The Best One Yet - 🍞 “The Avo-pocalypse” — Facebook’s Mean Girl MetaMates. Avocado’s drug cartel. Roblox’s kid game.

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

Wild: 80% of America’s avocados come from Mexico… and the US just paused imports of avocados from Mexico. So your guac could become extra, extra, extra. Facebook is renaming its employees “MetaMates” because Zuck is pulling a Regina George from Mean Girls. And Roblox stock plummeted 25% because ya can’t Roblox from Mrs. Meyers’ algebra class.$AVO $RBLX $FBGot 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 Thursday. The New Friday, February 17th. Stocks dipped yesterday. Probably because they couldn't get their wordles. Yeah, they didn't do a do at the beginning.

Aroma? That's a tough one. Seven letters, five letters. Who knows what's going on? Today's pod, though, this is the best pod we've ever done yet. TBI. For our first story, Zuck just called a big meeting to give Facebooker employees a new name. And that name, Jack?

Metamates. Metamates. Meda mates. Snackers, we've seen this move before in Mean Girls by Regina. George. For our second story, the United States just banned imported avocados from Mexico. We're calling it the avopocalypse. Yeah, get ready for guac to be extra, extra. Extra. Extra. And our third and final story is Roblox, the most important company in the Kid Conomers. Roblox stock just plummeted at 25% because you can't Roblox from class.

My dog ate my password. Roblox isn't arts and grass. But Snackers, before you hit that one. For show and tell today, it's Roblox. It's my avatar's new hat. This is my avatar. But this is a wonderful mix of story. All right. The most powerful measure of your value snackers as a human being, do you know what it is?

It's not your SAT score. It's not your credit score. It's not your annual job review. It's your Uber rating. It's your Uber rating. The most important stars in the universe are stars one through five on Uber. Now, we're not talking about the stars that you give the driver. We're talking about the stars the driver gives you.

after every single route. Revenge of the Uber driver. Snackers, are you a pleasant passenger or a pain in the assinger? You're going to get five stars if you gently close the door. But you get one star if you slam the door like Hordeor. Does this thing have automatic transmission? Does this thing have four real drive? Beat it, kid.

You're bugging me. Well, shocking update, Jack and I noticed. Uber, they now let you see how many one star ratings drivers have given you. Snackers, new update in the new Uber app. you can now see how bad a rider you are. Yeah. So we're going to tweet out the direction so you can see how bad a rider you are. But if you can remember, it's settings.

Privacy. Privacy center. Okay. Browse data. View your ratings. Actually, Uber does not make it easy to see this. Your one star ratings. No, I have 105 total ratings.

Okay. My average rating is quite high. Talk to me. My average rating is 4.7, but three drivers really didn't like me. What did they give you? I got three one stars. Are you kidding? Jack, I got six one stars. What?

Yeah, I think there was this one ride from like JFK, I think. I was like saying I missed yellow cab. I think it's when you pretended you were on a phone call with your AirPods. And he knew you weren't on a phone call because he saw your phone. We're nice guys. I don't know what happened here. I don't know where the one stars came from. Any one star rating should come with written feedback so you can improve yourself.

In the meantime, let's rate our three stories. You're tuned in this next daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something illegal out the way. For snacks about the hair ain't food, it's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the Robberhood family. It's all informational just so you know. We're not recommending any securities. 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. Robohood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, Zuck has an announcement to all of Facebook right now. We are changing your names. Your names.

And we're changing your values too. Your values. Jack, we've seen this before. Where have we seen this before? Mean girls. Mean girls. First of all, Avatar All Hands Meeting stat. Snackers, you know that Facebook is now called meta.

We've already told you that. But Zuck just went a little further than that. Actually, Zuck went a lot further than that. He just called a company-wide meeting. Mark Zuckerberg announced he's changing the name of the employees too. Yeah, Facebookers are now Metamates. Meta mates. Meta mates.

Sounds like a dating app in the Metaverse. It's like a Mattel toy. But it's actually the nickname for Facebook employees. It makes her co-workers sound like a life partner. Metaverse, me. That's another thing Zuck announced. It is. That's the new code for anyone who is a Metamate.

It's also an alliteration overload. It's partially zucked from the Navy, which has ship, shipmate self. Facebook has a Navy-like code. It's totally zucked from the Navy. Just something feels inappropriate about metamating your man. Oh, but also Snackers, uh, Zuck didn't just change the sign out front of Facebook. Zuck also just redid Facebook's famous core values. Nick and I are looking at Facebook's moves this week.

We're looking at them. This is straight out of the plastics playbook. I mean, Jack, this is a total Regina George move. We've seen this literally in the opening scenes. Um, on Wednesdays, we wear pink. Coolness. Get in line loser. We're going shot.

Oh, you're a skis. Value number one at meta is move fast. Yes, yes. You may remember that it used to be move fast and break things. That's what it was before. But move fast and break things gets you regulated. Yeah. So they just chopped off the second half.

It's now just move fast. Core value number two, focus on long-term impact. And Jack, this is just generic enough to be acceptable to everybody. Core value number three, build awesome things. Because build sounds cooler than code and awesome is just a cool word. All right. Value number four. Live in the future.

Now, this one is interesting because it's the opposite of what every therapist and every mindful meditation app is telling everybody these days. Yeah, Zuck's probably thinking, the present's nice, but the present stock price is pretty low. So let's live in the future. Yeah. Let's make that one. Value number four. And finally, core value of meta number five, be direct and respect your colleagues. Oh, Jack, if you already zucked the Navy and took their catch word, you may as well suck kindergarten's core golden rule too.

I think rule number six is treat others the way you want to be treated and put your blocks away. at the end of recess. Yeah, I think this one is fundamental and should be in every hiring process to begin with. So it looks like Zuck is pulling a Regina George. Jack, if you want to sit with us. You got to be a metamate who builds awesome things, speaks directly and lives in the future. Now, Jack and I dove in Snacksdaw, and we did notice that some Facebook employees, some metamates, they do like this new term.

Because the Facebook brand had become kind of toxic. On the other hand, a bunch of these metamates, they feel like it's kind of forced. Regina? Yeah? Just kind of freaking me out. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies metamating over at the meta company Facebook? You can rebrand a brand. But can you reculture a culture?

Snackers, we've seen rebrands before. But typically a rebrand, it's focused on the name, the logo, the image. Facebook needs more than just a rebrand to meta. Facebook is transforming its entire company from a social media company to a metaverse company. Typically, though, if you want to change the culture, you got to change leadership. You need a new CEO. Uber had a bad culture. Travis Kalanick was out.

Dara came in. New leadership, new culture. Yeah, but here's the problem. Zuck. Doesn't look like he's ever going to step down, Jack. So instead, he's acting like the plastics for mean girls. Can Regina George reculture a culture? For our second story, this one's painful, Jack.

This one's painful. The U.S. has banned Mexican avocados. 80% of our avocado supply is gone. Either our wallets would suffer. Or our bellies well. Or both. Or both. Nick, I had avatose this morning.

I know. And didn't even realize it might be my last avocado toast ever. Jack, I had a California avocado where the farmer said I could eat the skin. What? I don't know. I did. How was it? Maybe he's playing a joke of me.

It tasted okay. I don't know what's going to bite into it like an apple. Either way, he's snackers. And I enjoyed it and I'm not going to be upset about it. I'm pretty sure the farmer is telling the same story right now with all his buddies at the bottom. This kid ate the avocado skin. Snackers, Monday morning, you wake up and here's what we saw. We saw some pretty scary geopolitical news.

The United States Department of Agriculture has suspended avocado imports from Mexico. Now, that was the headline. Jack, can you talk about the subheadline? But we already have all the avocados we need for Super Bowl guacamole. So Super Bowl is going to be fine. So we're like, few, there we go. Everything was fine. Then yesterday we saw more headlines about avocados.

Okay, get this. Four out of five avocados, you would. are from Mexico. Jack, we're talking 80% of your breakfast. What's the opposite of few? I mean, sit down, stand up and sit back down again, Jack. Extra, extra extra is all we're thinking, because that's the future of our guacamole prices. Snackers, what we're trying to say is that we can be facing a deep shortage of avocados in America soon. The last shipment of Mexican avocados was approved on February 11th. I mean, Jack, I'm checking the calendar here. It's February 17th now. We got a few more days. So there's some supply.

left, but it's only a few more days before they're squishy brown avocados you don't want. And let's be honest. At that point, you feel comfortable throwing them out because you don't feel guilty. And what happens after we run out of the avocados that came in on February 11? Jack, after that, the Washington Post said there will be no more avocados until further notice. Okay. I know what you're thinking. Is there anywhere else we can get avocados? Well, California grows 15% of America's avocado supply, which you can eat the skin of. But 80% is Mexican-made green gold. And you can. can't just replace that with California. They're producing all they can already.

They add all this up. Snackers, we're facing an avococalypse. The only solution to the impending avococalypse is that the U.S. ends the ban on Mexican avocados. Yeah, because snackers, U.S. authorities are essentially punishing Mexico for a death threat that was made to a U.S. Department of Agricultural Food Inspector, and that's why we're in this situation right now. Death threat. We're talking death threats now. Can you believe this? We didn't realize avocados were a life and death business. Yeah, turns out America's biggest importer, a company called Mission Produce, they do realize that avocados are a life and death business.

Mission Produce is a pure play avocado stock that I peoped last year. We covered it on this pop. Yeah, I remember it finally. And when we covered the Mission Produce IPO, do you remember page 18 of that IPO paperwork? No, but I looked it up. And I'm glad you did. Here's what they said is a major risk to their pure play avocado business. They said organized crime and gang and drug-related violence in Mexico.

could affect our production and shipments. This suspension by the USDA, it's going to hurt Mexican avocado growers, probably hurt the Mexican government, and very likely hurt the Mexican drug cartels that are involved in the avocado industry. In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says

this suspension is going to remain as long as necessary to ensure safety of their inspectors. Of their inspectors who are getting death threats from the drug cartel. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the entire avocado industry? Get ready for a lot of, real-life econ 101 textbook in your wallet and in your stomach.

Snackers, Jack and I see a lot of shortages of items, but this avocado situation is literally the first three chapters of the econ 101 textbook we had together sophomore year. Chapter one, if the supply goes away, look and see if there's a new supply source. According to Wells Fargo's chief agricultural economist, there is no new supply of avocados anytime soon. No. Dominican Republic, Chile, and Peru, they grow avocados, and they could divert. their shipments to the U.S., but that would take time and cost a lot of money.

And so that means there's a shortage, which leads us to chapter two of the Econ 101 textbook. If there's a shortage, prices of that product are going to spike. We're talking like $18 barritos here, Jack. Gwok made from avocados, it's going to become an ultra luxury. I put my California avocados on my caviar. If you have avocados, you're not going to tell anyone about it. You're going to secretly eat them. You see this?

Oh, yeah, one of the few of the proud, the remaining avocados. I'm going to ship it to you, which leads to Econ 101 Chapter 3. If prices spike, go and look and see if there's a substitute. Do you want to tell me the substitutes you've been thinking about? Yeah, well, if you can't get guacamole, hummus, pesto, caselo blanco? I don't know. Snackers, unless the suspension ends ASAP, our wallets are going to suffer for our bellies.

Yeah, because, uh, pesto on a burrito. Oh, phto on a burrito. For our third and final story. A Roblox stock, it just plummeted 25% after another quarter of slowing down. Bigger question, though? Yeah. Where are the Metacops in this metaverse? Fair question.

By the way, like one of Jack's my favorite stats, long with that Walmart stat, we love Jack. Oh, everyone lives within 10 miles of a Walmart. 90% of Americans. This is another good stat. Two out of three American kids under 12 are playing on Roblox. Wow. Wow. Roblox is the combination of video games and a virtual world.

you play on a phone or a tablet. And they just announced earnings. They looked like good earnings. Jack, revenue was up 83%. That's a big number. That does sound good. It does sound good. But the previous three quarters,

revenue growth was way more than 83%. Also bad. The daily number of users and the number of hours used per day, both of those felt too. The CFO, though, tried to reassure investors that use of Roblox on the weekend. Oh, that's true. Saturday and Sunday? It's still quite high.

You're going to sleep over at Cindy's. You're going to play Roblox at like 10 p.m. It's just weekday, you see. where Roblox use is falling. Because class. Literally, people are leaving the house during the day. You can't Roblox in the middle of algebra. Mrs. Myers is going to see you.

It was a lot easier to Roblox on the side when you had a two-screen zoom-from-home situation. Right. That's when you're roboxing, but you're not doing that from class. Now, Snackers, when you hear Roblox, you're thinking games, you're thinking kids video games, but Roblox, they don't want you to think that minute. Roblox calls themselves on their About-us page, an imagination platform. Jack and I have noticed that Roblox is subtly shifting away from the word game to the word experiences.

Increasingly, Roblox is the destination not to play games, but to attend social events virtual. For example, can we talk about Lil Nas X who was on Roblox in a very particular way? Live concert. Live concert. From Roblox. Millions people. With Lil Nas X's avatar, performing live to a bunch of Lego-looking avatar fans. We were watching this.

You got like NFT lighters. People are like swaying, but it's their avatars. There's a replay on YouTube. It's pretty cool. Like, I watched the whole thing and was entertained. He's very pixelated, but he's doing Old Town Road in those purple pixels. And that's increasingly what Roblox is, a metaverse to experience things virtual. And if you want to invest in the Metaverse, Roblox is a non-Facebook way to do it.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Roblox? The next challenge for the Metaverse is Metacops to fight MetaVos. a crowd. Kind of a surprise, but on that Roblox earnings call, executives were actually asked about bad behavior happening on the platform. Have you heard about Beamers? No, I hadn't heard about Beemers ever. Vice just published an expose about Beemers. Beemers. Who hack into kids' Roblox accounts steal the valuable stuff that the kids bought with Robux, the virtual currency that you still need to give Wother for his birthday. I've got like a, I've got a Podson trust fund of Robux Jack. Now, also, people are going on dates in the

There's reports of that, and that's kind of cute. On the other hand, others are simulating sex in the Roblox Metaverse. Okay, not as okay. A reminder, the average age of a Roblox user is 13. But adults are coming into Roblox and doing stuff there too because it's becoming a complete virtual metaverse world. But Roblox is still mostly kids. So the lack of authorities to stop the bad guys on Roblox, it's awkward.

Now, Roblox has parental controls and has a good history of keeping Roblox a safe space for kids. But the metaverse may need metacops. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Mark Zuckerberg is changing the name of Facebook, changing the employee's names, changing their values, giving them a code to live by, but not changing the CEO. Only Regina would try to reculture a culture. For our second story, we could be headed for an avopacocalypse. So chapters one, two, and three of Econ 101, they explain what comes next. And our third and final story is Roblox, whose stock fell on concerns for their video game platform. But the Metaverse platform has to deal with Metacrine. Now, time for our snack fact of the day, which is actually the data, Jack and I noticed on Uber

one star ratings. Although Jack, you don't know the answer to this one, right? No, I doubt. Okay. Snackers, what is the city in America with the best average Uber ratings for riders and the city in America with the worst average Uber ratings for riders? All right. Best ratings? Like the city with all five-star passengers who are very polite, polite, nice, not. Not. Canada, United States. Salt Lake City. Oh, okay. Interesting. You had a good experience there. And then for the lowest ratings, everyone says New Yorkers are mean. I disagree. They're in a rush, though. We're just in a rush. We're just trying to get places.

It's nothing personal. So I'm going with Salt Lake City and New York, New York. Oh, you are going with New York. Okay. Yeah. I won't take it personally. There we go. Not just sending you my avocado. The answer, Snackers, the best average rider rated city on Uber. San Antonio, Texas. The best rated. They got the best rating. They're really nice. Our buddy LaSalle is from there. He's a great guy.

He's always been really nice to us. Yeah, yeah. This is please. He says, thank you. And what's the worst rated city? It is New York City. Actually, it is near... Oh!

I know, I know. By the way, Snackers, you heard at the beginning of this pod that Nick has twice as many one-star ratings as me. Yeah. But he's ridden in five times as many Uber. So he's actually had fewer one-star ratings, really.

We're trying to say we're equally as nice as we should be. I know you're all asking it again. You go to settings, privacy, privacy center. Okay, let's just tweet it out. We'll tweet it out. At Jack Graver, at Nick of New York, at Robin Hood Snacks. Snackers, Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't play.

And before we go, happy birthday to Ruben Hannah, a snacker who's turning one in Ventura, California. Get this. Anthony and Rebecca down in Austin. They got engaged last week and they're both having their birthdays today. They're the same birthday. That is wild. And Sean In Pack, happy birthday down in San Diego. And happy birthday to flower expert Julie Figuera in Los Angeles.

And Nikki Bandari, enjoy the birthday, also married a fellow snacker this year over in New York City. Happy birthday to Nicky Desai in Vernon Hills. And Paige Rosen, enjoy the caffeinated birthday over in the East Bay. Happy birthday to Don Parker, who happens to be moving back to the City of Angels. And Ben and Lauren, happy new baby who's named Shiloh over in Sunnyvale, California. Happy anniversary to David and Adriana Torres in Scotts Day. And Brandon Hall and Stephanie Shea. Enjoy that two-year anniversary in Los Angeles. And finally, February 17th is big every year for Faria, Daramola.

She met her husband this day. And happy birthday to Louis Lera over in Naperville, Illinois, and Michael Jordan from Brooklyn and North Carolina. This is Jack. I own stock of Roblox. 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 on the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc., Robin Hood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member Finra, SIPC. Koso Blanco?