generations based on a number of years. Every 25 years, a new generation is born because people tend to have kids beginning at the age of 25. Now, Nick and I think generations are fluid and kind of arbitrary, to be honest.

We've done a takeaway in that before. But marketers and consultants love the construct of generations. There's big money in the generation. Like, Jack, we millennials, we had a good run. I remember when every company was catering to us. If they were selling you a mattress, it better be packaged in a box and advertised on the New York City subway. We saved the latte.

We invented avocado toast. No millennials. No jaggings. Just want to point that out. But ever since we launched this podcast, it's Gen Z that's gotten all the attention. Ah, Gen Z. They hate slim fit. They love lowercase letters and they're a little bit anxious.

Every time we talk to a potential partner, they're like, how many of your listeners are part of Gen Z? And then we millennials had kids and our kids are part of Gen Alpha. My first two kids are part of Gen Alpha, but my third kid who is about to come is technically in a new generation, apparently. That's right. Get this, Yeti. Starting right now, this month, 2025, Gen Z is having babies and that has led to a brand new generation. Gen Beta starts right now. Yes, it does. According to Demographers, all kids born from 2025 until 2039 are going to be

known as Gen Betas. Wild point, by the way. Gen Beta will live into the 22nd century. Yeah, the 22nd century. So like in 2035, when you're playing Taylor Swift and you're flying Robo Car, your Gen Beta kids are going to ask you to turn off the oldies. In fact, Gen Beta isn't even going to have a driver's license because in 18 years, everything's probably going to be self-driving. You may not know how to drive stick. Yeah. Your kid's not going to know how to drive. They're going to have no idea. So, Jag, What's the takeaway for our buddies over in gen beta? Generations aren't defined by time. They're really defined by tech.

Yet it is sociologist Gene Twinch studies generations and said this. The biggest impact on a generation is the technology that forms its social relations. For example, millennials, we were raised in both a physical world and a digital world. So we appreciate things both with and without a digital element. On the other hand, Gen Z was raised. raised in a purely internet era, so mobile and social media have shaped everything they eat, buy, and watch. Gen Alpha is born with virtual worlds, like Roblox and the Metaverse, and they're hanging out with their buddies on Twitch. But what about Gen Beta, Jack? What technology will they be born into?

Artificial intelligence. They'll be raised purely with AI. Yet is Gen Beta is going to grow up with AI teachers, AI coworkers, maybe even AI friends, AI boyfriends, AI girlfriends. Oh, little Johnny, who are you talking to on that headset? Oh, it's my AI study buddy. She's a bot and she's wicked smart. So besties, generations are truly defined by the technology that they use to connect. For Gen Beta, we're talking artificial intelligence. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for 2025? For 12 days now, Park City, Utah has been operating at one-fourth capacity because the ski

patrolers are on strike. It's a ski apocalypse, Vail Resorts. they picked the wrong battle. Because when you pick a battle, you got to crunch the numbers first. For our second story, it's New York City's congestion pricing system. It's live $9 per car during peak hours. Whether this epic traffic experiment has a future depends on the silent majority of non-car drivers. And our third and final story, 2025 brings a new generation of children known as gen beta. It's the generation born with AI. Because generations aren't defined by time, generations are really defined by technology. But Yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

First, the U.S. Congress certified the 2024 election results with Donald J. Trump as the winner. Vice President Kamala Harris played the ceremonial role as president of the Senate. Four years after the riots at the Capitol on January 6th, there was no violence on this day. Meanwhile, in Canada, by the way, Justin Trudeau just resigned as his liberal party has lost popularity. And second, Fubo, the internet TV provider, is basically getting acquired by Disney. Disney competes with Fubo with its Hulu live streaming service. But instead of competing, Disney was like, um, let's merge Hulu Live and Fubu, and we're going to have a new separate company. Fubo stock rose 250% on the Disney news. And finally, according to reports,

Turkish Airlines has a bed bug problem. Passengers have reported bedbugs on flights in 2024 from Johannesburg, Istanbul, and Washington Dulles. DSA, I'm going to need another pat down, please. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Dylan Steinfeld from lovely Atlanta, Georgia. Push and play. Yeties and besties, we learned in the Air Jordan's episode of the best idea yet that Jordan secured a $2.5 million sponsorship with Nike in 1984.

But do you know which athlete secured the first ever million dollar sponsorship? It was none other than six-time bowler of the year bowling legend Don Carter, who in 1964 inked a $1 million deal with Ebonite International, now a part of Brunswick bowling products. A bowler got the first $1 million deal. I mean, Jack, there's big money in that bowling, man. Yeah, there's big money in bowling. Yeties, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday.

And remember, after the show, we've got the perfect thing teed up for you, right now. A fresh episode of the best idea yet about the Oregon Trail. We dropped a link in the episode description. Jack, fantastic to be back for me looking awesome over there. Great tan, by the way. Thanks, man. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow. Best use. We'll see tomorrow. And before we go, happy birthday to Yeti Bobby Bullock over in the Air Force flying high in Sacramento. Thank you for your service, Bobby. And happy birthday to Chris Labasco, the lawyer who's turning 30 over in Brooklyn. Jack, he and his brother, we're at our New York City Live show and Chris Warnie. won our Halloween costume contest this year, too.

He's having the best year yet, man. Happy 35th birthday to Evan Munoz in Plainview, New York. And Diana Ross Giles, the Pilates Queen of Beverly Hills, is celebrating a birthday. Happy birthday to Del Leia, who's celebrating with her husband and two sons over in California. And Ofer Broff in Rannana, Israel is celebrating a fantastic birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Jordan, the Shimi Gostafson, in Omaha, Nebraska. And Hab Zimmerman in New York City, happy birthday.

Happy Dirty 40 to Stephen Brody in Nashville, Tennessee. And Lale and Lake Worth, Florida is celebrating the best birthday yet. And congratulations to Caleb and Chenade. Both in the Air Force, both love bowling randomly, and they're both getting married over in Ireland. And Nate Holstein's got a new job in Greenwich, Connecticut. Gonna throw this out there? Probably 6'5 and working in finance. And get this, Nick.

Angela, Rami, and Inda over in Stillwater, Oklahoma are having a friend reunion because they tagged one another in a T-boy merch giveaway, and then they're like, we should get together. So they're all wearing the T-boy merch in their hometown right now. What a fantastic trio, Jack. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the first wins of 2025. This is Jack.

I own stock of Roblox and Disney, and Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Zillow.