← Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice
Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice
Trump Inauguration News, Cryptocurrency Trends, and Amazon NOT Prime
00:47:13
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- [00:01]
Ryan Alford
This is Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years in over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to right about now. It is our weekly business and marketing news of the week here on January 17, 2025, joined as always by my good friend Chris Hansen. What's up brother?
- [00:41]
Chris Hansen
What's up, Brian? How are you today, bro?
- [00:43]
Ryan Alford
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 here at Social House, my company, the best co working lounge in Greenville. If you're in Greenville, South Carolina, give me a shout out. Go just Google Social House. Got a social lounge and club and hang out and cowork, mixed use space. It's where our studio is here in the beautiful downtown heart of Greenville, South Carolina. 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. So we love you. Come on, break some tour. More tourism dollars to the, to the city. It's a beautiful place. Come see the bridge, come see the green trees, the foliage and you know, stop by and see us at Social House. We love our hometown. What's up brother? What's cooking this week?
- [01:42]
Chris Hansen
You know, just still getting back in that New Year's rhythm. But we're doing good.
- [01:47]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, New Year's and we got an inauguration coming up on Monday. President Trump. It's a pretty unique thing. Like 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 presidents like elected, not elected, elected in office. Like it's a pretty unique situation, right?
- [02:16]
Chris Hansen
Yeah, I don't know, I can't think of anything that's happened.
- [02:19]
Ryan Alford
Some random president that I should remember. Someone's going to give me some schooling over that. Yeah, but Trump will be back in office. Whoever's asleep at the wheel will get out and we'll, we'll get on with this, with this thing. Talk about policies, not about elections and everything else. So look, the, we do have part of the show notes because that was pretty interesting. Like all the business related stuff that's happening in and around the inauguration, some of the things and that's, you know, Today episode's gonna be pretty loose. Chris and I are gonna kind of flip flop on a few topics as we open up the playbook here on right about now. We're gonna talk crypto, we're gonna talk the impacts of the inauguration, financial news, inflation, some store closings, the impact of that and a few other topics that we'll get into. But we'll start right off the top. The inaugurations on Monday. And I was fascinated on you, Chris. Just like the, the overall list of attendees, like it's a powerhouse, man. I know that a lot of important people show up for every presidential election, but there's a divi, a substantial business flare, business aroma from this inauguration with the people that are going to be there. I'm going to give you the list to get your reaction here. So which billionaires will attend other than Elon Musk? Well, taste 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. Lots of bees flying around here, you know, Damn, dude. We'll attend. And so Mark, Jeff and Elon are going to be seated to get together on the platform alongside Trump's cabinet. CEO Sam Altman of OpenAI will also be. I love this man. I'm just going to tell you as a business guy, haven't always agreed with all of these people and you can call it politics, pandering, whatever you want. I like what it signals for business and for what it it and unity on some level, you know, all 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. And as polarizing as I can admit, 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 and it's time to get down to brass tacks and make America do it business again big time. So I love this. I don't know what you think about it.
- [05:19]
Chris Hansen
I dig it. I mean, I'm Elon, 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. 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.
- [05:40]
Ryan Alford
All I know is career politicians, right?
- [05:42]
Chris Hansen
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? So I love all these business guys. You know, Zuckerberg, I'm glad he's had an about face. Supposedly, Right?
- [06:01]
Ryan Alford
Yep.
- [06:02]
Chris Hansen
It doesn't matter if it's genuine or not. He's removing censorship. That's good. And you want. I mean, these are the. Arguably the largest companies on the planet with the most influence and power. I want them to be in alignment with our president, you know?
- [06:18]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [06:19]
Chris Hansen
If anything, for national security interests. Right. We. Like you said.
- [06:22]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [06:22]
Chris Hansen
The cohesiveness 2020 was very, you know, big tech versus Trump. It felt like. Right. Or even censorship when it came to something like Covid, for example. So it wasn't necessarily just politics. Right. But I like seeing all these guys, man. I think, you know, especially, you know, me being time I spend Houston, someone like Tomen Fertitta, like, I've seen what he's built there, you know, he's owner of the Rockets Hotel owner. He wants to do casinos. The guy's a business guy. He's experienced. He was big on TV shows. So it's like people have track records. These are the type of people that I want making decisions.
- [07:05]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. Smart business people, you know, that have put aside maybe their differences. I mean, freaking Mark Zuckerberg's got to be hosting a black tie event, like Monday night. You know, 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. 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 it don't always work from the bottom up. You know, I know that a lot of people like to Trump that, pun intended. And I'm just here to tell you that there's a balance in all this. But we need innovative, smart business people. Being a part of key decisions and removing friction and tension internally 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 that does nothing, does no good for anyone.
- [08:23]
Chris Hansen
Everyone's playing a game, but at least now we're all playing the same game, right?
- [08:29]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. It's called let's all get ahead, you.
- [08:31]
Chris Hansen
Know, it's called America winning, you know, and like you always say, high tide raises all ships Right.
- [08:38]
Ryan Alford
So, yep. Yeah, I'm liking where this tide's going. We got to see it in action. So nobody's, 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. 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 hard, how hard that shit is. It's hard. You got to be smart. You got to be lucky. Sometimes you gotta, you know, know how to ride the waves and do all those things. But it takes real chutzpah to manage a budget, manage a company, manage people and people that have done 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. I mean, we could do that. But I, I think the upside here is good for all Americans on the whole, if you choose to see it that way. Country singer Carrie Underworld will perform. You know, NFL. She's done the new. Oh, Carrie Underworld. She's under. She's everywhere. Whoever knew American Idol, now she's doing NFL football, singing at the inauguration. And not, not to be outdone, the Village People. Look, hey, all people, baby. We'll, we'll do a ymca. It was a Trump rally staple. They'll be performing at multiple inaugural events. I wonder if they'll play YMCA.
- [10:21]
Chris Hansen
Oh, no doubt, baby.
- [10:24]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, they'll be YMCAing it up. That's that song stood the test of time, I guess.
- [10:34]
Chris Hansen
Yeah, that's one of the like, theme songs.
- [10:37]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, exactly.
- [10:38]
Chris Hansen
I know they try to get him to stop playing it rallies.
- [10:43]
Ryan Alford
So I mean as related. So. Okay, let's give you some action. So stuff here. Get in with Crypto Chris, our new name for Chris. Yeah, I, I, I. Look, I'm a marketing guy. I like to give everybody kind of a name, you know, this one may or may not stick, but we may or may not have a jingle made. But what are the impacts? Okay, Trump's coming in office. What's the business impacts? We're gonna talk about a few of those, I think starting with crypto. I'm officially back on the train. I took been off the train for about four years. You can align that with certain things or not, but more just the reality of not wanting to keep up with it every day and it seemingly kind of fluttering, but the gains back On 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?
- [11:39]
Chris Hansen
Yeah, crypto, Chris, in the house. I think the main. The two biggest things probably that were mentioned. Right. Is Trump's inauguration. Trump is vocally, you know, pro crypto. The crypto community is a huge supporter of Trump. So just naturally, the sentiment is very positive around that. And then you have Trump also basically firing. He's stepping down and resigning. Gary. I think it's Gary Gensler.
- [12:09]
Ryan Alford
Yep.
- [12:09]
Chris Hansen
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, you know, a lot of assumptions there. Right. And then, you know, we talked a little bit before we were talking about xrp. 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. And I think you were talking about. That's went up quite a bit. I don't hold any XRP anymore.
- [12:44]
Ryan Alford
Oh, it does. I'll. I'll stop there to just give you a little XRP update crowd, some love.
- [12:50]
Chris Hansen
They're freaking. They're loyal.
- [12:51]
Ryan Alford
They are a loyal bunch. And I'm gonna name one. I'm gonna give him credit, Callan. He's a 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. Oh, my God. He would talk to me for hours about XRP and all this stuff. And look, he had me at hello. I was just like. Because I was trying to get into it. This is three or four years ago. And so I bought some and sold some, did all that, made a little. Little coin. But then it's been kind of like everything else with the policies, you know, kind of been little flat line, just kind of like not doing. Going up a little, going down a little, all that. But nonetheless, when I got back in the game, you know, three or four months ago, I 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. It's. It's pumping and all like Chris said, all the metrics, all the stuff behind it's pretty solid. So this is not financial advice. Consult your financial advisor, banker, rabbi, priest, whoever, you, whoever, your wife, your significant other, your husband, whatever, whoever, whenever. But this we give our, this is an opinion show. We do share what we do, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. You know, if you need to know what not to do with your wife, I can tell you that. But, you know, but on the crypto front, XRP is pumping and shout out to Callan for that advice back in the day, because that's why, this is why I kind of jumped back in. I knew the, you know, a lot of the, the details behind it and it seems to be validated. Most people in the know think 5, 10 plus over the next 12 bu. 12 months. So there's my XRP spin. And yeah, you know, it is professional gambling. So only a bet which you can afford to lose. Yeah. Is what I would say. That'd be my advice.
- [15:02]
Chris Hansen
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, this is probably, you know, for your older people. Right. That don't understand technology as much. 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. 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 good news.
- [15:45]
Ryan Alford
Yes. And so crypto news. Seek your financial advice accordingly. But I would say put in what you can afford to lose. And I think it's, it's definitely safer than in college football gambling at this point for sure. Better return because I will say you don't see the complete like, okay, a dollar one day zero the next swings. I don't, I don't see that. Definitely see a lot of sense. You know, it's, it's kind of a.
- [16:18]
Chris Hansen
Fun like jump up 10 or down 10 within a week, you know.
- [16:23]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, it's more, it's still a little a more volatile and the swings are a lot greater than the stock market, but it's more in line with the stock market than it ever has been. As far as the, the percentage of swings, you just don't see. Like I remember four or five years ago, you'd see 3,000% 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.
- [16:57]
Chris Hansen
Right.
- [16:58]
Ryan Alford
It was a, and it might be.
- [16:59]
Chris Hansen
A lot of percent for six hours. Yeah, it drops back down. So just depends how aggressive you want to be, how involved and active but.
- [17:13]
Ryan Alford
Exactly. And so crypto is on the upswing. I did see, you know, inflation, the numbers were so, so, so interest rates were probably going to hang tight and yeah, we like to keep it on the positive end. So this isn't meant to be Deborah Downer stuff. It's been, it's been, it's really meant to be. More wtf 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. Like we're gonna bring, we bring you knowledge and articles and things and some opinions. So but with that said, here's where I start to go and just saw the news. JP Morgan just posted record annual profits as major US banks thrive. In the final quarter of 2024, JP Morgan's net income soared 50% to more than 14 billion in the fourth quarter as 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. We've had a high interest rate year and the banks have banked it. H I, I just, when what do they say? There's smoke, it stinks and it gets in your eyes. There's usually a fire somewhere. I I, it just smells to me, you know, like there I I, I'm sorry that I'm cynical, but I am and so when it feels like it's been a mediocre year and the real estate market sort of floundered and no, I'm, you know, I'm not the biggest defender of real estate either but like, but I will just say the bank's making all this money just doesn't smell right to me.
- [19:08]
Chris Hansen
What says you, it seems just doesn't make sense, right? When interest rates are high, everyone's kind of tight, running lean. And then it almost makes me think of that huge Chase scandal member when everyone was hacking the ATMs or they could deposit a check for a hundred thousand and pull out 20 and they really had no money. It's almost like do they do stuff like that on purpose to write it off and like, you know, claim losses on the, on the earnings? Like yeah, that literally went through my head, which is Crazy but emotional damage.
- [19:47]
Ryan Alford
That'S, that's where I go.
- [19:50]
Chris Hansen
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 I mean banks were. I don't know, I just, I don't like it. I'll say that I'm not a fan of the banking system.
- [20:08]
Ryan Alford
We'll leave it there. We'll give that comment a ding because I think that, let's just say my, I'm. My intuition's normally right for good and bad unfortunately. And I think this is what we should be hearing related to us in this. That's what happens I think when the banks go up, I think it's that for everyone else. Unfortunately. Yeah, I'm not a bank hater. You also have friends that are bankers.
- [20:38]
Chris Hansen
I think it's an inverse relationship.
- [20:40]
Ryan Alford
Yes, inverse. It's what's good for them isn't always good for us, especially fees. But now, hey, they don't have to make money on fees. It's just all these interest rates that are so favorably in their favor. 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. I saw this. That was interesting. Comes to us from our good friends at cnn. Starbucks ends its open door policies. I didn't know they still had this. So Starbucks ends its open door policies. Starbucks has introduced a new code of conduct for customers. I didn't know you could actually do that. They start doing that, you know, code of conduct for my clients. Ending its open door policy that allowed non paying individuals to use restrooms or hang out in cafes. Made out of boost my co worker business. You know they can't hang out at the Starbucks. They're not drinking coffee anymore. The policy aims to prioritize paying customers and enhance the cafe experience. Wow. I. They actually wrote that in print.
- [22:04]
Chris Hansen
Like kind of wild.
- [22:06]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, exactly. Go figure. Shouldn't every policy do that?
- [22:10]
Chris Hansen
I mean it's even as you keep going it's like you can tell they're targeting a certain demographic that they.
- [22:17]
Ryan Alford
Yep. Their problems did everything swung too far. Just like old Zuck getting in line like you know and it's the. It says open door policy face challenges. No.
- [22:31]
Chris Hansen
Oh. When you start denying people the bathroom they've been using for the last.
- [22:34]
Ryan Alford
Well no, it's more that the open door. It's face challenges which is why they've changed it. They said with non paying customers, homeless individuals and those seeking shelter or restroom access. It Caused tension among employees and distracted from paying customer experiences. I mean, it's like, did you not see that coming? Yeah, and I get it, you gotta go to the bathroom. But it's a business. Sorry. I have been there and you know what I normally do? I'll go buy a cup of coffee or I'll go buy a cheeseburger. I'll go use the bath. You know, like, feels kind of like your duty there. 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 if you're, if you're giving them patronage throughout the week and they know you and you stop in and you had, you know, emergencies. Okay, fine, you know, of course. But like same time, it's not a public restroom.
- [23:38]
Chris Hansen
It's.
- [23:39]
Ryan Alford
It's a place of business. So. Ban says new rules and incentives. Bans include panhandling, vaping, discrimination and outside alcohol consumption.
- [23:52]
Chris Hansen
I'm just picturing a bunch of like homeless guys drinking beers like pan.
- [23:57]
Ryan Alford
Sitting at the table. Yeah, sitting at the table listening to.
- [24:00]
Chris Hansen
Hitting a cherry ice vape.
- [24:01]
Ryan Alford
Just like, yeah, this could be a great SNL skit. Playing one of those songs that's so, you know, typical coffee house with the smell of the coffee. Training will be provided to employees to enforce the rules.
- [24:18]
Chris Hansen
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. They, they go in. But I'm in my mind when I read this. I'm thinking Portland, San Francisco. Starbucks, Bread and butter home locations. Right. Where. Because this isn't happening in the Starbucks that I go to.
- [24:43]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, no, not, 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. It's just more of the, I don't know, the common sense of business and what.
- [24:58]
Chris Hansen
And like you're a private business, you're allowed to refuse customer service and.
- [25:02]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, and like you're not running a public bathroom. Like that's not their job and they're not beholden to that. So.
- [25:10]
Chris Hansen
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. That's, I mean, that is Going to cause disruption to your business.
- [25:20]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. 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. Another one would be Amazon ending its try before you buy program. Yeah, it's, it's moving to Tinder.
- [25:44]
Chris Hansen
Not.
- [25:46]
Ryan Alford
Sorry I had to go there. Yeah. Amazon ends try before you buy program. Can't have that milk or you buy the cow. Launch and closure Amazon launched. These are the dates. Amazon launch program in 2017. It'll phase it out at the end of this month. It allowed 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. Reason for ending stated by them. Customers prefer a broader selection of items and faster delivery speeds. Growing alliance on AI powered features like virtual try on personalized size recommendations and improved side charts. Size charts. I mean they didn't say what we know to be true, which is too many people truly trying before they're buying.
- [26:49]
Chris Hansen
I know that I worked at Nordstrom, bro. People would come. This was back in the Ed Hardy T shirt days. Come and buy like a hundred and twenty Ed Hardy T shirt on a Friday and then come back Sunday with like literally makeup and like cologne. And I'm like, you're right, that's exactly what people are doing. And I think I, to be fair to Amazon, their sizing is all over the place. They need to improve the size charts. I hope they did. And I know a lot of it was because you had products being manufactured in Asia and they're smaller than most Americans.
- [27:22]
Ryan Alford
Yep.
- [27:22]
Chris Hansen
You ever order like your normal size dress shirt on Amazon and it's for like a child. Oh yeah, it's like a kid's xl.
- [27:30]
Ryan Alford
Well, it's usually ch. Look, I mean you, I have a, we have a full episode of me talking about size issues as a 6, 5, 270 pound man.
- [27:39]
Chris Hansen
I bet you, dude. Yeah, bro.
- [27:41]
Ryan Alford
Either I get the Bermuda cut off the, you know, or. Yeah, yeah, I've, I've gone through that. I, you know, I, I'm Excel 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, a muscle fit or something like that, it's out to here, you know, a foot wider than I am 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 made in Asia. My 8th grade son can't wear that thing. Yeah. So I can't get it over my head. You know, it's a nice medium. I can't pull that off. But yeah, the sizing is the biggest issue. Not universal.
- [28:41]
Chris Hansen
I knew that Asian triple XL.
- [28:44]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, yeah. I'm like, I'm like 5x in the Asian XL. I don't know why.
- [28:49]
Chris Hansen
You gotta really dig to find it out. You have to go to like their little click down link and then it'll tell you, you know, oh, our XL is men's whatever. But maybe they improve that. But I, I have to totally agree. I think the majority of it is people buy stuff and return it and after they wear it, you know.
- [29:10]
Ryan Alford
They do. And I think here's what I'm gonna say and I don't want to pick a fight with Amazon. I like them overall. I, 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. But, but I'll say this, here's my bigger problem with Amazon. Keep get rid of the tribe before you buy thumb. Anyway, so totally fine. Here's where I have a bone to pick. If you're going to be two day 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 ten times. 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. And it tells me I bought this camera case, you know, got production studio Amazon, you know, freaking running an agency here. I needed a rig for one of the cameras and I needed it Friday. Ordered it last Wednesday. It said be there Friday. You just casually get these emails on Friday up. Not going to come today, it'll be there to you on Tuesday. And let's just say that used to be one out of every 20 things you'd order. Okay, not going to always get it right. I'm reasonable, not the unreasonable customer, not that guy, that things are going to get perfect every time. But it's getting to be like 3, 4 out of every 30 to 40% of the time. We are not hitting the date. And this isn't weather delays, this isn't we got 7ft 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. But when you tell me you're going to have it that day and I'm planning on it, you got to get that right more than you get it wrong. And it's getting bad. Like two days. No longer. Two day prime. You bought the prime. I pay the prime fee for the guaranteed two day. And it ain't guaranteed two days anymore.
- [31:23]
Chris Hansen
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. I think it was someone saying they were going to raise the price of prime.
- [31:35]
Ryan Alford
Maybe. Yeah, well, fine, you can do that. But here's what's happening, Amazon, and it's a slippery slope. You have learned trust. You have earned trust with buyers like me 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. 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 be careful.
- [32:13]
Chris Hansen
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, that or I'll.
- [32:20]
Ryan Alford
Just go to the store.
- [32:22]
Chris Hansen
Yeah.
- [32:22]
Ryan Alford
Or here's what's happened. Chris. There. Jeff, listen carefully. Not gonna like this one. This is even worse. I'm going to walmart.comapp spending a lot. I spent more on the Walmart app in the last month than I have in the last two years combined. Because I, we buy. Look, my wife and I are both high level positions, multiple companies. 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 I, Walmart has all these, the, the, the retail footprint I'm getting same day and gladly paying for it.
- [33:00]
Chris Hansen
I'm.
- [33:00]
Ryan Alford
So it's eroding trust and you're going to a competitor, so be careful. And now look, they're a 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, the big ones fall hard. I've watched it real hard.
- [33:22]
Chris Hansen
You've got people now where I saw this last week, you know, showing alleged proof, right. Of Amazon marking up prices right before their sales and then marking down to.
- [33:33]
Ryan Alford
Basically, oh, they totally do that. 100. Yeah. And I could actually, it's a little shitty but like I can even like as a business owner, like okay, fine.
- [33:43]
Chris Hansen
Well it's like your choice marketing, right? 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.
- [33:54]
Ryan Alford
Exactly. Or the, if you tell me three day. Like that's my problem is they're, they're telling me like if I. Let's say it was a Tuesday and they're saying it'll be to you Friday. 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, 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. Especially if it's not 1 out of 10 times, it's 3 out of 10, 4 out of 10, which is what's happening now. So I know people are 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.
- [34:36]
Chris Hansen
You're definitely not the only one.
- [34:38]
Ryan Alford
And so it, I'm, and I'm a forgiving, reasonable guy because I run business. I know how it all works. Like I get it. 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. 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. So we can use that in the 10%. But it can't creep to 30 or 40 or you need to send me a damn note. 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. 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, right?
- [35:28]
Chris Hansen
Would you? Because proceed or cancel.
- [35:30]
Ryan Alford
Because part of the decision in buying the product was determined on when you were going to get it.
- [35:35]
Chris Hansen
True.
- [35:35]
Ryan Alford
I'm on a soapbox on this one, man, because. But I think it's real.
- [35:40]
Chris Hansen
It is.
- [35:43]
Ryan Alford
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 have that, you know, happen. And when I don't, I hate it, but I gotta own up to it. But not what? Amazon doesn't do anything. They just send you a note the day you're supposed to get it, usually at 9 o'clock at night where you can do nothing else. 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's. It's seven. I've been sitting there with my wife. One of us might be expecting package and we're still holding out hope at like 8:15 because damn, to give them credit, those fuckers will show up, you know, 8:15, 8:30, you might can still get it. And we're still holding out hope. And, and the tracking will still say on time on delivery, whatever it is. And then about 9:57, so I'm like halfway asleep watching TV. We're sorry to inform you this will be there on Tuesday. Thank you. In and out, you know, like no ability. It just says you will now get it Tuesday. 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. 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 you all.
- [37:06]
Chris Hansen
It's an emotional letdown every time for sure.
- [37:09]
Ryan Alford
And so it's a frustrating. 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, but we're getting to a point of where I didn't think I'd ever be with them with eroding those deposits of withdrawals of trust. Shame, I gotta say about that.
- [37:31]
Chris Hansen
Shame.
- [37:33]
Ryan Alford
I need that toilet paper to arrive on Friday like they said it would.
- [37:39]
Chris Hansen
We got problems at the Alford house.
- [37:41]
Ryan Alford
We got six dudes in the house. I mean, you know, six people, five dudes. We need some tp. I mean, talking about tp, but like, you know. Yeah, but like, yeah, sometimes I'm doing this, you do this. Hey, got an event on Saturday night. You've done this before. I'm sure that's just delivering on Friday. 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. Not the other thing. Not the Asian 5X but you know, something you've bought before. Yeah, new shirt. Don't have to go out to the mall. All the reasons you do E Com.
- [38:11]
Chris Hansen
And Friday when I use it and.
- [38:14]
Ryan Alford
109Pm comes around and you get the email, we're sorry to inform you this will be delivering on Wednesday. And I'm like, like, because it's Saturday events the next night. Now I gotta go to the mall. I gotta get a deal with the riff raff. I gotta go buy Spencers and some kid with an ugly T shirt on blowing bubblegum in my face. I miss like, you know, I gotta go deal with that. I don't want to deal with that.
- [38:39]
Chris Hansen
Then you get home, like my case.
- [38:41]
Ryan Alford
My buddy, 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 and.
- [38:48]
Chris Hansen
Then you gotta return the. That's getting shipped to Amazon. That's coming too late.
- [38:52]
Ryan Alford
Exactly.
- [38:54]
Chris Hansen
Like, I got back from Mexico and there was all this like, you know, beach clothing and I'd ordered that came too late, same thing. And said, oh, oh, yeah. 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 I got to go ship all this back because I'm not gonna ever wear this.
- [39:13]
Ryan Alford
Yep. So 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. You. I think there's a lot of nodding of the head. So Jeff, call us. We'll, we'll bring you on. You can explain how you're using AI and robots and everything else to get this right, but Walmart, Uncle Sam, Sam Walton, you know, get more of my business. Had more spray paint delivered same day than I could account. Been doing some. You know, I got a couple different little hobbies now that like ease my mind. Fixing. Yeah, yeah, they don't want to give that out. The sides of great, lovely Greenville, South Carolina Graffiti. Graffiti farm. No, no. Fixing up old golf carts. I've been re. Re imagining whatever you want to call it.
- [40:15]
Chris Hansen
Like, are you refurbishing and refurbing or like.
- [40:17]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, re buy refurb. 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. I started a YouTube channel and flipping golf carts or something and that sounds like a good YouTube channel, right?
- [40:31]
Chris Hansen
Yeah. So I'd watch it.
- [40:36]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. I, I come up with a clever like something like related to golf, like name like yeah, better than flipping carts, but something like that. People. That would be a, that would be a total, well switcheroo, you know, mind switch because you think you're gonna see golf carts like flipping like, which is common. Which is common. Let's be honest.
- [40:59]
Chris Hansen
There's a whole series of pages dedicated to dudes flipping golf carts on golf.
- [41:04]
Ryan Alford
Hey, you know, I actually caught flipping birdies birds and I didn't mean that to anyone. I'll probably get, that'll probably get banned off of there. Actually. No, we're not censoring anymore. So. Yeah. But anyway, I digress. 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. So be careful out there if you're looking for a job, I will admit, you know, because, you know, I always read stuff like this and I go, have we ever done that? And I've never done it purposefully. But here's what's happened. I have posted several jobs where, okay, business changes or I promote someone and. And then it never gets filled because we made an internal decision. But it's also hard as a small team when you get a lot of application, like reaching back out, 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, you know, in this office. And again, I'm not justifying it. 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. 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 gonna, not gonna fill, you know, but it's obviously on the rise. I don't know what it says. It says example. I don't know what or why does it say necessarily why people would do it? So I don't know what would motivate the company. Maybe get candidates that they look at but aren't planning to hire. Yeah.
- [42:57]
Chris Hansen
Like a database of potential or to.
- [42:59]
Ryan Alford
Look like they're growing. Look at all we have. 21 open positions. Man.
- [43:03]
Chris Hansen
That's true.
- [43:04]
Ryan Alford
Fake. Fake the sentiment.
- [43:05]
Chris Hansen
That's true.
- [43:07]
Ryan Alford
That could be a tactic. I don't know.
- [43:09]
Chris Hansen
Yeah. Make it seem like a growing exclusive company.
- [43:13]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, exactly. All this talk about inauguration politics has got me thinking about our sponsor, independent center. Independent center.org Go sign up for their newsletter. 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. This bill that's about this policy and this number and all that. And like I'm educated. I feel like I'm pretty smart guy. My wife might disagree, but I think for the most part I am. And sometimes I don't even get it all. That's why we partner with Independent Center. They cut through the noise. They bring us straight to why something matters. Removing the politics, Removing the right and the left. Keeping it straight down the Center. Independent Center.org Go Sign up for the newsletter, 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. Get free insights, surveys, all kinds of knowledge about what's happening on the policies and not the politics. Independent Center.org Official Sponsor of Right about now. Chris, you know, you ever wake up and you're a little groggy, you're like. I mean, it happens, you know? You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. It's like you need a little more pep. Dabby you. Does it happen even to you? I mean, look at you. You're. You're a walking figurine model. But we know it happens to you.
- [44:48]
Chris Hansen
I get tired sometimes.
- [44:50]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [44:50]
Chris Hansen
Fatigue hits.
- [44:52]
Ryan Alford
It does. And look and. But I bet you. But do you want sugar? Do you want fake sugar? You want like all the bad stuff?
- [45:01]
Chris Hansen
I want clean energy, baby.
- [45:03]
Ryan Alford
That's what I'm talking about. That's why I reach for the X. X marks the spot.exonent 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. Got the sector C here. We've got Orange Eclipse right there. Look. Thing I love about this brand, it feels Good. I get a little bit of that pip in the step, removes the fog and ultimately I don't have the crash. You don't have to crash. From the fake sugars, the real sugars, all that stuff. Exponent official energy drink of Ryan Alford. And right about now, we appreciate them and you will too. Go give him a shout out. Chris, any final words today as we close things out?
- [45:54]
Chris Hansen
Everyone, have a great weekend. Get active, get some sun. Move your body.
- [45:59]
Ryan Alford
Hey. Move your body. Yes, we, Chris and I do another show, vibe Science. It's not always complicated, is it, Chris? It's like the simple things.
- [46:09]
Chris Hansen
Yeah, simple water, sleep, good food.
- [46:14]
Ryan Alford
Exactly. So keep it simple, but keep it real. Hey, I appreciate Chris Hansen, my good friend, good contributor to this show. Couldn't do it without him. Go to ryanisright.com you'll find highlight clips, links to Chris and I, social media, anything and everything related to the show. The sponsors. Hey, we look, this is how this works. We give you free content. 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. 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. 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 about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.