The Best One Yet
🔥 “LA’s Fire Hero” — Watch Duty’s #1 fire app. Rolls-Royce’s Picasso car. $1T of Gift Returns.
Fri, 10 Jan 2025
The #1 in the whole App Store is Watch Duty… a hero saving lives in LA’s wildfires.Rolls-Royce now sells 100% top-to-bottom custom cars… it’s commissioned art, like Picasso.17% of Christmas gifts get returned… so we invented a solution: “Reverse Logistics”This Sunday is the biggest day of the year for dating apps… Swiping is about to surge 70%.$BMWKY $AAPL $LULUWant more? Check out the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best One Yet. This week’s episode is on The Oregon Trail: “Tricking Kids Into Liking School Since 1971” 🐂 Subscribe at Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is WatchDuty and how is it saving lives during LA wildfires?
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, January 10th, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. You know, Jack, we didn't talk about this, but it's planuary. We got to start planning, man, for the whole year. I know. You look a little stressed about it right now.
Well, what I didn't mention on the pod the other day is that I'm pretty exhausted from my vacation. I know, but we'll plan it all out. We got to plan out the vacations, the meetings. I already planned a colonoscopy. I'll tell you that later. Oh, yeah. Long story for another pod. Jack, three stories for today's pod. What do we got on the team, boy?
For our first story, it's the Los Angeles Wildfires. They're on pace to set record amounts of fire damage. But one fire app has become the number one app in the whole app store because it's saving lives. For our second story, we're looking at Rolls-Royce's newest product. Wild. A $1 million completely custom car built from scratch.
Rolls Royce, they're borrowing a business strategy from Pablo Picasso. And our third and final story. Yetis, holidays are over, but returns aren't. Get this, 17% of Christmas gifts are getting returned. So we found a solution to returns, the Achilles heel of e-commerce. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, no one else is doing that mix of stories. Love today's mix, Jack.
January, it's got a lot of highlights, including maybe your planuaries. It does. Yeah, January, you got New Year's, snow days, planuary, my birthday's coming up. There we go. But the biggest event in January is definitely Dating Sunday. Dating Sunday, not an official holiday. Yet. Because it should be. The data shows that this coming Sunday is the biggest day of the year for dating apps.
So yetis pop on some perfume, crush a little cologne, maybe toss that ax in the trash. Here's the deal. Sundays are generally the busiest day of the week for dating apps. On Sundays, you sit on a couch and you scroll through who looks cute. But Sundays in January are the busiest of busy. Get this. According to Tinder, Sundays in January get 18% more engagement than any other Sunday.
Because you're trying to get busy. And so you're swiping surges 70% higher. Sundays in January, it's the start of a data palooza. You're swiping on Sunday, so maybe you'd be whining on Wednesday. But Jack, the best part of swiping Sundays in January? Swipers are kinder. Yeah, the average DM gets a response 19.4 minutes faster on Sundays in January. There's also less ghosting this time of the year.
And the reason for this January Sunday phenomenon in dating, what is it, Jack? It's a combination of New Year's resolutions and Valentine's Day coming up. But we think it's because you look fantastic over there. Trust us, you have never looked better. So, besties, go Tinder your grinder. Go bumble your hinge. Or post up at a coffee shop in real life. Mormon-only dating app?
Sure, if that's your thing. Do it, because the greatest economic force in Q1 of this year and every year? The second Sunday in January. I think this date's gonna go really well, Jack. If I'm lucky, we'll hit our three stories.
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Chapter 2: How is Rolls-Royce changing the luxury car market?
Yeah, basically you check WatchDuty for real-time info on where the fire is and it gets specific. Going into this week, it had 8 million users, but then overnight on Tuesday night, 600,000 Angelenos downloaded this app. Basically, as the fire grows, so does WatchDuty. And why is that, Jack? Because this app will determine your level of fire risk at a house-to-house level.
It processes information in a unique way and then tells you very simply, stay, get ready, or go. Literally, go. WatchDuty uses a volunteer force of active and retired firefighters, dispatchers, and first responders. The way we're thinking about WatchDuty is that it's almost like a news team in an app. They have boots on the ground gathering information like reporters.
First, they track the 911 fire calls, and then they listen to radio scanners, and then they actually look at wildlife cameras and satellites around the country. They send all the information back to headquarters, which acts like the editorial team telling you your risk level based on where you are right now. So it's structured like a news team. And they only use verified information.
They also don't predict where the fire is going to go because trust and integrity is key to what they're doing. Now, the founder of WatchDuty says that this app is going to be free to use forever. It's a nonprofit. They do make some money, but he says it'll always be free. They have a paid version that brings them $3 million of revenue.
And next, they're going to expand to other natural disasters, starting with floods later this year. Like we said, WatchDuty has gone viral. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in any emergency? Neighbors are the new 911. neighbors are the new 911. Yetis, Jack and I have noticed a new industry emerging, emergency response apps, basically first aid apps.
Apps that like a digital first aid kit, you only use during an emergency. Like watch duty, it gets open zero times most of the year. And then suddenly you're opening it every single half hour. Sharktivity is another one. They'll warn you if there's great white sharks in the water. So you're only going to use it when you're on the beach at Cape Cod. Or Jack, how about next door?
They warn you if there's a burglary nearby. Or pulse point, they warn you if someone nearby needs help in an emergency, like a car crash. Although WatchDuty uses verified experts, the others, they crowdsource valuable data from your neighbors. So these days, you probably don't know your neighbor's name, besties. Yet during an emergency, your neighbors and their data are your most valuable asset.
Neighbors, they're the new 911. Yes, they are. For our second story, Rolls-Royce, their sales are surging thanks to a brand new idea, commissioning a one-of-a-kind Rolls-Royce from scratch. Rolls-Royce is borrowing a business model from Pablo Picasso. Oh, Rolls-Royce. The perfect third car for your fourth home on your fifth yacht. Fun fact, Rolls-Royce doesn't call itself a car company.
No, they don't. They call themselves a luxury house. Rolls-Royce. It's the Christian Dior of driving. Well, Rolls just announced a record year. 5,700 cars sold, or sorry, ultra luxury motor cars sold. Jack, could you sprinkle on a little context to that number over there, please? And do it with some white gloves on.
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Chapter 3: What are the latest trends in holiday gift returns?
Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop? From Wondery and At Will Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to get other people to do it.
and the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats. Like, if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie. Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+.
Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
For our third and final story, a record 17% of stuff that we buy online gets returned. Nearly a trillion bucks worth of returns are happening every year. Here's what retailers are doing to stop you from returning things. Oh, Yetis, the holidays, they are over. Happy return season to all those who celebrate, Jack. Time to exchange that ambitious medium for the large that you really need.
Honey, there's a receipt in there if you don't like it, said every low confidence husband on Christmas ever. The best is when you say there's a receipt before she's even opened the package. Or you just give the receipt. Yetis, in 2023, 15% of things bought online were returned according to the National Retail Federation. In 2024, that increased to 17%.
$890 billion of stuff Americans bought online got returned. Because apparently that cute top you bought, Jack, wasn't as cute as you expected. It's a return renaissance, but not in a good way. Here's the problem, yetis. Returns are incredibly expensive. costly. The return shipping, the return packaging, the return reshelfing, it all costs a lot of money.
Processing a return actually costs retailers on average of 30% of an item's original price. And we end up paying it because Macy's or Lululemon, whoever, they end up passing on those costs to customers through higher prices. Now, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. According to the data, we are all at fault for this. Because of either bracketing or wardrobing.
Two wild words. Jack, last year, I believe we introduced our lovely T-boy audience to the term bracketing. I was asked to be a groomsman at a wedding, and there was a specific jacket I had to buy. So I bought a 38 and a 40, not knowing which size was right, and I eventually sent back the 40. Because it's an expensive jacket, you want to make sure you get it right.
So I ordered both, even though I know sending one back is going to cost Suitsupply some money. That's bracketing, and nearly two-thirds of us have done bracketing before. This year, we online shoppers are doing something even more devious. We're wardrobing. Oh, wardrobing. This is a nasty one. What is this one, Jack?
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