The Best One Yet - 👡 “When Birkenstocks get bullied” — Elon & Jack’s Texas bit-mine. Birkenstocks’ store wars. Home-flation drama.

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Ben the Bitcoin walk into a Texas bar… and open the world’s first sustainable crypto mine. Birkenstocks were living their comfiest life, until they got bullied in aisle six. And out of all the things you’re paying more for, mortgages are the first true double dip: pay more for the house — and pay more to pay for the house.$SQ $Z $BTCGot 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/viewformID: 2119351Learn 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 Monday. Welcome back. April 11th. Tea Boys. Yes.

Welcome back. It's the best one yet. But wait, how is the, how is the little celebration going on? HBD to WG? There we go. Wilder. How's he doing? He's even enjoyed the first birthday?

Wilder Gray celebrated his first birthday on Saturday. Nick, have you heard of a smash cake? Oh, is it like a mini cupcake? Do babies get mini cupcakes? How does that work? Mini, minik cupcakes? Basically, yeah. And guess what?

They're encouraged to smash the cake with their fists and their forehead. And they just like a bowl. That's obliterate that thing. Honestly, as a parent, do you really have another alternative? Well, actually, every meal, now that I think of it, is a smash meal. That's just how it ends up being. Kids, the celebration of life. What a pod son. Snackers, TBOI, the best one yet. First story, Jack, what do we got? Birkenstock has been living their comfiest lives forever. Yeah, until the brand just got bullied over an aisle six.

For our second story, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Ben the Bitcoin, walk into a Texas ball. And build the world's first sustainable crypto mine. Our third and final store, you think gasoline prices are bad? They are pretty bad. A monthly mortgage payment is up 55% in just one year. Yeah, a lot of prices have been going up, but only one price makes you a double dip. Snackers, before we hit that wonderful mix. Fantastic mix to start a week.

Order's almanac week 108. Yeah, things were running out of because the pandemic. Jack and I've been keeping track for you. This week, it's cheap skates. Yeah, it is. We're running out of cheap skates. We're running out of cheap skates because there's been a surge in tips. The number of tips we are tipping has popped.

Yes, it has. And the amount that we're tipping has also popped. According to data from Square, before the pandemic, the average tip was 20%. Jack, what's the average tip today? It's 21%. There we go. And it's not just a bigger percentage that we're tipping. We are tipping more frequently, like on more transactions.

Snaggers, you're tipping more because you're tapping more. The more you pay with those touchless little screens, the more opportunities there are to tip. With a tap, aka more tip opportunities. each time you tap for a tip. You can't even get a coffee these days without the screen prompting you to pop on a little something more at the end. Jack, there is a lot of pressure in that Machiazza moment. You're like 25%? Do I have to?

Okay, I guess I have to. Oh, what the heck? No, I don't need a receipt. Don't remind me I just increase the price by 30%. Everyone behind you in line is judging you anyway. But your generosity snackers, it's commensurate with the amount of service you selected. Exactly. Because Jack, the average tip for a sit-down restaurant, it's 20%.

The average tip for a delivery order is 17%. The average tip for a takeout is 15%. Now, some restaurants, they tried to terminate the tip. You can't terminate the tip, but now they brought back the tip. The tip has returned. It's been the return of the tip. But have tips reached the top? Have they?

TBD? To be determined? Let's hit our two stories. The third story's been included as a tip. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about to hear rain food is air candy. They don't reflect them. views of the Robberhood family.

It's all informational just so 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, Birkenstock shoes, they have gotten so popular. They got to use a new strategy. Competitive bullying. Competitive bullying. Because the war's in the stores. Burk and Stock, it's Chunky Jack. It's chunky. It's the crocs for big kids is what it is. You got your son? Are you wearing them right now? By the way, I have crocs too, so I don't know who you're talking about.

Honestly, it is a fantastic potting shoe. I've told you before. It distributes the weight across the whole foot. It's a phenomenal product. The orthopedic footbed helps us hit the high notes. I got one right here. This is the one you sent me. I know. I've worn it outside so much. I hesitate to wear it inside, but I wear it for the big pots. Don't limit your use of it, man. Don't limit your use. That's true. But Snackers, if you buy Burkker's, It's because of a 300-year journey that got you to that decision. 1774, a German cobbler named Johann Adam Birkenstock. Nailed the pronunciation. Came up with an idea to make cork-sold shoes to support farmers' feet.

This shoe company is older than America. Yeah. And it stayed in Germany for like 200 years until the 60s when a California hippie was visiting Bavaria and saw some Perkinsstocks in a spa and said, We got to sell these in the States. Yeah, so they brought them back to California, all of which sounds like the punchline to a weird joke your dad would say. But Birkenstock has gone from farmer to fancy. Birkenstock, the shoes, they actually sold themselves to a French luxury group for $5 billion.

Yeah. Kind of a sad story. I wish they were still private, but the family wanted to cash out. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, like the shoe Moses would wear if he went to farmer's markets. But now here is, Bergenstock, they like that money and they really like new money. With this new money, they're going upmarket. There's a new $800 collab with a stiletto designer to make blinged out Birkenstocks. Like, are you doing the Furkenstocks now?

Alex does the furkinstocks. Right. It's a luxury lifestyle. The fur-coated Birkenstock. But Snackers, here's the problem with all that popularity. In fact, this is the problem with any kind of commercial popularity. You become vulnerable to a zucking. Yeah, you get zucked.

You just get zucked. And Birkenstock's iconic style has been zucked. There are a lot of copycat clogs out there. because honestly, the ugly comfort shoe has become the shoe of the pandemic. It's searched. I wouldn't call it ugly. Well, it was lockdown chic and crock sales search too, although I know you seem to have. I have two pairs, dude.

I have parents for lockdown and lockout. The times are changing, dude. Where are you? Jack's going Birkenstocks by day, crocs by night. Snackers, Birkenstock copycats, they've gotten so bad that according to the Wall Street Journal, Birkenstock is aggressively pushing stores to crack down on copycats. Birkenstocks has drawn a line in the sand. They're demanding that Nordstrom and Zappos stop selling faux burks. No more fake Birkenstocks. Burkinstocks is telling those department stores, if you carry the knockoff products, we're going to stop selling you our real products.

This got so intense that a Birkenstock, like executive, contacted a local store and said, it is your choice and your choice alone. But the copycat companies, they claim Birkenstock is going too far. And they're calling this competitive bullies. They're saying that Birkenstock is competitively bullying them out of the store. The copycat companies say they haven't violated the law. They have not violated Birkenstock's patents, which is the cork footbeds. Right. They're like, hey, the cork footbeds, we're leaving that alone. But we've seen pictures of these and it's a classic zucking. These fake Birkenstocks? Yeah, they're folklies for your feet.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Birkenstock? The wars in the stores. Snackers, the majority of consumer decisions are actually made at the very last possible moment in the stores. Birkenstock knows that despite all their work to get you excited about their clogs, your final consumer decision happens in the store. Yeah, you walked in with an intention, maybe months of an intention. You get to the store, you're in the aisle, you're staring at the shelf,

and maybe you're swayed by the price. So after 300 years of building a brand, Birkenstock can't lose you at that moment to a cheaper knockoff. Despite all the money that went into marketing and awareness for months, The war is in the stores. The war is in the stores. For our second story, this one's a shocker. The biggest solar-powered Bitcoin mine, it's being set up right now in West Texas.

Not a coal mine. No. A Bitcoin mine. Oh, and it involves Tesla, Jack Dorsey, and the sun. Snackers, let's drive down 95 all the way to the bottom to the Bitcoin Conference in Miami. Yeah, Chicago does logistics. Miami does hype. Yes.

And many at the Bitcoin Conference predicted that Bitcoin. would hit a million dollars. Yeah, if you're bearish. And then the mayor of Miami loves Bitcoin so much, he unveiled a rival to the Wall Street bull, a metallic bull crypto version. If you say Bitcoin three times, the mayor of Miami appears and tries to sell you a oceanfront property. Instead of blindly optimistic proclamations, though, Snackers, Jack Dorsey announced something concrete. Yeah, he did. The ex-CEO of Twitter and the current CEO of Block, formerly square, got some ideas. He also has Bitcoin in his Twitter bio. His current company Block announced a big crypto project. Okay, here it is. A huge Bitcoin mine in West Texas with startup Blockstream that's

going to be completely powered by the sun. To understand why he's doing this, you got to know that Bitcoin is digital, but has a surprisingly big physical footprint. Yeah, honestly, this hits Jackie me every time. Bitcoin transactions, they're stored and verified on the blockchain. That's digital. But that requires real human work. which is called mining. That's physical. That's a super complex computer process that keeps the Bitcoin wheel turning.

People set up these really powerful computers. Those people are called miners, and miners get paid in freshly minted Bitcoin for doing the mining. Okay, so that's digital. But mining requires a huge amount of electricity to power those computers, which has big global warming consequences.

And that's physical. And that is why Jack Dorsey's West Texas Bitcoin mine is going to be powered by, the sun. Exactly. The largest star in our solar system. Like we said, digital currency, but surprisingly physical. This brings us to an interesting moment. Who's also into crypto? Elon Musk. And who's now on the board of Jack Dorsey's old company Twitter? Elon Musk. So Snackers, now Twitter board members, Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, they're teaming up to create a Texas Bitcoin mine down in a lone star state. Picture a massive desert with a ton of Tesla solar panels and batteries that power supercomputers.

to mine Bitcoin way out in West Texas. I think that's the singularity. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the first ever West Texas sustainably solar-powered Bitcoin mine? Tech has transformed our definition of engineering and of mining. Yeah, Snackers, there's a day

when engineering meant gears and metal. And when mining meant soot and coal. Right, Pop? Today, though, engineers are the interns getting paid $10,000 a month to sit at a computer and code some onboarding flow. Yeah, and mining is increasing about just creating a new crypto.

Engineers built the Brooklyn Bridge, but also built Tinder's swipe right function. Yeah, miners dig into the earth, but also dig into the blockchain. Tech has transformed the meaning of engineering and mining. Tech, it's disrupted our dictionary. For our third and final story to kick off the week, a whole lot of prices have gone up in the last year, but owning a home? Owning a home is 55% more expensive right now versus a year ago. Yeah, and across America, home buyers are suffering a double dip.

Okay. Serial prices are up 8% from last year. Sweater prices up 12%. Hotels are 29% higher. Used cars. Remember we were freaking out like three weeks ago because like used cars up 41%. Houses are a whole different world. Nationwide snackers, the price of owning a home is up 55% in just the last year.

We're calling it homeflation. And there's two reasons why homeflation is happening at such a redactored. ridiculous rate. Okay, first of all, reason number one, home prices. Pretty straightforward. Driven by pandemic house hype. The median price of a home sale just hit $357,000 in February because people want new homes. That's 15% more expensive than one year ago, a pretty big increase. That is a serious increase in just a single year. But it's not 55%, which brings us to reason two. Right. It's not home prices, it's mortgage rates. Right. It's like it's no, secret that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates because they want to fight inflation.

They want to stop all these prices from going up on all the breakfast cereal we just mentioned. Right. Unfortunately, though, those higher interest rates mean higher mortgage rates, too. So if you want to get a home and you got a mortgage, the classic 30-year mortgage was just a 2.67 percent borrowing rate last year. That was a record low last year. That was really low. Jack, where is that 30-year classic mortgage interest rate today?

Over 5%. That's a lot higher. So we've gone from 2.67% to 5% in one year. So when interest rates from the Fed affect mortgage rates, the impact is huge. When you've got a $300,000 loan you're talking about, doubling the interest rate has a huge impact on that loan. That four bedrooms monthly payment, and now it feels like a six-bedroom monthly payment.

All right. So add together the 15% jump in home prices with doubling of mortgage rates you've got homeflation. Boom, the monthly payment for the average mortgage in America, on the average new home in America is up 55%. Out of all the pandemic imbalances. Yeah, like cereal, lucky charm, sweaters, used cars. Housing is the most persistent and impactful pandemic imbalance. Okay. Now, Jack and I should point out, it's not everyone who's suffering from this homeflation situation. If you own a home, this is good that home prices are right. Pretty, pretty, pretty good to have that four-bedroom condo. But if you don't, homes have become simply unaffordable.

Yeah, Zillow, it's messing with your head and it feels personal. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the housing market? Housing is the humpback whale in the household budget. Yeah, Snackers, we also just got the government report about inflation. Inflation, highest level in 41 years. And this was on the first page of that report about rising prices. The government said it right to us. Shelter was by far the biggest factor in the increase in prices. Yeah, the cost of housing, aka Shelter, makes up a third of Americans' budgets. So we have a 55% jump in a category responsible for a third of what we spend. That's not a jump. That's a humpback whale.

Housing is the humpback whale in household budgets. And potential homebuyers are suffering right now from homeflage. That four-bedroom condos monthly payment now feels like a six-bedroom condo monthly payment. Jack, can you whip up a smash cake? Can you send me a smash cake, please? It sounds fantastic. I think after you're one, you can't happen anymore.

In the meantime, I'll whip up the takeaways for us. Birkenstock is trying to crack down on copycat, copyclocks. Because for any physical product, the wars in the stores. For our second story, Jack, Elon, and the sun are doing bitcoining in West Texas. Yeah, tech has changed the meaning of engineering. And now it's changed the meaning of mining, too. For our third and final story, higher home prices plus higher mortgage rates equals homeflation. Housing. It is the humpback whale of household budgets.

Now, time for our smash cake of the day. This one sent in by Blake Positec from lovely New Canaan, Connecticut. Monday morning, Blake is messing with our minds. Yeah, humans, we're made up of Adams. You may have remembered that one for bio. That's true. And Adams are mostly made up of empty space. Yeah, ipso facto, humans are mostly made up of empty space. In fact, if you remove all the empty space from the atoms in our body, sounds hard. We would fit into a particle of lead dust.

In fact, fact, the entire human race, if you removed all the dead space in our bodies, could fit into the volume of a sugar cube. We are spaceheads. And Jack, 14 sugar cubes fit into one smash cake. You call my son a spacehack? That's the singularity. Snaggers, Jack and I love doing this with you every day. Let's do it tomorrow.

I can't wait. Snackers, I just sat down, stood up and sat down twice more. And you were wearing Birkenstocks the entire time. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, just another happy birthday to the Podson Wilder. I feel like we should throw that out there. Can't get enough.

HBD to WG. And also, congratulations to Snacker Adrian Perez, who became a U.S. citizen on his birthday in Orlando. And just a third happy birthday shout out to Wilder. If you're listening, you're a great. kid. And Haley C. Yusin, congrats on the investment banking internship over in New York City. Happy fifth year anniversary to Phoebe and Christian in Goodyear, Arizona. And Sean Tipner, congrats on launching the therapy practice in Rockaway, New Jersey. Congrats to Heribito Lopez for the new job in Oceanside.

And Anna Kolakowski, enjoy the 18th birthday down in Louisville. Happy birthday to Richard Gow in San Jose. And Michael, happy birthday in Oklahoma City. Happy birthdays to Katrina and Elena, twins in Chicago. And to Jimmy and Sarah, congrats on the. the birthday for your baby son Wilder in Truckee, California. Gotta say, a kid named Wilder growing up in Truckee is going to crush it. And Keith or Ritter, happy birthday in Madison, Wisconsin. Happy 28 to Katie Harper in San Francisco. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock a block and we both

own some Bitcoin. We both recorded this podcast wearing Birkenstocks. 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., Robinhood Financial LLC, or any of their

subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principle and performance does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. HBD to WG.