Podcast Summary: The Best One Yet
Episode Title: 💳 “America’s Fave Gift” — Gift Cards’ surge. White House’s Tech Force. Zillow’s Name-Yo-Price. +Uber Eats Wrapped.
Hosts: Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell
Date: December 17, 2025
Overview
In this episode, Jack and Nick serve up the "three business stories you need" with their signature wit:
- The explosion of gift cards as America's go-to holiday present—and how companies profit big.
- Zillow faces serious competition from Google, and an idea to “renovate” its business.
- The White House’s newly launched Tech Force recruiting techies to government service.
Sprinkled throughout are their trademark humorous asides, a riff on Uber Eats Wrapped, and a lightning round of quirky business headlines.
Key Stories & Insights
1. Gift Cards: America’s Favorite—and Most Profitable—Gift
Timestamps: 05:07–09:56
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Context & Popularity:
- "The most popular gift in America this year. The same gift as every year. That's right. It's the gift card." (Nick, 05:07)
- "$500 billion of gift cards are purchased annually in the US, which is 1.6% of GDP." (Jack, 06:57)
- Starbucks is the #2 gift card in the country (behind Visa), booking $3.5B in revenue just from gift cards last Christmas. (06:04)
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Why Companies Love Gift Cards:
- Unused Balances: "Starbucks booked $1.8 billion of pure 100% profit just from unused gift cards last year." (Jack, 07:50)
- Americans lose or forget to redeem 10–20% of gift cards. (07:34)
- Many companies count unused balances as profit after 12 months, even if cards don’t expire.
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Triple Profit ‘Puppy’:
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Three Profit Streams:
- Cash up front.
- Unused balances become pure profit.
- Shoppers overspend ("top off tension")—average card users spend 30–40% more than the card’s value just to redeem it all (09:19).
"You buy sandals for 80 bucks. To redeem the extra 20 you gotta buy another $80 thing. So suddenly you're 160 bucks in the hole." (Jack, 09:28)
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Legislative Efforts:
- Some states now have "demand the change" laws: if a card is down to its last 10%, you can ask for the rest in cash (08:11).
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Takeaway:
- "It's not romantic and it can feel cold, but cash is always king." (Jack, 09:50)
- "The gift card is the rare triple profit puppy for the company that issued it." (Nick, 08:59)
2. Zillow Under Threat: Google's Real Estate Ambitions & "Name Your Price"
Timestamps: 09:56–14:26
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Zillow’s Dominance Threatened:
- Zillow has 50% market share, with Redfin at a distant 15%. But Google is now testing its own real estate features in search results (10:47–11:07).
- "Zillow's got a Zillopoly." (Nick, 10:36)
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Google’s Potential Move:
- With Google’s scale, it could overlay home prices on Google Maps. This would be “brutal for Zillow” (Jack, 11:16).
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Innovative Solution — “Name Your Price”:
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Inspired by "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase ("everyone has a price"). (11:42)
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Allow homeowners to input the price they'd accept for their home, even if it's not on the market—a transparent way for would-be buyers to see potential offers and for owners to test the waters without hassle. (12:03–12:25)
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Real-life example: Jack left a letter in a homeowner's mailbox to solicit interest in selling—a mainstream “Name Your Price” feature could modernize this (12:50–13:09).
"Transparency about more willingness to… maybe move if the right price is offered could heat up this frozen housing market we're in." (Jack, 13:15)
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Why Competition Matters:
- "The secret ingredient to getting better is a competitor." (Jack, 13:25)
- Stagnant giants (like Google Search for years) need competitors to drive improvements.
"Without competition, [products] get worse." (Nick, 14:24)
3. The White House “Tech Force”: Coding for Country
Timestamps: 16:33–20:21
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The Launch:
- "The White House just announced the Tech Force. It's like the Peace Corps, but for programmers." (Nick, 16:33)
- 1,000 techies can join Tech Force for two years at $150k–$200k/year plus benefits, tackling government IT and UX messes (17:35).
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Why This Matters:
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"Government apps can have infuriating design… The DMV is full of friction." (Nick, 17:08)
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29 major companies (Zoom among them) pledged to let employees take a sabbatical to join and then return (18:52–19:06).
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Tech Force is positioned as public service, like military or Teach for America, not just another job—should be a résumé flex for future tech careers (18:21–18:34).
"Just like military service looks good on a resume, so should the Tech Force service on a resume." (Jack, 18:27)
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Lesson from Healthcare.gov Failure:
- In 2013, the Obamacare website failed on launch because the government prioritized "fairness"—letting everyone on at once, rather than "effectiveness"—a techie-recommended phased rollout (19:27–20:07).
- "If the thing you built, it doesn't matter how fair it is if it doesn't even work." (Jack, 20:14)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
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On Gift Cards’ True Beneficiary:
"Gift cards are really? Gifts for the company that issued them." (Nick, 20:29)
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On Overspending:
"We call it top off tension." (Jack, 09:28)
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On Market Disruption:
"Zillow's CEO felt something this week he hasn't felt in 11 years. What he felt was urgency." (Nick, 13:28)
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On Tech Force Branding:
"A job at Techforce should not be compared to a job at Meta. In our opinion, it should be compared to military service or the Peace Corps…" (Nick, 18:12)
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On Public Service & Effectiveness:
"The laws should be fair. The implementation of the laws must actually work." (Nick, 20:53)
Bonus Segments
Uber Eats Wrapped, “Year-in-Review” Gags
Timestamps: 01:28–02:41
- Inspired by SNL, Uber Eats launched a Spotify-style year-in-review—Nick ate 13 banh mi sandwiches in 2025.
- Jack and Nick riff on imagined yearly recaps for Gmail ("You forgot to attach 26 attachments"), Tinder ("Three quarters of your dates are holding a trout…"), and more.
Rapid-fire Business Updates
Timestamps: 21:02–22:19
- Jobs Report: Unemployment at a four-year high (4.6%), but mostly due to voluntary buyouts in government jobs.
- Tesla: Stock doubled, Elon Musk’s net worth at $600B+.
- Duolingo: Oddly taking over old Hooters restaurant sites with their owl mascot.
Best Fact Yet
Timestamps: 22:27–23:30
- Mariah Carey's involvement in another Christmas hit, "Where Are You, Christmas?" sung by Faith Hill—plus, Mariah breaks chart records with "All I Want For Christmas Is You."
Conclusion & Takeaways
- Gift cards are convenient for givers, highly profitable for companies, and not always a great deal for recipients—consider cash instead.
- Zillow faces its first real challenge in a decade from Google; innovation is urgently needed. Adding transparency via a "Name Your Price" feature could transform real estate.
- The White House’s Tech Force aims to attract top tech talent to government as a prestigious, resume-boosting public service, hoping to avoid mistakes of the past by emphasizing effectiveness over fairness.
Seasonal humor, sharp takes, and energetic banter make this episode a classic TBOY listen—serving up both laughs and the latest in pop business news.
