Auto Chips and Dips, Starbucks Power Sips, I’ll Raise You One Quarter Point

SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier,Paul Daly, Music

Paul Daly 00:25

Hey, itis Wednesday, Tuesday. It's Wednesday, March 16. Where I know we're all blownapart. Kyle's got a little baby next year he's rocking the new crewneck I gotmy early mornings are the troublemakers mug, and we're about to make sometrouble. So let's go.

Music  00:38

I know,the people really want it. They stopped

Paul Daly 00:43

the swaggame on Wednesday.

Kyle Mountsier 00:45

It's sostrong today.

Paul Daly 00:47

Feelingit? I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. Kyle has got his push back. crewneck onlet's talk about the quality of the crewneck we were going to order one and thevendor came back and said here's what we liked

Kyle Mountsier 01:00

havingbusiness people. Premium bread. Yes, actually cotton. No, yeah. So this is notyour your normal, like athletic giveaway crewneck from when you when you wentto the most recent football game, and they were giving stuff away, right? Thisis the step up the high grade. Nice and nice and like you feel the inside andyou're like Man that feels good. It sits well on you. It's a it's a wee bitfitted just so that you know you you know you're in the right thing the printquality is strong. And if you if you know about, you know, back to the originsof a ASOTU, you know that there was the push back t shirt with a live withPhilly event. And so we went brought that T shirt back, put it on a crewneck aswell. And I'm just loving it. I'm all snuggled up. You know, um, as you aseveryone knows, I'm kind of in my house still taking care of the family withbaby around and so it feels like a good good in the house and out of the house.

Paul Daly 02:00

Alongthe way, he's pumping the crewnecks you can get them out of soda calm or justrefer the email enough and you get one for free. It's just like a super, supernice crewneck and I will send it really nice. Speaking of swag, right I got mygonna do a transition there now, but I drink coffee out of my early morningsare for troublemakers mug today. Isaac, you got a little roll for us on thetroublemaker mug. That was good. Okay, so we have audio there for the podcastpeople. And it's pouring the last few drops out of the French press into theearly mornings or for trouble mug. You can also get just by referring the emailgoing to a soda calm or for an email. We've had some swag delays. We're goingto put this out there right now. I've had a few swag delays just because ofthings. So one of the mugs didn't come in we do have early morning fortroublemakers mugs. We got the pins in so we have these great beautiful enamelasoto pens. They're so cool. Kyle's bringing soccer culture into the automotiveindustry? We're gonna have the scars before you know it. Maybe next year atnada. Well do ASOTU scarves.

Kyle Mountsier 03:02

Ah, Iwould love it and well it's gonna be in Dallas. I don't know if that's going tobe as great that it will be in January. So January Dallas. I mean they had somethey had some cold.

Paul Daly 03:13

I wentto Dallas last month and I had all the cold while I was all of it right.

Kyle Mountsier 03:18

We'retalking quality before we get to it because we're going to talk we're going totalk Starbucks quality in a second that trouble hold that for the people on thepod hold that troublemaker mug up again. We went with the matte black exteriorwas the but the glossy interior and for those that really are coffee kind ofconnoisseurs. The lip is that gloss, which is what you really like that youknow the mouthfeel of drinking a really good be on there. So man, we we didn'twe didn't hey, look, we know that we didn't come here to bunt no, we didn'tcome here to bunt.

Paul Daly 03:53

I firstI thought the logo is on the wrong side. Because I'm right handed. I'm like, ohwell no one can see the logo and I'm drinking. But the point is that I see thelogo. That's right when I'm drinking right. early on. You're right it is. So weare going to start fulfillment. Now that I think we have we got all the shirts,we got the hats, we have the pins, we have the stickers, we have one of the twomugs. So now we can officially start fulfillment. So for all of you who havebeen so patient waiting for your stuff to be shipped for referring the email,thank you so much, you're going to start getting stuff in the mail. And ifyou're not expecting anything in the mail, refer the email sign up at a sodacalm and just refer to your friends you can get free stuff or if you don't wantto wait you can just go to the swag shop and buy it and we handed out a bunchof gift cards at nada. So there's going to be some of that coming into.  talk about some news. Alright, news out todayVolvo is partnering with Starbucks to test charge a new charging stationnetwork so they kind of have this idea that they're going to put in up to 60ChargePoint DC fast charging stations. That's kind of Volvo's thing. Anybodywill be able to charge at them. You know, Volvo owners will likely get firedfree electricity or significantly discounted power, but anybody with an Eviecan charge it. They're, they're planning on doing 15 locations, they're goingto start in the Denver area and then they're going to make their way over the1300 miles all the way back to the Starbucks headquarters. So I think it's apretty cool little mashup Volvo seems like the right brand for this.

Kyle Mountsier 05:19

It doesand it's smart. I mean, you know, I think about anyone partnering with a highlevel of franchises across the US is a really smart play. It's like great sogas the gas network is every corner kind of thing. So what's on every I'mthinking about why wouldn't why wouldn't an automaker you know partner with aWalgreens or CVS? It's like they're they're in the same positions that so manygas gas station locations are right so I love the play from Starbucks.Actually, I was thinking about this I was looking at a lot of the pictures fromnada and because two years back, Evie was you know, is there's kind of aconversation but not a massive conversation. And the number of chargingstations that were that were represented at nada on the show floor. I mean, youwere there you probably saw this I didn't get to see it but there's there's alot right so there's a lot of conversation about how are we going to get thenetwork from an electricity standpoint right for the for the Evie transitionthat's really pushing into the market.

Paul Daly 06:21

I'msurprised we just haven't seen more Evie charging ports. No, I'm not actuallyI've seen like gas stations. Right? That makes the most sense. Not really. Itdoesn't. Gas stations are designed to get in and out quickly. Yep, right. Theydon't need people. They don't have the space to have people you're alwayscrammed on a corner somewhere they don't space for people to park food makes alot more sense. Walgreens makes sense. Just because there's always there'salways a lot of spots at like at Rite Aid or Walgreens. Right. You know, ifthey build you know, now we're just now we're just busy driving. They actuallyhad a quick serve a quick serve food, you know, segment to their business. Theyalready have drive thru lanes. They already have a lot of resources. Theyalready have food. Right? Right. A little service counter some food because youhave to be you have to do something right. No one's gonna like wanna like oh,we'll stop at all the Walgreens on our way to Florida. It's like well, how manyyou know who

Kyle Mountsier 07:10

You knowwho should do it? You know who should do it. Sonic? Right now you probablydon't do Sonic a lot there in the north food company. Food Company in the southright? Yeah. But it's it's like pull up they do. You pull up and like they gotthe roller skate

Paul Daly 07:26

littlecharger right in there with the little

Kyle Mountsier 07:28

yourthey've got 20 spots that people are sitting in their car to food 20 to 30minutes. Right there. Charge it

Paul Daly 07:35

up.Boom, done. Hashtag patent TM. On point I was Kyles Idea

Kyle Mountsier 07:43

charging,call us get our consultant. Speaking of Starbucks

Paul Daly 07:47

segue.We're gonna put this comment I'm telling you, because you're waiting atStarbucks is definitely long enough to charge your car that's a good. So, CEO,Kevin Johnson is stepping down after five years on the job at Starbucks. Andguess who is coming in to be the interim CEO? Elon, no, I'm just kidding.Howard Schultz is coming back for his third return to the plate as a CEO ofStarbucks, you know, Howard Schultz. Was was the the brainchild behindStarbucks. He's the one if you've ever had a latte or a cappuccino in the US,you can thank Howard Schultz, because he's the one that actually made that anormal thing. It's weird to believe a life when that didn't exist. But therewas there was a time when the only people that drank coffee in their vehicleswere like long haul truck drivers. Right. And it was it was a functionalbeverage. And that's it. So Howard Schultz really brought that culture to theUS, you know, grew the company. seismically stepped down as CEO, things didn'tgo as a step back and he went out they found this other CEO this time, it'sactually on good terms. So So So Kevin Johnson, like he grew the share price50% over five years, not

Kyle Mountsier 09:08

havingnuts. Not Yes. It's not shabby, especially when, like, from from, from aStarbucks perspective, there's a lot of competitors coming into the market,right local competitors. And so for him to consistently provide new value, youknow, they've done a lot of neat things with their cold brew with light withlight stuff. That's more along the third wave coffee stuff. There's a lot ofinnovation there. There's a lot of, you know, constantly evolving thinking ofbeing that that same startup that was in in the 90s and kind of growing at arapid pace. Right. And, and we'll go ahead and do this speaking of startups,segue soon, the audit, you know what's even more impressive? I can't even seethe show notes right now. And I just remember this one because it's it's nearand dear to my heart, but CEO Stellantis has gone on records and and and put itout there saying he's transformed the company. And this legacy company ofStellantis , which we know is an older OEM, right, that has a bunch of legacy,you know, mentality and moved into kind of the startup mode feeling. Yeah,right, which we talk about a lot that any business has the capacity to do, itjust takes a shift of thinking it's a shift of speed of mentality about how youapproach problems, how you how you attack with solutions, right. And I thinkthat it's it's a call to all business owners that are needing to rethink thatare needing to stay ahead of the times that are needing to keep with disruptorsthat owning a startup mode or an entrepreneurial mentality within your withinyour business is necessary to adapt and grow.

Paul Daly 10:53

Yeah,without a doubt, you know, and it is Stellantis is, you know, Stellantis hasn'tbeen noted to be the most innovative, right, it did that. And, you know, whenthey took over, even so there's been a lot of contention, a lot of questioning,like, Okay, we'll take another swing at Chrysler, you know what I mean? And so,for them to be like, trying to really flip that around it, it takes a lot ofanyone who's run a business, right, a lot of people that watch the show runbusinesses, whether that is running dealerships, or tech companies, you know,how difficult it is once the momentum shifts against you to just stop movingbackwards. And so, you know, props for like, stopping moving backwards, right,and plotting, moving forwards and changing the culture and orient orienting,you know, appropriately, we'll see what happens.

Kyle Mountsier 11:42

Yeah,we'll see what happens, it's still gonna be tough, right. But this move tosoftware moved. Evie, there's kind of a natural opportunity for sure. There's,there's a natural opportunity for any business right now we've talked aboutthis, the world is flipping the world is turning, if your business is inbusiness, today, you have a natural opportunity, because of all the marketshifts, to take and move at the adjustments to approach new ideas to bring newnew things into your business, that natural, the natural element of what'shappening in the world today is ripe for the picking for you to be adjusting inyour business plan and the way that you do business. And it's appropriate,

Paul Daly 12:22

morethan ever for automotive, you know, kind of in talking to people on the showfloor, you know, got a little insight into the hunter make meeting, a makemeeting, by the way, we talked about this yesterday, we're gonna try to leteveryone know a make meeting is if you think of like a car make and model likea Honda Accord, right? Make meeting is just a manufacturer meeting. So makemeeting the Honda meeting. Basically, they were saying, hey, like, we're goingto tell you this. Probably I probably shouldn't know this. I don't know. Idon't know. But they're like, we're not looking at getting back to anywherenear normal till 2024. So that's this year, it's not next year. See, you'reafter that already saying that. And what when I heard that, you know, and sothat the advice there is like, this is the new normal. Don't don't like justhang on waiting for the next thing kind of set like this is a fundamental timeto shift your business and oriented to the new way because the world is flippedupside down.

Kyle Mountsier 13:18

Don'twait for it to go back. Because it's I don't think it's ever going back. No,it's not going back the way it was it when it settles the selling will looktotally different

Paul Daly 13:26

foryou're never going back from an inventory standpoint, from a business modelstandpoint. So yeah, man. Good. I'm still and it's just like, the timing isjust right. Right. Yes, the harder you work, the luckier you get. You know,speaking of Ford, I'm not gonna do another segue because it's really a segue.For what speaking of automotive manufacturers, so Ford is cutting features,they announced that, in order to keep the lines running, the factory linesrunning, they're starting to cut features out of their popular explorer,eliminating cushy, cushy features, like rear heated seats, and rear climatecontrols. And if you have kids, you know, rear climate controls or somethingyou really don't want back there anyway. Nah, yeah. Everybody fights overthose, right. Hi. Hi. It's on or off. And so like I personally happy thatthere's no air climate controls and explores, I don't have one, but you know,the rear heated seats for us to some pretty pretty big creature comforts, butthere's going to be this low inventory, like for the next you know, five toeight years, you're gonna be like, oh, there's just one. Oh, it doesn't havethe rear heated seats. It says it it does, but it doesn't.

Kyle Mountsier 14:40

Well,this is what's interesting. They're going to they're going to give dealers theparts to install them yet when the chips are available, but here's what'scrazy. They'll give a discount or, or or a rebate back to people that don't chooseto install them. So now think about appraising a car in three to four years.You're like, oh, This one, it's it's gonna be so dynamic, right? It might looklike it has it, but it doesn't have it and did it get installed? And how do wetrack whether or not stuff get installed? Oh, man, just whether or notsomething has something because of the year model is going to be reallyinteresting to both appraise and merchandise in the automotive space,

Paul Daly 15:19

I thinkit's going there going to be very rarely installed. It's my

Kyle Mountsier 15:24

guess,without a doubt. I know how often recalls get get taken care of, you know, Iused to be in charge of mailing those things out. And those lists stayed reallylong.

Paul Daly 15:35

So weknow how everyone loves to go in for service experience. It Love it. Love it,they love it, trying to change that, but they love it. Look, my screen and myKia Telluride, right? It literally doesn't work. Now probably like 20% of thetime. I turned my car on goodness. And I have a spinny pinwheel and neitherdisplay goes on. For some reason. It happens in the morning. And the spinnydisplay goes on. And guess what? I still haven't called Why I don't want theinconvenience. Like I have my speedometer. That's fine. I don't need

Kyle Mountsier 16:04

if theywere like, Hey, you're a part of something that probably is happening to KiaTelluride. Can we come pick up your car with you let them pick up your car.

Paul Daly 16:13

And notonly would I do that, but I want my summer tire s witched over. Right now. Iwould definitely have an oil change done right. If they were doing that itwould be there right now. Right now. Right now and we'd have it'll haveeverybody can't have art from Lincoln. Right? Who told me he would take reallygood care of it wasn't Lincoln, then it probably hope call aren't up. So. Yeah.So I mean, look, things are moving and shaking. I was talking with Darren don'tyesterday, and we were just continuing the conversation that like so many mostpeople haven't caught on to the fact that this is the opportunity that you'regoing to get. Yep. Right. Every 20 years or so, a massive disruptiveopportunity comes along. And if you're focusing in on it as an opportunity andsay hey, what can we disrupt? How can we make some trouble when everything isis you know, when everything is shaken up? That's actually how thedisproportionate winners disproportionately wins?

Kyle Mountsier 17:09

Absolutely,absolutely. All right.

Paul Daly 17:12

Well,kyle got baby appointments to go to get out of here. Does with baby mama, wegot a podcast to be on later on today. We have some work to do making contentyou have some work to do making this industry everything it should be

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