Bitcoin News Australia

The supply chain, a major headache during the pandemic economy, is in much better shape.

Containers that took up to ~120 days to ship between  warehouses in China and the US during the pandemic now take ~14 days, and the spot price for shipping a container from China to the US has declined from a peak of ~$20k to ~$1.2k, roughly equivalent to pre-pandemic prices.

Yet many shipping prices remain high, according to Bloomberg, contributing to inflation.

Why?

For one, China to the West Coast isn’t the only prominent shipping route. Many American goods come from Europe, where prices for shipping a container are ~3x 2019 prices.

There’s also timing:

• Per Bloomberg, 70% of freight on a given ship has been negotiated under long-term contracts, so many importers are locked into rates set in 2021 and 2022.
• Big companies are reluctant to change their prices, often adjusting them a couple times per year.

Plus, it still costs a lot…

… to store freight and to ship it by rail or truck in the US.

• Warehouse vacancy rates are low, pushing up rents.
• The logistics sector has struggled to hire and retain employees, which has led to higher salaries and costs.
• The price of diesel is ~2x its summer 2020 price.

It’s even gotten more expensive to build new truck trailers.

Retailers and industry leaders don’t see the prices of goods falling much until at least later this year, per Bloomberg. But logistics industry leaders are meeting in Los Angeles this week to discuss the need to restore trust in the supply chain.

The convention, as Bloomberg’s Laura Curtis described, will be a regular “Davos on the Docks.”

Today in missed opportunities, Snapchat announced a GPT-powered personalized avatar named “My AI” (and not “SnapChatGPT”).

To be fair, the name appears especially intentional: With a customizable name and avatar, My AI is designed to feel more like a friend than a search engine or productivity tool, which helps differentiate its use case from those of Bing and Google.

• Snapchat says My AI is great for recommending birthday gift ideas or writing “a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed pal.”

Snapchat reaches 750m monthly active users, including 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in 20+ countries.

Despite these impressive numbers, the company has posted disappointing earnings, shed staff, and shelved projects, and its stock is down ~75% YoY.

My AI will initially only be available through Snapchat’s $3.99/mo. premium offering, which could help grow its subscription business, though the plan is for all users to eventually have access, per The Verge.

What about AI safety? “As with all AI-powered chatbots,” Snapchat says, “My AI is prone to hallucination and can be tricked into saying just about anything… Sorry in advance!”

One sports drink is so in demand that teens are charging each other to pose with empty bottles.

Why? The power of influencers. In this case, former boxing rivals Logan Paul and KSI who, combined, have 40m+ YouTube subscribers.

It’s called Prime

It contains 10% coconut water, appeared in a Super Bowl ad, and is the UFC’s official sports drink. It typically retails for ~$2.40 per bottle and, in 2022, generated $250m in retail sales, per The Washington Post.

But Prime has also become a hard-to-get status symbol that resellers are hawking at high markups. Plus:

• Rowdy shoppers led grocery chain Aldi to limit sales to one of each flavor.
• UK schools have banned Prime to curb children-run black markets.

Interestingly, at press time, it was available on Amazon at… a very regular price.

This all sounds silly…

… but it ain’t new.

Shoes, toys, and other products can become hot commodities — including soft drinks. We previously covered Exotic Pop, a Houston-based soda company that got its start reselling brands touted by hip-hop acts.

Mae Karwowski, CEO and founder of influencer marketing firm Obviously, told WaPo that, in the next decade, she expects “all the biggest brands will be made by creators” because they get what their customers want.

Emma Chamberlain has a growing coffee/tea brand. MrBeast started a burger chain. For Paul and KSI, it’s a beverage Gordon Ramsay compared to “swallowing perfume.”