The Best One Yet - 🐸 “Stop scanning my mangoes” — Self-Checkout’s leapfrogging. New York Times’ mealkit. Adobe’s $20B acqui-baby.

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

It’s not just you… The number of self-checkout machines have doubled in grocery stores, but they’re also facing “The Leapfrog Effect.” The New York Times’ newest product isn’t a newspaper, it’s a meal kit. And Adobe just dropped $20B to acquire website design startup Figma, because it’s a digital thing making digital things (for digital things).$NYT $ADBE $WMTFollow 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 Friday, the real Friday, September 16th, and today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. It's a total T-boy. Jack, remember that train strike that we mentioned yesterday? A deal was reached yesterday, so there's no railroad strike. Jack, remember that Ethereum crypto merge that we mentioned two days ago?

It successfully merged yesterday with no glitches. Jack, remember that pickleball championship that your mom is playing in? She won't stop talking about it. She won with no e-bike involved. It's a tea boy, Jack. What's our first story for this Friday of Fridays? The most commonly used robot these days is the self-checkout kiosk at the grocery store. But self-checkout innovation is about to get leap-progged.

Our second story is that Adobe just dropped $20 billion to buy Figma, a design software company. Because it's a digital thing for making digital things. Our third and final story is The New York Times. Their latest product isn't journalism. It's not even a newspaper. Uh-uh, what is it, Jack? It's a meal kit. The New York Times now makes food because of Einstein.

But before we hit that wonderful mix, Nick, Jack, would you ever go into a weekend with a better mix than this mix? Today is Friday, the real Friday. The real Friday. But yet, he's what Jack and I are thinking. What if every day felt like the real Friday? Boom, check out the newest office over at Citibank. Yeah, Jack and I did. This thing is basically Love Island, but for banking.

Here's the news. Citibank just opened their special program designed to attract and retain a new generation. of young bankers. And here's how they're doing it. The newest city bank bank office is in the seaside city of Malaga. This office is on Spain's Mediterranean Costa del Sol. A translation, the coast of the sun. Here's the wildest part. This Cush seaside office is not for the senior executives. No. It's for the 20-something junior bankers. Yeah, this is apparently a two-year analyst training program adjacent to the playa. And the theme of this young investment banking program, is to make it not feel like investment banking at all.

The focus of this entire program is a work-life balance. That's the deal. Not the 80-hour work week that I banking is famous for, but an absolute maximum of 40 hours a week. If so facto, it's investment banking without the worst part of investment banking. So, naturally, 3,020-year-olds applied for just 27 available positions. So they can spend those extra 40 hours a week eating tapas and sipping Rioja. Yeties, Nick and I sadly can say from experience that bankers in Manhattan work 40,

hours a day. And bankers in London eat at their desk without seeing the sun. But in this Spanish resort town, you're out of the office by two Chew and Churros. You're surfing, services, and then you got a PowerPoint with some paella. Now there's always one catch. There is what's the catch, Jack. You're going to make half as much as all the other city bankers. Because that $50,000 salary is half the salary of every other analyst at Citibank. It's true. Citibank figures, you're working half the day. You're going to get paid half as much. Yeah, it's like banking light. So, you're Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies, enjoying the seaside town doing banking?

Like we've always said, guac is always extra. Let's expense our three stories. 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 a 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 rare to go. We can't wait to go. no more so just start the show start the show for our first story if you've noticed a sudden surge

in self-checkout machines at your local stores you did but self-checkout technology is facing the leapfrog effect yet is look we've all been there you're at cvs you're at walmart you're at croger you just left isle six you got a cart full you're really prepared you want to check out and then you face this dilemma do i go left and wait in line for the human cash here very nice charming or do it go over to that cluster of

self-checkout machines over there. Yeah, Jack, we all get there and, like, everyone is running a cost-benefit analysis in their heads really quickly. Yeah, what do I want to save? My time or my effort? Right, because, Jack, you go to the human checkout section, and that's going to take more time, but it's going to mean you do less work. Or do you go over to the machine, which will be quicker because there's no line, but you're

going to have to do everything yourself. Now, let's say you go over to the self-checkout machine. Unfortunately, two-thirds of us apparently face machine drama. Yeah, to pay for that mango, you have to look up the code. You have to weigh it. You put in the wrong weight. The machine yells at you. You have to re-weigh the mangoes.

Yeah. And then up, I double-scaned the Oreos. Excuse me. I double-scaned the Oreos. I need help. Then you're thinking to yourself, if I miscounted the number of mushrooms, are they going to like nag me for shoplifting?

And then you forget to double bag. You'll walk out. It all falls apart. The arugul is on the ground. I don't know what's happening. Yet he's despite the machine drama and the risk of accidental petty theft. Yeah. Self-checkout machines are taking over.

That was a lot of drama on this pod. Well, according to a Wall Street Journal report, 96% of America's grocery stores now have self-checkout kiosk. Because during the pandemic, there was a major worker shortage. Automation was a top priority for retail investment. And here's why. If a grocery store manager does find a human being cashier, there's a 50% chance that human being cashier won't be working there at the end of the year. That's why so many managers chose the alternative. They invested 30 or 40,000 up front to install a self-check.

Checkout machine. Right, which... It's expensive, but that's a one and done, and the machine is staying forever. The machine, like, literally can't physically go anywhere. And then after one year, the machine is paid for itself in, sadly, human wages that didn't have to get paid. And that's why we've seen a doubling of the number of self-checkout machines. But what Jack and I found fascinating about this story isn't the number of machines.

It's the field of dream scenario, right, Jack? Yeah. If you build it, they will come. Full Kevin Costner on this thing. this, it turns out after building all of those machines, a third of all grocery transactions last year were paid with self-checkout. And as Kevin Costner would tell you, 33 is a pretty good batting average. If you build it, they'll self-checkout. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the entire retail industry? One big problem facing self-checkout is the leap

frog effect. The leap-prog effect, Yeti's self-checkout is a fast-growing, exciting retail technology, but it's also on the brink of being outdated like today. Already because the future of retail isn't robocashires. No. It's no cashiers at all. And that future is already here. Like Jack and I have told you about Amazon's Just Walkout stores with Just Walkout technology. You scan your app as you enter and then a camera and sensors track you as you go through the store and you can walk out without paying anyone or checking out at all.

It's not just Amazon. Walmart is working on that technology too. It's like your car's easy pass, but it's for sure. shopping for eating things. Yeah, you're not stopping at the toll booth. You're just driving right through. So stores are transitioning right now to self-checkout technology, even though that technology is about to be replaced.

Self-checkout could get leapfrogged. Just like Blu-ray DVD was leapfrogged by streaming video. Or like how the iPod was leapfrogged by the iPhone. Self-checkout is the new tech. That's already outdated tech. Leaprogged. For our second story, Adobe just made a $20 billion acquisition. and investors hate it.

Well, Adobe acquired Figma for 20 billion because the things we build are digital. All right, Jack, you know that friend who still talks about that touchdown they scored in high school, like during the playoffs and that one game?

Really hope you're not talking about me here next. No, not talking about you, but it's like that one game, like you didn't even win the championship and it was like the beginning in the season. It's kind of Adobe. It's kind of Adobe because Adobe invented the PDF

and they won't shut up about it. Yeah, they did it like 30 years ago and they still tell you the PDF is theirs. But now the software company Adobe is all about advanced images and video editing. Now they want to expand to website design, so they bought themselves a little design startup called Figma. Figma the design startup. Now a year ago, Figma was worth $10 billion. Things seemed nice. A year ago was different. In the meantime, stock markets and startup valuations have all fallen.

So how much to Figma cell phone? Jack, Figma just sold not for $10 billion and not for $5 billion, but for $20 billion to Adobe. Figma doubled its valuation in the past year to 50 times its revenues. To $20 billion. That's a lot of freaking money. And investors hated it. They were not happy yesterday. Adobe shareholders were like, you spent how much on this startup? They dropped Adobe stock 17% as a shame, shame, shame, shame punishment.

That is a schoolyard beating to Adobe stock like we've never seen before. Adobe's value fell by more than it's spent to buy Figma. Shame. Now, Yetis, if you want to contextualize Figma, basically it is the architect of the digital icon. Figma is how you build website blueprints. We used it actually before for one of our website. And what we notice is that the unspoken value of Figma is that it connects people who typically don't connect. It connects tech people with non-tech people. So for example, when Jack and I want to build tiboypod.com, we would start on Figma using their digital white. And to be clear,

we're the non-tech people in this scenario. Because first, a design. designer would show us a beautiful mock-up of tabs, website, buttons, and sidebars. Then they would show us this on the Figma app, and we would comment in Figma suggesting like tweaks to the design in real time. And once we were convinced that the website design was T-Boy, a Figma blueprint would get sent to the engineers. And then the engineers would take that blueprint and build in some code for the new worldwide web website of T-boy.com.

Figma. It got people who never talk to each other to talk to each other. Designers and engineers collaborating together, it's a beautiful thing. And apparently a $20 billion thing. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Adobe and Figma? The Things America Builds have gone digital. All right, besties, our economy, it's evolved from wagons to websites. First, the majority of our economy was farming and agriculture.

Then it evolved to manufacturing. Eventually, our economy became services dominated. Today, a majority of our economy is digital. Some of our most valuable companies are tech and media brands that don't even sell a single physical thing. You spend a majority of your waking hours consuming digital things on screens. You're enjoying this podcast right now, a digital part of your daily routine. In a world of dropping stocks, falling valuations, and canceled IPOs, Figma just sold for a shockingly high price. Because it's a digital thing for building digital things.

Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Honestly, your salad, it says so much about you. Nick, you like to blaze your own trail at the salad bar. I'm ordering a salad. I go off menu, man, like a combo of kale and croutons that has never been made before. Me? I'm not reinventing the wheel. I like to go classic.

Sweet green thinks it's a good combo. Jack's not going to change that. Kind of like investing strategies. Someone to build a custom portfolio of stocks, crypto, and options. Others don't want to reinvent. Just give me the most standard ETF. Whether you're tweaking your one-of-a-kind portfolio every day, or prefer a more hands-off approach, Robin Hood has the tools.

If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-B-Boy to choose your free stock. That's robinid.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Stocks 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 or part of Robin Hood, and we are not

employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story before the weekend, the New York Times has a new product that has nothing to do with journalism, nothing to do with news or even media, none of those things. The New York Times is launching meal kits because of the theory of relativity. All right, Jack, let's go back beginning of this year. We did a story on The New York Times. Can you whip up what that takeaway was for us? It was a great pod.

The New York Times funds their journalism with listening and lifestyle. That's what we said on January 7th. That was the takeaway, because the New York Times has almost 10 million subscribers, but its growth isn't driven by reporting in Ukraine. No, it's revenue. is driven by crossword puzzles and their cooking apps. We're talking about slamming salmon people. Get this.

A million people pay $40 a year for just the New York Times' word games. Get this. Another million people pay $40 a year just for the New York Times recipes, the cooking app. If so facto, that's a $40 million a year revenue stream for telling you how to add garnish to like a bunch of shrimp. And another $40 million a year with Wordle and Wordle's buddies. $40 million a year telling you to stir the risotto for 12 to 15 minutes. That's what they're getting. Well, here's the news.

The New York Times is taking that side hustle business of cooking and expanding it to launch meal kits. This is wild. The New York Times is jumping industries from media into food and beverage. All the food that's fit to eat. Now, this meal kit, Jack, can you describe it? Because interestingly, it is missing one thing. We all like understand meal kits. But this one is only going to include the non-perishable and special ingredient parts of the rest.

Exactly. So you're going to have to buy the chicken breast and the butter and all the other perishables yourself. Now, Jack and I have told you before that the price of a product is a signal. And the price of this product is $95. So Jack, what is that signal a $95 meal kit? That's a signal of premium. Premium. This is a $95 meal kit. That's $95 for one rib roast meal kit. And the $95 doesn't even include the most expensive part, the meat. So Jack, how are they going to justify the price on that premium product? Well, each meal kit is going to be curated by a celebrity chef and it's also going to come with a nice little fancy cookbook.

Exactly. So like you're going to get a dish, but this dish is making Nina Compton's famous Caribbean Creole. Or the milk kit will help you make Chin Tan Panya's Indian pantry kit. Not too shab. We're not talking like Guy Fieri's Baja fish tacos, we should clarify. Like this is less Rachel Ray, more Bobby Flea kind of a thing. It's not build your own hot pack. No, it's not. But it also is pretty ironic because you don't get the New York Times physical paper newspaper delivered to your door anymore. But you can get a New York Times charred rosemary tortellini so flea on your doorstep every morning. That's the physical New York Times delivery. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Times? This is the other

theory of relativity. Yeties, we human beings make purchasing decisions in relative terms. Whether something is expensive or not is all about comparisons. So like $95 plus the price of meat, that sounds incredibly expensive if you compare it to a cheap blue apron meal kit. But the New York Times isn't marketing this like your routine blue apron Wednesday night meal. No, the New York Times is making this a premium dinner experience so you'll compare it to a dinner out at a restaurant. This $95 product will fail if consumers mentally compare that price to the price of groceries. But this $95 product will succeed if you compare it to a $200 celebrity chef experience. What you compare this product to, will determine if it fails or it succeeds.

This is the other theory of relativity. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Self-checkout machines are a booming retail technology. It's the leapfrog effect. They're already getting leapfrogged by no cashier technology. For a second story, Figma just sold for a shocking $20 billion to Adobe. Because it's a digital thing that just makes other digital things. Our third and final story, New York Times meal kits are either incredibly expensive.

They're a pretty good deal. It depends what you're comparing it to. Yeah, hey Einstein, that's the other theory of relativity. Another more satisfying than sarcastically saying, Einstein. Yeah, yeah. Snarky comments at deceased Nobel Prize winner. Now, time for the best fact yet.

This one sent in by legendary Yetty, Justin Cramm, from lovely San Francisco, right down the street. This is the best Amtrak fact yet, by far. Yeah, because yesterday, Jack and I were saying that, like, no one knows what Acella, the name of the Acella train stands for. Like, what is Acella? Apparently, Justin. knows. Yeah, apparently does because the Acela is actually a combination of words. It's a mashup of

acceleration and excellence. Acceleration for the fast speed of this fast train. For the fast speed of the Wi-Fi. And excellence for the microwave hot dogs that really aren't too shabby. We're big fans of the Acella Corridor. We enjoy it. It's a good time. It's a fine product. We should do a pot on the Amtrak, actually, a pot on the train. There we go. Fastest one yet. Yeties, you looked fantastic all week. And honestly, if you haven't yet, celebrate a win this weekend. We got some wins to Celebrate the wins. I'm gonna. Nick's gonna. We're all gonna. We're gonna celebrate some wins. And you know what? We'll see you Monday. We'll see a Monday. Can't wait. And before we go, happy 12th birthday to J.C. Moody over in Rancho Cucamungo, California. Happy 25 years to Alex Budweiser Bromier, in Austin, Texas. And David Panthers, turning 31 in Chicago to dooms. Happy birthday to Dagi Adula in Queens, but who's celebrating on the road. And Sean Hayes is turning 36 in Illinois, but is celebrating all week in four.

France. Happy birthday to Arnie Fokart in Georgetown, Colorado. And Harsita did Wania in Anaheim, California. Happy 28th to Cooper Anstet, who's on his way to Nashville. And Clancy Shepherds turned 29 in Dayton, Ohio. And a big 34th to Riley Sangbush in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And Lauren Jumanin knows how to have a birthday celebrating with the spa day in San Diego. And happy birthday to Jacob Bless him in Fargo, North Dakota. And Ethan S is turning 18 in T, South Dakota. And happy birthday to David Breen in La Dara Ranch. We told you about mid-September, didn't we? We did. It's a lot of birthdays. Let's celebrate him. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood.

Okay, so Jack and I both worked in finance for a while. And we know the six-monitor Bloomberg jockey with charts, numbers, balances, and more charts. They got coffees in both hands while they're executing some complex trade on a soybean future. Well, we're not trying to impress with our mission control trading center. Just give us an app, please. Robin Hood, with its mobile first and intuitive design, it lets you trade with just a few quick taps on their app. And even if things still don't seem easy, Robin Hood has your back 24-7 with its live and robust customer support. 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 robinood.com slash T-B-L-Y. 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. But self-checkout technology is facing the leapfrog effect. But self-checkout technology is facing the leapfrog effect. That was done. That was really funny. You had to pause dramatically at the beginning.

But self-check out. Yeah. So like $95 press the price of me. Yeah, so like $95 plus the plus... $59 priced the plus of meat.