Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime

Speaker 1 This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network Production.

Speaker 1 We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month,

Speaker 1 taking the BS out of business for over six years in over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.

Speaker 2 What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now.

Speaker 2 It is our weekly business and marketing news of the week here on January 17th, 2025.

Speaker 2 Joined as always by my good friend Chris Hansen. What's up, brother?

Speaker 3 What's up, Brian? How are you today, bro?

Speaker 2 Good. I'm good.
Always getting right. Always right here in good old Greenville, South Carolina, home of the Swamp Rabbit Trail that we're on.

Speaker 2 Here it's Social House, my company, the best co-working lounge in Greenville. If you're in Greenville, South Carolina, give me a shout out.
Just Google Social House.

Speaker 2 We've got a social lounge and club and hang out and co-work. Mixed-use space.
It's where our studio is here in the beautiful downtown heart of Greenville, South Carolina.

Speaker 2 You know, I don't give Greenville enough love. Trying to do that a little bit more.
It's a great town. Come visit.
You know, everyone else does.

Speaker 2 So we love you. Come on.
We'll break some tour, more tourism dollars to the city. It's a beautiful place.
Come see the bridge. Come see the green trees, the foliage.

Speaker 2 And, you know, stop by and see us at Social House. We love our hometown.
What's up, brother? What's cooking this week?

Speaker 3 You know, just still getting back in that New Year's rhythm, but we're doing good.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 New Year's, and we got an inauguration coming up on Monday. Can't be visit Trump.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's a pretty unique thing. Like,

Speaker 2 is it, is it, it was like one other time? I forget, I think I read this a while back. I should know my history better.
I know. But we're in between like

Speaker 2 presidents, like elected, not elected, elected, in office. Like, it's a pretty unique situation, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 I can't think of anything that's happened.

Speaker 2 Some random president that I should remember. Someone's going to give me some schooling over that.
Yep. But Trump will be back in office.
Whoever's asleep at the wheel will get out and

Speaker 2 we'll get on with

Speaker 2 this thing.

Speaker 2 Talk about policies, not about elections and everything else. So, look,

Speaker 2 we do have part of the show notes because I thought it was pretty interesting, like all the business-related stuff that's happening in and around the inauguration.

Speaker 2 Some of the things, and that's what you know, today's episode is going to be pretty loose.

Speaker 2 Chris and I are going to kind of flip-flop on a few topics as we open up the playbook here on right about now. We're going to talk crypto.

Speaker 2 We're going to talk the impacts of of the inauguration, financial news, inflation,

Speaker 2 some store closings, the impact of that,

Speaker 2 and a few other topics that we'll get into. But we'll start right off the top.
The inauguration's on Monday, and I was fascinated. I don't know about you, Chris, that just like the

Speaker 2 overall list of attendees. Like, it's a powerhouse, man.

Speaker 2 I know that a lot of important people show up for every presidential election, but there's

Speaker 2 a substantial business flair, business

Speaker 2 aroma from this inauguration with the people that are going to be there. I'm going to give you the list and get your reaction here.
So

Speaker 2 which billionaires will attend other than Elon Musk? Well,

Speaker 2 Tesla SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will be there. His net worth is $423 billion.
We have CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who we talked about last week, $205 billion net worth. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, $232 billion.

Speaker 2 Lots of bees flying around here, you know.

Speaker 2 Damn, dude. We'll attend.

Speaker 2 And so Mark, Jeff, and Elon are going to be seated together on the platform alongside Trump's cabinet.

Speaker 2 CEO Sam Altman of Open AI will also be. I love this, man.
I'm just going to tell you, as a business guy,

Speaker 2 haven't always agreed with all of these people,

Speaker 2 and you can call it politics, pandering, whatever you want. I like what it signals for business and for what it and unity on some level.
You know, all

Speaker 2 the other side and what's been happening the last four years, they painted this picture of unity coming in, but it's been anything but.

Speaker 2 And as polarizing as I can admit,

Speaker 2 maybe Donald Trump was at one time or another, I think he learned. And I think he's bringing a lot of powerhouse people together.
A lot of people are excited about business.

Speaker 2 And it's time to get down to brass tacks and make America doing business again, big time. So I love this.
I don't know what you think about it.

Speaker 3 I dig it. I mean, I'm

Speaker 2 Elon,

Speaker 3 I like what he's doing. You know, obviously, my whole thing, I was telling someone earlier today, like, we need people with business experience.

Speaker 3 And I think this is being talked about a lot more, where we have too many lawyers in politics, right? We got too many teachers or whatever.

Speaker 2 All I know is

Speaker 2 career politicians. Right.

Speaker 3 No one's worked in the private sector and ran a business. Therefore, why would you be in charge of handling a budget or any type of management if you've never managed anything in your life?

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 I love all these business guys. You know, Zuckerberg, I'm glad he's had an about face, supposedly, right?

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 3 It doesn't matter if it's genuine or not. He's removing censorship.
That's good. And you want, I mean, these are arguably the largest companies on the planet with the most influence and power.

Speaker 3 I want them to be in alignment with our president, you know? Yeah. If anything, for national security interests, right?

Speaker 3 Like you said, we need cohesiveness. 2020 was very,

Speaker 3 you know, big tech versus Trump, it felt like, like, right?

Speaker 2 Or

Speaker 3 even censorship when it came to something like COVID, for example.

Speaker 3 So it wasn't necessarily just politics, right? But I like seeing all these guys, man. I think, you know,

Speaker 3 especially, you know, me being time I spent Houston, someone like Tillman Fertita, like, I've seen what he's built there. You know, he's owner of the Rockets, hotel owner.
He wants to do casinos.

Speaker 3 The guy's a business guy. He's experienced.
He was big on TV shows.

Speaker 3 So it's like, people have track records. These are the type of people that I want making decisions.

Speaker 2 Yeah, smart business people, you know, that have put aside maybe their differences.

Speaker 2 I mean, freaking Mark Zuckerberg is going to be hosting a black tie event like Monday night. You know,

Speaker 2 Bezos and Zuckerberg, their companies, have both pledged a million dollars. to Trump's inauguration fund.
Again, call it politics, call it pandering, whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 2 It helps America that these people are getting along and you can play the fiddle, oh, the rich get richer and all that. I'm sorry, but we want,

Speaker 2 it don't always work from the bottom up. You know, I know that a lot of people like to trump that, pun intended.

Speaker 2 And I'm just here to tell you that there's a balance in all of this, but we need innovative, smart business people being a part of key decisions and removing

Speaker 2 friction

Speaker 2 and tension internally. It doesn't mean everybody has to always agree, but we want the smartest minds talking more about policies that help America and America's people rather than infighting.

Speaker 2 That does nothing. It does no good for anyone.
Everyone's playing a game.

Speaker 3 But at least now we're all playing the same game, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 It's called, Let's All Get Ahead, you know, it's called America Winning, you know,

Speaker 3 and like you always say, high tide raises all ships, right?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 yeah, I'm liking where this tide's going. We got to see it in action.
So

Speaker 2 nobody's waving the flag of victory here like that every problem is solved. That's not what we're doing.
I'm just saying I like the direction and the unity that I'm seeing from a lot of smart people.

Speaker 2 That's what it comes down to. A lot of smart people done a lot of important things for business.
I run multiple businesses. I know how hard, how hard that shit is.
It's hard. You got to be smart.

Speaker 2 You got to be lucky sometimes. You got to, you know, know how to ride the waves and do all those things, but it takes real chutzpah

Speaker 2 to manage a budget, manage a company, manage people.

Speaker 2 And people that have done it at the highest level, having say and having influence and having, you know, like we can all, I mean, you can play the victim card all you want. Oh, there's Rich's guy.

Speaker 2 I mean, we could do that. But I think the upside here is good for all Americans on the whole if you choose to see it that way.

Speaker 2 Country singer Carrie Underworld will perform.

Speaker 2 You know?

Speaker 2 NFL. She's done.
They're doing the old Carrie Underworld. She's under, she's everywhere.
Whoever knew. American Idol, now she's doing NFL football, singing at the inauguration.
inauguration.

Speaker 2 And not

Speaker 2 to be outdone, the village people. Look, hey, all people, baby,

Speaker 2 will do a YMCA. It was a Trump rally staple.

Speaker 2 They'll be performing at multiple inaugural events. I wonder if they'll play YMCA.

Speaker 3 No doubt, baby.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 They'll be

Speaker 2 YMCAing it up.

Speaker 2 That song stood the test of time, I guess.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's been one of their theme songs. Yeah, exactly.
I know they tried to get him to stop playing it

Speaker 2 at rallies.

Speaker 2 So, I mean, as related, so okay.

Speaker 2 Let's give you some accent. So, stuff here.

Speaker 2 Get in with Crypto Chris.

Speaker 2 Our new name for Chris.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I look, I'm a marketing guy. I like to give everybody kind of a name.
You know,

Speaker 2 this one may or may not stick, but we may or may not have a jingle made.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 what are the impacts? Okay, Trump's coming off. What's the business impacts? We're going to talk about a few of those.
I think starting with crypto,

Speaker 2 I'm officially back on the train. I've been off the train for about four years.
You can align that with certain things or not, but more just the reality of.

Speaker 2 not wanting to keep up with it every day and it seemingly kind of fluttering. But the game's back on.

Speaker 2 Talk to me, Chris, about what you're hearing, what you're seeing. You know, I know we've got some headlines related to that, but what's cooking on the crypto front? Yeah, crypto, Chris, in the house.

Speaker 3 I think the main, the two biggest things probably that were mentioned, right, is Trump's inauguration.

Speaker 3 Trump is vocally, you know, pro-crypto. The crypto community is a huge supporter of Trump.

Speaker 3 So just naturally, the sentiment is very positive around that.

Speaker 3 And then you have Trump also

Speaker 3 basically firing, he's stepping down and resigning Gary, I think it's Gary Gensler,

Speaker 3 the SEC head, who is not a crypto guy, not a fan of crypto, very stringent policy. So he steps down the day of the inauguration.
So that also is a good sign. So,

Speaker 3 you know, a lot of assumptions there, right? And then, you know, we talked a little bit before we were talking about XRP.

Speaker 3 You know, word is XRP will be handing a lot of the digital payments for a lot of the major institutional banks here, probably this year.

Speaker 3 And I think you were talking about that's went up quite a bit. I don't hold any XRP anymore.

Speaker 2 Oh, it does. I'll stop there to just give you a little XRP update.
Give the XRP crowd some love.

Speaker 2 They're loyal.

Speaker 2 They are a loyal bunch. And I'm going to name one.
I'm going to give him credit.

Speaker 2 Callan, he's an amazing, talented, creative guy that was on my team for a number of years. He's independent now, like all those good guys do.
So, but he told me about XRP. He's one of the fanboys.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. He would talk to me for hours about XRP and all this stuff.
And look, he had me at hell up. I was just like, because I was trying to get into it.
This is three or four years ago.

Speaker 2 And so I bought some and sold some, did all that.

Speaker 2 I've made a little coin, but then it's been kind of like everything else with the policies, you know, kind of been a little flat line, just kind of like not doing, going up a little, going down a little, all that shit.

Speaker 2 But nonetheless, when I got back in the game, you know, three or four months ago, I

Speaker 2 went heavy with XRP sub a dollar, like 77 cents, 90 cents, somewhere in there. And let's just say it's, it's, I think it crested three bucks a day for the first time or it's going over.

Speaker 2 It's uh, it's pumping. And all, like Chris said, all the metrics, all the stuff behind it is pretty solid.
So this is not financial advice.

Speaker 2 Consult your financial advisor, banker, rabbi, priest, whoever you, whoever, your wife, your significant other, your husband, whatever, whoever, whenever.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 this is an opinion show. We do share what we do, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad.

Speaker 2 If you need to know what not to do with your wife, I can tell you that.

Speaker 2 But on the crypto front, XRP is pumping. And shout out to Callan for that advice back in the day.
Cause that's why it is why I kind of jumped back in.

Speaker 2 I knew the, you know, a lot of the details behind it. And it seems to be validated.
Most people in the know think five, 10 plus over the next

Speaker 2 12 months. So there's my XRP spin.

Speaker 2 And,

Speaker 2 you know, it is professional gambling. So.

Speaker 2 Only a bet which you can afford to lose

Speaker 2 That's what I would say. That'd be my advice.

Speaker 3 Which also, there was word that the banks, many of the major banks will soon be announcing that they can be custodians of your cryptocurrency holdings. So if you were,

Speaker 3 this is probably, you know, for your older people, right?

Speaker 3 That don't understand technology as much.

Speaker 3 But for example, if you want to own Bitcoin, I'm sure the banks will have it where you can even purchase Bitcoin through your bank and they'll be the custodian and they'll hold it for you.

Speaker 3 So, I think as far as mass adoption, that's a step where this is now easily accessible to everyone that uses a bank. So,

Speaker 2 good news,

Speaker 2 yes.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 so,

Speaker 2 crypto news,

Speaker 2 seek your financial advice accordingly, but I would say put in what you can afford to lose. And I think it's definitely safer than college football gambling at this point.

Speaker 2 For sure.

Speaker 2 Better return.

Speaker 2 Because I will say you don't see the complete like,

Speaker 2 okay,

Speaker 2 a dollar one day, zero the next swings.

Speaker 2 I don't see that. You definitely see a lot of synths.
You know,

Speaker 2 it's, it's kind of a fun

Speaker 3 might jump up 10% or down 10% within a week, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah. It's more

Speaker 2 It's still a little more volatile and the swings are a lot greater than the stock market,

Speaker 2 but it's more in line with the stock market than it ever has been as far as the percentage of swings. You just don't see, like, I remember four or five years ago, you'd see 3,000%

Speaker 2 swings in a day. Now, today, like, your biggest gainers might be up 40 or 50%.
And I'm not saying that's not significant. That is significant, but it's not 4,000%.
Like, like five years ago,

Speaker 2 it was a

Speaker 3 lot of 3% percent for six hours. Yeah, and then it drops back down.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 3 just depends how aggressive you want to be and how involved and active.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 exactly. And so crypto is on the upswing.
I did see, you know, inflation.

Speaker 2 The numbers were so-so. So interest rates were probably going to hang tight.

Speaker 2 And yeah, we like to keep it on the positive end. So this isn't meant to be deb or Downer stuff.
It's been, it's been, it's really meant to be more WTF.

Speaker 2 This is, I'm a business and marketing guy, but I'm not a financial like planner expert. Like, I don't pretend to be.

Speaker 2 Like, we're going to bring, we bring you knowledge and articles and things and some opinions. So, but with that said, here's where I start to go, hmm.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 just saw the news: JP Morgan

Speaker 2 just posted record annual profits as major U.S. banks thrive in the final quarter of 2024.

Speaker 2 JP Morgan's net income soared 50%

Speaker 2 to more than 14 billion in the

Speaker 2 fourth quarter as the bank's profits and revenue easily beat Wall Street forecasts. Other major banks reported better banner earnings for the year.
So we've had a so-so business year.

Speaker 2 We've had a high interest rate year, and the banks have banked it.

Speaker 2 Hmm.

Speaker 2 I just,

Speaker 2 what do they say? There's smoke, it stinks, and it gets in your eyes.

Speaker 2 There's usually a fucking fire somewhere.

Speaker 2 It just smells to me.

Speaker 2 You know, like there,

Speaker 2 I'm sorry that I'm cynical, but I am.

Speaker 2 And so when it feels like it's been a mediocre year and the real estate market sort of floundered and no, and and I'm you know I'm not the biggest defender of real estate either but like but I will just say the banks making all this money just doesn't smell right to me

Speaker 2 what says you

Speaker 3 it it seems just

Speaker 3 doesn't make sense right when

Speaker 3 interest rates are high

Speaker 3 everyone's kind of tight running lean

Speaker 3 And then it almost makes me think of that huge Chase scandal, remember, when everyone was hacking the ATMs, or they could deposit a check for 100,000 and pull out 20, and they really had no money.

Speaker 3 It's almost like, do they do stuff like that on purpose to write it off and like, you know, claim losses on the earnings?

Speaker 2 Like, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 That literally went through my head, which is crazy, but

Speaker 2 emotional damage.

Speaker 2 Exactly. That's where I go.

Speaker 3 I just think, in a society that we're in, we should all look at it and question: you know, does that make sense? When

Speaker 3 I mean,

Speaker 3 banks were,

Speaker 3 i don't know i just i don't like it i'll say that

Speaker 3 i'm not a fan of the banking system

Speaker 2 we'll leave it there we'll give that comment a ding because i think that yeah let's just say

Speaker 2 my i'm my intuition is normally right for good and bad

Speaker 2 unfortunately and i think uh This is what we should be hearing related to us and this.

Speaker 2 That's what happens, I think, when the banks go up. I think it's that for everyone else, unfortunately.

Speaker 2 I'm not a bank hater. I got some friends that are bankers.

Speaker 3 I think it's an inverse relationship.

Speaker 2 Yes,

Speaker 2 inverse.

Speaker 2 What's good for them isn't always good for us, especially fees. But now, hey, they don't have to make money on the fees.
It's just all these interest rates that are so favorably in their favor.

Speaker 2 Anyway, we'll leave it there. So impacts from Trump.
We've got the market, you know, inflation hanging around, unfortunately, which is helping the banks.

Speaker 2 I saw this. I thought it was interesting.
It comes to us from our good friends at CNN.

Speaker 2 Great friends.

Speaker 2 Starbucks ends its open door policies.

Speaker 2 I didn't even know they still had this.

Speaker 2 So Starbucks ends its open door policies. Starbucks has introduced a new code of conduct for customers.

Speaker 2 I didn't know you could actually do that. They started doing that, you know, code of conduct for my clients.

Speaker 2 Ending its open door policy that allowed non-paying individuals to use restrooms or hang out in cafes. Maybe that'll boost my cowork business.
You know, they can't hang out at the Starbucks.

Speaker 2 They're not drinking coffee anymore.

Speaker 2 The policy aims to prioritize paying customers and enhance the cafe experience. Wow.

Speaker 2 They actually wrote that in print.

Speaker 2 Kind of wild.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. Go figure.

Speaker 2 Shouldn't every policy do that?

Speaker 3 I mean, it's even as you keep going, it's like you can tell they're targeting a certain demographic that they

Speaker 2 have problems. Did everything swung too far? Just like old Zuck getting in line, like, you know,

Speaker 2 and it's the, it says the open

Speaker 2 door policy face challenges.

Speaker 3 No shit. Oh, when you start denying people the bathroom they've been using for the last 20 years.

Speaker 2 Well, no, it's more that

Speaker 2 the open door face challenges, which is why they've changed it. They said with non-paying customers, homeless individuals, and those seeking shelter or restroom access.

Speaker 2 It caused tension among employees and distracted from paying customer experiences.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 I mean, it's like, did you not see that that coming?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I get it. People got to go to the bathroom, but it's a business.
Sorry. I've been there.
And you know what? I normally do. I'll go buy a cup of coffee or I'll go buy a cheeseburger.

Speaker 2 I'll go use the bathroom. You know, like, feels kind of like your duty.

Speaker 2 It's not their duty to run a business, have a bathroom for you to use it. Sorry.
And yeah, it's neighborly and nice and all that. And if you know your local and

Speaker 2 if you're giving them patronage throughout the week and they know you

Speaker 2 and you stop in and you had the emergency, okay, fine. You know, of course.
But like, at the same time, it's not a public restroom. It's a place of business.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 2 bans, it says new rules and incentives. Bans include panhandling, vaping, discrimination, and outside alcohol consumption.

Speaker 3 I'm just picturing a bunch of like homeless guys drinking beers, like panhandlers.

Speaker 2 Sitting at the table. Yeah.
Sitting at the table listening to hitting a cherry ice vape.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 This could be a great SNL skit.

Speaker 2 Playing one of those songs that's so, you know, typical coffee house with the smell of the coffee.

Speaker 2 Training will be provided to employees to enforce the rules.

Speaker 3 I mean, I'll be honest, there's a Starbucks in my neighborhood. There's homeless people in my neighborhood.
And for the most part, it's the same people. I see them every day.

Speaker 3 They go in. But in my mind, when I read this, I'm thinking Portland, San Francisco,

Speaker 3 Starbucks, bread and butter, home locations, right? Where, because this isn't happening in the Starbucks that I go to.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 No, not really the ones I do either, but I'm not in a big metropolis city. And look, I'm not hating on homeless people or people that use it.
This isn't a hate bash on any of them.

Speaker 2 It's just more of the, I don't know, the common sense of business and what, and like, you're a private business.

Speaker 3 You're you're allowed to refuse customer service.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and like you're not running a public bathroom, like that's not their job, and they're not beholden to that. So,

Speaker 3 and anyone who's owned a business with a bathroom knows you already, no one wants to clean it anyways, and now you've got a bunch of non-paying customers using it.

Speaker 3 That's, I mean, that is going to cause disruption to your business.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And this is where I think we're getting like rid of some common, like some things that have crept in that are not, you know, great for business, not common sense, not good for paying customers, not good for overall.

Speaker 2 Another one would be Amazon ending its try before you buy program.

Speaker 2 We did that. Yeah,

Speaker 2 it's moving to Tinder.

Speaker 2 Sorry.

Speaker 3 It's all Tinder.

Speaker 2 I had to go there.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Amazon ends. Try before you buy program.
Can't have that milk or you buy the cow.

Speaker 2 Launch and closure.

Speaker 2 Amazon launched.

Speaker 2 These are the dates. Amazon launched the program in 2017.
It'll phase it out at the end of this month.

Speaker 2 It'll allow Prime customers to try up to six apparel items at a time for a week before deciding what to keep in return. I.e.
they disc wear it, go to the event, and send it back.

Speaker 2 Reason for ending

Speaker 2 stated by them. Customers prefer a broader selection of items and faster delivery speeds.

Speaker 2 Growing reliance on AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, and improved side charts. Size charts.

Speaker 2 I mean, they didn't say what we know to be true, which is too many people

Speaker 2 truly trying before they're buying.

Speaker 3 I know that I worked at Nordstrom, bro. People would come.
This was back in the Ed Hardy t-shirt days.

Speaker 3 People come in and buy like $120 Ed Hardy t-shirt on a Friday and then come back Sunday with like literally makeup and like cologne. And I'm like,

Speaker 3 you're right. That's exactly what people are doing.

Speaker 2 And I think,

Speaker 3 to be fair, to Amazon, their sizing is all over the place. They need to improve the size shards.
I hope they did.

Speaker 3 And I know a lot of it was because you had products being manufactured in Asia and they're smaller than most Americans. Yep.

Speaker 3 You ever order like your normal size dress shirt on Amazon and it's for like a child?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 It's like a kid's excess.

Speaker 2 Well, it's usually child look I mean you don't

Speaker 2 I have a we have a full episode of me talking about size issues as a six foot 270 pound man I bet you dude yeah brother either I get the Bermuda cutoff the you know or

Speaker 2 yeah yeah I've uh I've gone through that I you know I'm XL

Speaker 2 double XL slim you know like that I'm a weird size anyway because I don't have a gigantic fat stomach but I'm broad shouldered So, unless it's a, you know, a muscle fit or something like that, it's out to here, you know, a foot wider than I am.

Speaker 2 And so, oh, God. And, you know, I think the Asian size is not the standard.
You get an A, I get an XL men's

Speaker 2 made in Asia.

Speaker 2 My

Speaker 2 eighth-grade son can't wear that thing. Yeah.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 I can't get it over my head. You know?

Speaker 2 It's a nice medium.

Speaker 2 I can't pull that off. But yeah, the sidesing is the biggest issue.
It's not universal.

Speaker 3 I need that Asian triple XL.

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 2 I'm like 5X in the Asian XL. I don't know why.

Speaker 3 You got to really dig to find it out. You have to go to their little click down link and then it'll tell you.

Speaker 3 you know, oh, our XL is men's, whatever. But

Speaker 3 maybe they improve that, but I, I, I have to totally agree. I think the majority of it is people buy stuff and return it after they wear it.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 they do. And I think here's what I'm going to say.
And I don't want to pick a fight with Amazon. I mean,

Speaker 2 I like him overall. I really do.
Jeff, I love you, man. Jeff Bezos, call me.
We'll have you on the show anytime. You can talk about any of this.

Speaker 2 But I'll say this. Here's my bigger problem with Amazon.

Speaker 2 Get rid of the tribe before you buy a thumb anyway. So

Speaker 2 totally fine. Here's where I have a bone to pick.

Speaker 2 If you're going to be two days shipping or you're going to tell me that you will have this tomorrow or Friday within the, when you go to buy it, that ship better be there nine out of 10 times.

Speaker 2 Let's just say I've ordered four or five things the last month based on, okay, I don't want to go buy it locally because I don't need it today, but I need it tomorrow or the next day.

Speaker 2 And it tells me, I bought this camera case. You know, we've got production to do Amazon, you know, freaking running an agency here.
I needed a rig for one of the cameras and I needed it Friday.

Speaker 2 Ordered it last Wednesday. It said be there Friday.

Speaker 2 You just casually get these emails on Friday. Ah, not going to come today.

Speaker 2 It'll be there to you on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 And let's just say that used to be one out of every 20 things you'd order. Okay.

Speaker 2 Not going to always get it right. I'm reasonable.
Not the unreasonable customer. Not that guy that thinks you're going to get perfect every time.

Speaker 2 But it's getting to be like three, four out of every 10, 30 to 40% of the time, we are not hitting the date. And this isn't weather delays.

Speaker 2 This isn't we got seven feet of snow on the ground here in South Carolina. And I know there's snow elsewhere, but you know, and I'm not expecting it the same day or even overnight.

Speaker 2 But when you tell me you're going to have it that day and I'm planning on it, you got to get that shit right more than you get it wrong. And it's getting bad.

Speaker 2 Like two days, no longer two day prime. You bought the prime.
I pay the prime fee for the guaranteed two day.

Speaker 2 And it ain't guaranteed two days anymore.

Speaker 3 I was literally reading about this like two days ago and a ton of people complaining about it. And exactly what you just said.
And I don't know if it's, I don't know if they did.

Speaker 3 I think it was someone saying they were going to raise the price of Prime, maybe.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, fine.
You can do that. But here's what's happening, Amazon, and it's a slippery slope.

Speaker 2 You have learned truck. You have earned trust with buyers like me

Speaker 2 because you've gotten this way more right than you've gotten it wrong over the years with the two day or guaranteeing, you know, one day or three, you know, telling you the day, you got it right 90% of the time.

Speaker 2 But your brand starts eroding trust real damn fast when you start getting this wrong more than you get it right. And it will have an impact.
So

Speaker 2 be careful.

Speaker 3 And you know what's happening? People are realizing, if I have to wait more than two days, like, I don't really need this shit.

Speaker 2 That, or I'll just go to the store. Yeah.
Or here's what's happened, Chris.

Speaker 2 Jeff, listen carefully. You're not going to like this one.
It's even worse. I'm going to Walmart.com app.
Spending a lot.

Speaker 2 I spent more on the Walmart app in the last month than I have in the last two years combined. Because we buy, look, my wife and I are both high-level positions, multiple companies.

Speaker 2 She's a principal at a middle school working her ass off. We don't, we, we rely on these services, you know? And so

Speaker 2 I, Walmart has all these, the, the, the retail footprint. I'm getting shit same day

Speaker 2 and gladly paying for it. And

Speaker 2 It's eroding. It's eroding trust and you're going to a competitor.
So be careful.

Speaker 2 Now look, they're behemoth doing billions of dollars. They're not going out of business.
That's not what Ryan offered to say. All I'm saying is be careful because the big ones fall hard.

Speaker 2 I've watched it.

Speaker 2 They fall real fucking hard.

Speaker 3 You've got people now where I've saw this last week, you know, showing alleged proof, right,

Speaker 3 of Amazon marking up prices right before their sales and then marking down to basically all they totally do that 100%.

Speaker 2 And I could actually,

Speaker 2 it's a little shitty, but like I could even like as a business owner, like, okay, fine. Well, it's like your choice marketing to buy, right?

Speaker 3 It's kind of like, all right, dude, you guys want to play that game? Fine. But at least if you're going to play it, come through on the two-day shipping.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 2 Or if you tell me three-day, like, that's my problem is they're telling telling me, like, if I, let's say it was a Tuesday and they're saying it'll be to you Friday.

Speaker 2 They're just saying coming to you Friday because they do that now. It says prime.
That's not two day. It's three day, but I, okay.

Speaker 2 But I know I'll get it by Friday because I need that shit this weekend. And you don't get it to me till Tuesday or Monday, that's a problem.

Speaker 2 Especially if it's not one out of 10 times, it's three out of. 10, four out of 10, which is what's happening now.

Speaker 2 So I know people are listening listening and shaking their head on this one because I can't be the only one. It's they're eroding some trust with me.

Speaker 3 You're definitely not the only one.

Speaker 2 And so

Speaker 2 I'm a forgiving, reasonable guy because I run business. I know how it all works.
Like, I get it.

Speaker 2 I'm not expecting perfection, but you got to get it right more than you get it wrong, or you need to fix your date system.

Speaker 2 And every one of those is not related to snow in Kentucky. I'm sorry.
You know, I get that the time of year, there's trial. I mean, look, there's hurricane.
There's always a weather issue.

Speaker 2 So we can use that in the 10%, but it can't creep to 30 or 40.

Speaker 2 Or you need to send me a damn note.

Speaker 2 How about this, Chris? Send me a note that we told you Friday. They have all the AI.
They have all the money, all the tech.

Speaker 2 Send me a note the moment you know that's no longer going to happen like you told me it was going to happen. And you can cancel the order or keep it.

Speaker 2 because part of the decision in buying the product was determined on when you were going to get it true i'm on a soapbox on this one man

Speaker 2 because it but i think it's real it is

Speaker 2 like and look i deal with this too i hate it if i tell a customer i want i want to do what i say i will do or i want my people to do it and we don't always

Speaker 2 have that you know happen

Speaker 2 and and when i don't i hate it but i got to own up to it but now, what Amazon doesn't do anything, they just send you a note the day you're supposed to get it, usually at nine o'clock at night, where you can do nothing else.

Speaker 2 You're paralyzed. I'm expecting it Friday.
The deliveries come so damn late in the day now that you're still hoping for it. It's seven.

Speaker 2 I'm gonna sit there with my wife. One of us might be expecting packages.
We're still holding out hope at like 8:15. Because damn,

Speaker 2 to give them credit, those fuckers will show up, you know, 8:15, 8:30. You might can still still get it.
And we're still holding out hope.

Speaker 2 And the tracking will still say on time, on delivery, whatever it is.

Speaker 2 And then about 9.57, as I'm like halfway asleep watching TV.

Speaker 2 We're sorry to inform you. This will be there on Tuesday.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 In and out.

Speaker 2 You know, like no ability to, it just says, you will now get it Tuesday. It doesn't say you can cancel or doesn't say you can do anything.
And I know on the back end, they're good about it.

Speaker 2 Like I could cancel it once it got here and they'll refund my money but you counted on it you know you assumed it and they got

Speaker 3 an emotional letdown every time for sure and so it's eroding

Speaker 2 they've built like if this is a bank account withdrawals and deposits they got a big they've they've come through way more

Speaker 2 but we're getting to a point of where i didn't think i'd ever be with them with eroding those deposits and withdrawals of trust

Speaker 2 shame I got to say about that. Shame.

Speaker 2 I need that toilet paper to arrive on Friday like they said it would.

Speaker 3 We got problems at the offered house.

Speaker 2 We got six dudes in the house. I mean, you know, six people, five dudes.
We need some TP. I'm even talking about TP, but like, you know, but like, sometimes I'm doing this.
You do this.

Speaker 2 Hey, got an event on Saturday night. You've done this before, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 It's just delivering on Friday. You're like, oh, good.
I don't have to go to the store. It's the brand I bought from them before, so I know the size fits.

Speaker 2 Not the other thing, not the Asian 5X, but you know, something you've bought before.

Speaker 2 New shirt. Don't have to go out to the mall.
All the reasons you do e-comm. And

Speaker 3 100% when I use it.

Speaker 2 And 100%. 9 p.m.
comes around and you get the email.

Speaker 2 We're sorry to inform you. This will be delivering on Wednesday.
And I'm like,

Speaker 2 son of a

Speaker 2 like, because the events the next night. Now I got to go to the mall.
I got to go deal with the riffraff. I got to go buy Spencer's and some kid with an ugly t-shirt on blowing bubblegum in my face.

Speaker 2 I'm just like, you know, I got to go deal with that. I don't want to deal with that.

Speaker 3 Then you get home,

Speaker 3 like my case, my buddy.

Speaker 2 I buy seven more things that I don't need. Some kind of popcorn brand I've never heard of.
I mean, you know, that's what happens when you go to the mall.

Speaker 3 And then you got to return the shit that's getting shipped to Amazon that's coming too late.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 3 Like, I got back from Mexico and there was all this like, you know, beach clothing and shit I'd ordered that came too late. Same thing.
It's it'll oh yeah.

Speaker 3 And then it came, you know, like the day I flew out. And I come home and it's like, all right, this is just a pain in the ass now.

Speaker 3 I got to go ship all this back because I'm not going to ever wear this.

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 there's my 10-minute rant on Amazon. Had nothing to do with try it on, but it set it up for me perfectly, Chris.
I've been waiting for that one. And I hope, I think that's relatable, though.

Speaker 2 I think there's a lot of nodding of the head. So, Jeff, call us.
We'll bring you on. You can explain how you're using AI and robots and everything else to get this right.
But,

Speaker 2 Walmart,

Speaker 2 Uncle Sam, Sam Walton, you know, get more of my business. I've had more spray paint delivered the same day than I could count.

Speaker 2 Been doing some, you know, I got a couple of different little hobbies now that like ease my mind. Fixing up a

Speaker 2 fixing, figure. Yeah,

Speaker 2 yeah, hey, don't want to give that out. The sides of Green, lovely Greenville, South Carolina, graffiti farm.
No,

Speaker 2 no, fixing up old golf carts. I've been

Speaker 2 re-re-uh imagining whatever you want to call it. Like refurbing and refurbing or like yeah, re buy, refurb.

Speaker 2 I haven't sold a couple of them that I've got yet, but I've got them refurbed and they're looking pretty nice.

Speaker 2 Okay, I start a YouTube channel on flipping golf carts or something. That sounds like a good good YouTube channel.

Speaker 3 I'd watch it.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I come up with a clever, like, something like related golf, like, name. Like,

Speaker 2 yeah,

Speaker 2 better than flipping carts, but something like that.

Speaker 2 People, that would be a, that would be a total

Speaker 2 switcheroo, you know, mind switch because you think you're going to see guard golf carts like flipping. Like,

Speaker 2 which is common. Let's be honest.

Speaker 3 There's a whole series of pages dedicated to dudes flipping golf carts.

Speaker 2 Ungolf cart. Hey.

Speaker 2 I actually call it flipping birdies.

Speaker 2 Flipping birds.

Speaker 2 And I didn't mean that to anyone.

Speaker 2 That'll probably get banned off of there.

Speaker 2 Actually, no, we're not censoring anymore. So, yeah.
But anyway, I digress.

Speaker 2 I think that's all we have time for today, as much as, you know, I got on my Amazon rant. But the last thing that was kind of on our list, one in five job postings are fake or unfilled.

Speaker 2 So be careful out there if you're looking for a job. I will admit, you know,

Speaker 2 because, you know, I always read stuff like this, and I go, have we ever done that? I've never done it purposefully, but here's what's happened.

Speaker 2 I have posted several jobs where, okay, business changes or I promote someone and then it never gets filled because we made an internal decision.

Speaker 2 But it's also hard as a small team when when you get a lot of application like reaching back out and communicating to everyone, even when you don't, and we try to do better than most at this, it's hard, like keeping up with every single thing when you don't, I mean, when we're, you know, seven to 10 people in this office,

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 2 again, I'm not justifying it.

Speaker 2 I'm just admitting that it can be difficult in trying to do the, you know, the right thing and trying to keep up with every single person and every follow-up and all that.

Speaker 2 So it's hard sometimes, but I don't think I've ever purposely posted a job for it to be an absolute fake that I was not going to, not going to fill.

Speaker 2 But it's obviously on the rise. I don't know what it says.
It says example. I don't know what or why.
It doesn't say necessarily why people would do it.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 I don't know what would motivate the company, maybe get candidates that they look at, but aren't planning to hire

Speaker 3 like a database of potential or to look like they're growing.

Speaker 2 Look at all. We have 21 open positions.
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 Fake the sentiment.

Speaker 3 That's true.

Speaker 2 That could be a tactic. I don't know.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Make it seem like a growing exclusive company.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. All this talk about inauguration, politics, has got me thinking about our sponsor, Independent Center.
IndependentCenter.org. Go sign up for their newsletter.

Speaker 2 Get news straight to your inbox about policies, about progress, about what's happening, about understanding some of these really complex things that are going on. I don't always understand it.

Speaker 2 This bill that's about this policy and this number and all that. And like, I'm educated.
I feel like I'm a pretty smart guy. My wife might disagree, but I think for the most part, I am.

Speaker 2 And sometimes I don't even get it all. That's why we partner with Independent Center.
They cut through the noise.

Speaker 2 They bring it straight to why something matters, removing the politics, removing the right and the left, keeping it straight down the center, independentcenter.org. Go sign up for the newsletter.

Speaker 2 Chris and I support them. You should support them just because they're going to give you free news.
It's free. Go sign up.

Speaker 2 Get free insights, surveys, all kinds of knowledge about what's happening on the policies and not the politics. Independentcenter.org.
Official sponsor of Right About Now.

Speaker 2 Chris, you know, you ever wake up and you're a little groggy. You're like, I mean, it happens.
Admit. You know,

Speaker 2 you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's like, you need a little more pep.

Speaker 2 Does it happen even to you? I mean, look at you. You're a walking figurine model, but we know it happens to you.

Speaker 3 I get tired sometimes.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Fatigue hits.
It does.

Speaker 3 And look. Thanks.

Speaker 2 And, but I bet you, but look, do you want sugar? Do you want fake sugar? Do you want like all the bad stuff?

Speaker 3 I want clean energy, baby.

Speaker 2 That's what I'm talking about. That's why I reach for the X.
X marks the spot.

Speaker 2 Exponent, drink exponent.com and drink exponent on Instagram. Zero sugar, plant-powered.
Adaptogens, nootropics, electrolytes, and amino acids all in one can. It's fusion energy, baby.

Speaker 2 Got the Sector C here.

Speaker 2 We've got orange eclipse right there.

Speaker 2 Look, thing I love about this brand, it feels good. I get a little bit of that pep in the step, removes the fog, and ultimately, I don't have the crash.

Speaker 2 You don't have the crash from the fake sugars, the real sugars, all that stuff.

Speaker 2 Exponent, official energy drink of Ryan Alford. And right about now, we appreciate them.
And you will too. Go give them a shout out.

Speaker 2 Chris, any final words today as we close things out?

Speaker 3 Everyone have a great weekend. Get active.
Get some sun. Move your body.

Speaker 2 Hey, move your body

Speaker 2 yes we uh chris and i do another show vibe science it's not always complicated is it chris it's like the simple things yeah

Speaker 2 simple things

Speaker 3 sleep

Speaker 2 good food exactly so keep it simple but keep it real hey i appreciate chris handsome my good friend good contributor to this show couldn't do it without him Go to ryanisright.com.

Speaker 2 You'll find highlight clips, links to Chris and I's social media, anything and everything related to the show, the sponsors. Hey, we look, this is how this works.
We give you free content.

Speaker 2 Hopefully you enjoy it. A lot of people seem to, but support the sponsors.
Go support Chris on Instagram. You know, he's got a reputation uphold.
We need some likes and followers. Come on, man.

Speaker 2 Kidding. Guy's got more attention than he deserves.
Nah, he deserves it all. He's the salt of the earth, just like you are.
We appreciate you for making us number one.

Speaker 1 This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network Production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities.

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening.