The average new car today sells for nearly $49,000, and the average used car lists at more than $26,000 – representing a 31% increase for new cars and nearly 40% increase for used cars since 2020, according to data from the industry group Cox Automotive.
Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney? – The New York Times
Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney? – The New York Times:
In 2022, nearly half the active property- and casualty-insurance premiums in the United States and Canada were sold by just 11 companies. Increasingly, insurance corporations attract business not by building trust between their customers and local agents, but by successfully ascribing positive characteristics to the fictional characters who anthropomorphize the companies and products in ads.
According to Ad Age, in 2022 the Progressive Corporation spent more than $2 billion on advertising in the United States, pouring more money into the effort than McDonald’s, Toyota or Coca-Cola. (The insurance industry’s total annual media-ad spending is estimated to be just shy of $11 billion — more than was spent by all the top beer brands combined.)
Cardinals LB Jesse Luketa got a flat tire before Sunday’s game — a family was there to help – The Athletic
It was 11:15 a.m. Luketa needed to be at the stadium by noon. He knows how to change a tire, but the BMW didn’t have a spare.
*Touching.
Charles T. Munger, Much More Than Warren Buffett’s No. 2, Dies at 99 – The New York Times
Charles T. Munger, Much More Than Warren Buffett’s No. 2, Dies at 99 – The New York Times:
Charles Thomas Munger was born in Omaha on Jan. 1. 1924, the son of Alfred Case Munger, a lawyer, and Florence (Russell) Munger. As a boy he worked Saturdays in a grocery store then owned by Mr. Buffett’s grandfather. (Mr. Buffett worked there for a time himself, but the two did not meet until much later.) At 17, Charles went to the University of Michigan to major in mathematics, but in his sophomore year, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps.
A 30-Year Trap: The Problem With America’s Weird Mortgages – The New York Times
A 30-Year Trap: The Problem With America’s Weird Mortgages – The New York Times:
new buyers face borrowing costs of 7.5 percent or more while two-thirds of existing mortgage holders pay less than 4 percent. On a $400,000 home, that’s a difference of $1,000 in monthly housing costs.
Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many – The New York Times
Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many – The New York Times:
Only 3 to 4 percent of Americans 50 and older pay for a long-term care policy, according to LIMRA, an insurance marketing and research association. That stands in stark contrast to federal estimates that 70 percent of people 65 and older will need critical services before they die.
Opinion | The Restaurant Industry Is Undergoing a Badly Needed Revolution – The New York Times
Opinion | The Restaurant Industry Is Undergoing a Badly Needed Revolution – The New York Times:
Most important, guests order at the front door with the host before being pointed to their (fully set) table, which eliminates 15 minutes of profit-killing dead time at the beginning of each meal.
Buddy Teevens, Pioneering Dartmouth Football Coach, Dies at 66 – The New York Times
Buddy Teevens, Pioneering Dartmouth Football Coach, Dies at 66 – The New York Times:
Buddy Teevens, who had more victories than any coach in Dartmouth College football history, and who became a nationally recognized innovator in player safety when he eliminated tackling during practices to limit the incidence of concussions, died on Tuesday in Boston. He was 66.
Netflix Prepares to Send Its Final Red Envelope – The New York Times
Netflix Prepares to Send Its Final Red Envelope – The New York Times:
In a nondescript office park minutes from Disneyland sits a nondescript warehouse. Inside this nameless, faceless building, an era is ending.
The building is a Netflix DVD distribution plant. Once a bustling ecosystem that processed 1.2 million DVDs a week, employed 50 people and generated millions of dollars in revenue, it now has just six employees left to sift through the metallic discs. And even that will cease on Friday, when Netflix officially shuts the door on its origin story and stops mailing out its trademark red envelopes.
*Netflix was able to innovate and move from distribution to a new technological business model and thrive at the dawn of a new industry we call streaming.
Amazon Prime Video will have ads starting early 2024 : NPR
Amazon Prime Video will have ads starting early 2024 : NPR:
Amazon Prime Video unveiled plans to introduce advertisements during shows and movies starting early next year — becoming the latest streaming service to embrace ads to keep its business growing.
*Seems we are entering an era where we will get to see human behavior in action soon. WHat are the tradeoffs the customer is considering? Are they keeping excess value now? Is $3 or so a month per streaming service too much? Will consumers drop service in the face of increasing costs?
**Here is how I think it will play out for me. Currently Netflix and Prime Video are subscribed to. AppleTV+ was in the mix for free for a while and I think I later paid to see one program that I found awesome. Once that show and the two seasons were done the servcie was dropped. Seasons 3 is coming soon so it may get back in the mix once all the episodes are dropped.
***Could I live without NFL football on Thursday nights? I believe I could. So if the price goes up 25% or so I’d consider dropping. The schedule I am subscribed to is not by calendar month. Netflix has been canceled before and there may come a time it will be cancelled again even in the face of higher future costs. I believe I am on an old price plan that is no longer available.
D.L. Damore 