The Best One Yet - “The Marie Kondo IPO” — ThredUp is going public. Verizon’s bundle of perks. The US Dollar’s fall.

Episode Date: August 21, 2020

The consignment industry is having a moment, and ThredUP is getting dressed up for its IPO. Verizon knows you quit cable because you hate bundles, so it’s whipped up something it thinks you’ll love: Bundles...for cord-cutters. And the US dollar is the global economy’s Batman, but now that it’s losing value, we’re looking at what that means for you.$VZ $REALWant a shoutout on the pod? We got the form for Snackers to fill out right here:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Learn 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 Friday, August 21st. Let's get the bad news out of the way first. U.S. jobless claims. The number of people who filed for unemployment last week popped above $1 million for the first time in two weeks.

Not the best one yet, kind of a setback for the recovery, but how are we doing on this podcast, Jack? Fortunately, things on this pod are looking pretty sharp. DBOI, the best one yet, Jack. First story, you got the honors. Thread up. Once your used high school North Face for these as long as there's no holes or rips in it.

Yeah, key asterisk there. Now it wants to IPO because online consignment is doing the opposite of what you thought it would do right now. For our second story, Verizon, knows that you hate bundles because those cable bundles are kind of infuriating. This is Jack. I can't stand my Xfinity account. Jack, great news for you. They've got a solution for cord cutters over at Verizon. You know what it is?

What's it? It's more bundles. Come on. Third and final story, Jack. The U.S. dollar has always been. the global economy's dominant currency. But the hero we deserve is not the silent guardian everyone wants right now. Oh my God.

Was that the dark night? Christian Bayle would be a snacker. Before we jump into all that good stuff, three things defined Jacks and my early professional lifestyle. Chopped salads back in 2011 were a huge deal. The people over at Chopped, they literally pulverized this thing, so you couldn't even see the walnuts anymore. You got too close.

You could lose a finger jack. I was also rocking my traditional fit chinos, which were like pleats on pleats. Slim Phil wasn't a thing yet. This is pre-Lulu Lemon era. And finally, a culture-defining device was your Blackberry. Yes, it was. And they were just starting to have their decline into irrelevance. You only saw them on Wall Street, which is where we were. But then in 2016, Blackberry's phone was officially dead.

No more. Until now. Blackberry is officially coming back early next year. You can almost hear the clickety clacking all the way from here. They just announced on Throwback Thursday, this throwback is coming back. Yeah, BlackBerry is a Canada-based company. They're not going to actually be making these BlackBerry phones, but they're going to license out the logo so that you think it's like a good phone. No, they were very polite about it.

In fact, that quirky keyboard, Jack, is that coming back? I think so. You would whip that out on a first date. If you're obnoxious, you'd whip it out on the first date to prove that you work in finance to the person you're on your first date with. One second, it's going to send a BBM over here. Oh, wow. You're sending BBMs.

Now, I guess the one thing this phone has going for it is vaguely a sense of security because Blackberry is famous for its software security. The other big difference, it runs on Android. Let's hit our three stories. Feels very gimmicky. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers.

It's snacks about to hear rain food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a resource. search report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale about security.

Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC. For our first story, according to people familiar with the matter, the old PSWTM, ThreadUp plans to IPO in early 2021. It's the online thrift store with one giant advantage against other clothing companies. This is key.

It gets its clothes for free. That's right. Now, Snackers, we have a fantastic idea before we get into the story for the Threatup executive team. For your IPO, don't wear suits and pantsuits and Brooks Brothers and traditional fit. What are you doing? Like every other executive at their IPO day. Why would you do that? Instead, wear all the secondhand clothes you just bought off Threatup.

Wear the cargo shorts you found on Threatup for $12. The New York Stock Exchange isn't going to like this going down. No, in fact, they don't even let you wear jeans, so I'm pretty sure they don't let you wear jorts. But back to Threatup, a company that is just like a, it's a straight-up consignment shop, but it's all online. This is like that local thrift shop, but digitized for the whole world to access. Now, finally, you've got to admit to yourself that you're a hoarder, and that's when you start engaging with ThreatUp. Once you realize that the fire department is coming to check out your closet because it is over capacity, then you dial up ThreatUp and they'll send you a clean-out kit,

aka a huge bag with a prepaid UPS label that you stuff your clothes in and you send it all the Threat Up. Then ThreatUp will receive your clothing, inspect those crowds, tops, toss out the ones with yellow pit stains. They take pictures of every item that pass the quality test and then they post everything for sale online. Okay, so finally, your stuff is online, the stuff that passed the test, and if it sells, they're going to send you back a tiny cut of the deal. But you can't, you're not going to like side hustle this thing and make an income on it. You're only getting like, you know, 40 bucks. This is Jack. My wife has sent in three bags to thread up and only made 40 bucks. So you're not making bank on this. But what you do get is you get to contribute

to sustainability by letting those nice jaggings from 2008 get reused. You haven't warned them since 2008. Some German tourists would love to wear them right now. That's how you get into the discotheca. Okay, so we just talked about the whole selling process, but who is buying stuff on threadup.com? Here's the thing about the threadup customer. It's not just someone who goes into thrift shops. It's actually the T.J. Max treasure hunter. Just like Tj. Max andistas, people shopping on threadup.com are looking for a one-of-a-kind bargain. Yeah. And everything on Threadup.com is one of a kind. Jack and I are on ThreatUp right now. You're not seeing like the Jimmy Choo Pumps.

You're seeing bohemian basics. You're seeing a secondhand pair of Madewell overalls, size medium, 40% off what J-Crew.com offers. But the reason Jack and I find Threatup so fascinating is why they think they can survive the clothing business while everyone else is going bankrupt right now. This is going to be an MBA case study because ThreatUp pays zero dollars for its inventory of clothes. That's right. We're looking at this no cogs, zero cost of good soul. It gets its clothing for free because you're trying to clean out your closet. But it is a labor intensive business. They got to sort through all the made-well free people stuff and see what's got, you know, the pit stains. It got to take pictures. But if Threadup gets to the sale, it keeps up to 95% of that sale,

which is incredible. That is wild. Threat-ups keeping up to 95% from selling your Jagans. Airbnb is another platform, but they're only keeping 10% of Airbnb bookings. And Uber, like the platform of all platforms, is only keeping 25% of each ride. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Threatup? Secondhand clothes are having a counterintuitive coronavirus. Snackers, we're in the middle of a pandemic. First thing you're thinking is germs and not touching anything else from another human being.

You'd think that means Threatup is struggling. But it's actually sorry. Threaters are spending 37% more time on the site than they were before the pandemic. So they're getting more demand. And supply is also way up because you're stuck at home, Marie Condoifying their closet.

Yeah, we've seen mindfulness play out in how we eat. Now we've seen it play out in how we shop. Secondhand clothing is growing 25 times faster in this market than brand new clothing is selling. Threatup caught that trend early. COVID shockingly accelerated. We're calling them Threatter-uppers. For our second story, Verizon's infamous pros before Co's business is completely under threat. So it's created a new bundle for the cord-cutting generation. Pros before co-sknackers, profits before customers. That is what the cable industry is, profits before customers. And they've made a lot of moves based on that whole theory that drive the entire cable industry.

Well, how about the misleading prices? After the one-year promotional price ends, the price naturally increases. Offer not valid in 46 states in Puerto Rico must be subject to terms and conditions that apply. And don't forget the $10 monthly equipment rental. Yep, then you got the $10 broadcast TV fee. Oh, wait, do you want to cancel? You do it online, it's a $5 fee. You do it on the phone, it's a $10 fee.

Sure, just let us know where you want us to bill you with a $300 cancellation fee. Jack, can we talk about the customer service going on over there? Well, I'm paying for 200 megabits download speed. I'm getting 10. How am I going to fix this? Jack, secret word here, representative. Representative.

But finally, Snackers, thanks to competition from streaming video, Verizon's cable business is finally dying. SVP over at Verizon actually admitted it yesterday. He said, our current value chain is broken. It's pretty literal. It's kind of aggressive. You don't want to be on this guy's team. And the proof is in the numbers, Jack. 50% of Verizon's internet subscribers aren't adding on that cable TV to the bundle. We're talking about the kind of thing that used to be the standard ad on. The only question was, you do in the double play or the triple pie. But cord cutting has finally convinced people to stop paying for cable, and that trend is accelerating at wild rates. And Verizon's bonds with customers

are now getting flimsy because they're not getting the cable folks. So it just announced a new reason for you to stick with Verizon. It's pretty impressive, actually. This is the news say. This is what's so wild. You would get free Disney Plus, free Hulu, and free ESPN plus if you get Verizon. If you have like the top Verizon internet package or the top Verizon wireless plan, Disney Plus Hulu or ESPN, not just for one year, neck. No, no, no, no. No. No. No. asterix on this thing. There is no end date to that freebie. Perpetuity from Papa Santa Verizon. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Verizon? Cable TV bundles are dead, but perk bundles are thriving. Snackers, the cable industry loved the phone cable internet

triple play bundles because they did one thing. They reduced churn. On the first Sunday of the month when you pay bills, you might be tempted to kill like that one recurring payment that you don't want anymore. But you're less likely to cut that one expense if it's bundled with like three other expenses. So Verizon just bundled its core thing with a bunch of other things to keep you addicted. And that's the free Disney Plus, the Hulu, the ESPN Plus, the Apple Music, that's all coming with Verizon. TeamMobil's doing the same thing with Netflix, free Quibi, free The Athletic and free MLB.TV. And then because the folks over at AT&T aren't that creative, apparently, they're just giving away free HBO Max. Now, Verizon is paying for all this free stuff so that they can give it.

to you, but they think that the splurge is worth it. That's because you're way less likely to kill the $100 bucks a month Verizon contract when you're waiting for Season 2 of the Mandalorian to hit Disney Plus as soon as possible. You're not going to ditch Verizon if you can't wait for that Dennis Rodman spin-off from the Chicago Bull Show on ESPN. Perk bundles are thriving. For our third and final story, the crisis of America's top dog status in the world is affecting the U.S. dollar. We're feeling out on the dollar. Which is affecting the stock market. which is affecting our budget, which is affecting our vacations. Which leads to the big question, Snackers.

Here it is. How much is a dollar really worth? Well, easy. It's worth a dollar. It's worth a dollar. That is a bad answer to that question. You want to compare your currency by comparing it to another currency. Now, say you have a Ken Griffey Jr. baseball card. How much is that worth? Well, easy. It's worth 10 Mark McGuire baseball cards. Same thing with currencies. This is kind of the old apples to apples, oranges to oranges situation. Now, here's the news we had to bring to the Snackers.

The U.S. dollar is at its weakest level in two years. And when Jack and I are saying weak, we're talking about weak compared to like the euro. Compared to the Japanese yen. Compared to like even the South African rant. The Brazilian Rial. And then the Vietnamese dong. You're at them all up. We're weak.

Really saved the best for last day. Now, the reason the U.S. dollar is so weak right now is actually like a whole bunch of reasons. Right. First, our national debt was already insanely high. Yes, it was. And then we just dropped like $9 trillion on plastic to deal with COVID-19. Oh, this credit card didn't work one second. I've got another one. Now, our central bank is literally creating money out of thin air to distribute it to people and companies in need. Not good for your currency when you have to pull out the oil.

I'm going to get you back. I got you back. I'm good for it. I'm good for it. But the second kind of reason we're seeing the U.S. dollar be so weak right now is the Trump administration has removed the U.S. from a whole bunch of transnational relationships. And the U.S. soft power we had from those transnational relations is generally reflected in confidence globally in our currency, the U.S. dollar. And then the third and final reason we've noticed is that since World War II, there's basically been no threat to the U.S. dollar as the dominant global currency. It's just been the U.S. dollar.

But now, as we have been disengaging with the rest of the world, China has been like reaching out to the rest of the world. Oh, and by the way, across the pond, Europe. is more unified than ever. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the U.S. dollar? The weak U.S. dollar sounds really bad. It is really bad. Yep.

But it actually has really good short-term benefits for America. Snackers, we're going to play a little visual game here. Picture the United States as your local retail shop just down the corner. Well, right now, it's pretty much got a giant 20% off everything sign for the rest of the world to see. That's red and yellow and black. But a weak U.S. dollar means that foreigners, are more likely to buy U.S. made goods and U.S. made stocks, which then benefits the dollar. Think about it. An investor in Mexico can buy more Netflix stock right now, since their peso buys more

dollars and they can use those dollars to buy Netflix stock. And a German tourist can afford to go to Miami, get the ocean front view, upgrade the hotel room, and then buy more thread-up jagging. Now, U.S. presidents actually love a weak dollar because it can boost the short-term economic growth and boost the short-term stock market for the reasons we just mentioned. But long-term, it means that for the first time since World War II, we could see some like serious consequences to having insanely high debt. Yeah. If the world falls out of love with the U.S. dollar, we could experience higher interest rates, higher inflation, and the loss of that soft power we've had for so many decades.

The old triple play. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us before the weekend? Threadup has found a way to get 95% of the revenues with zero percent. of the costs. It's basically crowdsourcing your Marie condoness and then prepping for its IPO. Second story, Verizon has replaced the triple play bundle with the perk bundle. To get you to not break up with it, Verizon is giving you its password to Disney Plus. That's what's basically going on here. Classic move. Third and final story, the U.S. dollar is at its lowest point in two years. It's good short term for the economy, but really not good long term for the economy.

That's correct. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by Renevasen Sankar in Boston, Massachusetts, second time snack factor. Now, we talked once on the pot about IPO stocks being a little underpriced because of the giant like jumps that happened on day one. Yeah, good evidence of this. Apparently, the average IPO in 2020 has had a first day pop of 28.25%. That sounds really good for those stocks in general. Yeah, it does.

But it actually means that the investment banks are underpricing those shares. Which means the company is lost out on a whole bunch of value. Seems cool, not as cool. And the investment bank's clients make that bank, not you and me. But before you jump off to the weekend snackers, happy birthday to Olivia from Clary in Pennsylvania. And Bree from Baltimore, Maryland. And Eric Padilla in Santa Maria, California.

And Guillermo Palau down in Honduras. And Sejong-Pital in Lumberton, New Jersey. Happy 20th, Maxim down in Austin, Texas. And 22nd to Nate Prib in New York City. Jared, happy 30th in L.A. Stephanie the Big 30 and Jackson to Florida. Connor Smith is starting his first week of investment banking in San Francisco. Don't you underpriced those shares, Connor.

Don't you plead those pants, Connor. Scotty James is moving to Germany to play pro basketball. Congrats, Scotty. Happy first anniversary to Jane and Luke from Newton, Mass. And down the turnpike probably, Stephen's quitter, one-year anniversary of themselves down in Sudbury, Massachusetts. This guy wants two pumps. Deborah! Debra Hazelnut!

Snackers! Have a fantastic. weekend, you look great this week. If you got a buddy who's not snack, ask them H-Y-H-Y-S-D. Honestly, why are they your buddy? Have you had your snacks daily? We'll see you Monday. Have a great weekend? Can't wait if you know, you know. This is Jack, I own stock of Amazon, and put options of Disney. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for

informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is not an offer or sale of a security. The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA SIPC.