⌚ “Engagement Watch” — Rolex’s wedding win. Starbucks’ barista championship. Home Depot’s ICE raid.
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This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Friday, the real Friday, the 13th of June, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. 2020.

20,000 followers on Instagram. We are this close to 20,000 followers on Instagram. Check us out at T-Boy Pod. If you are the 20,000th follower, we'll hook you up with a free T-Boy hat. And then you're going to look fantastic. But in the meantime, Jack, we got three wonderful stories for today's show. What is on T-Boy? For our first story, Rolex watch sales are suddenly surging. And we found a few reasons why. One of them, women are buying men Rolex earrings.

engagement watches. That's right, real thing. Hey Alex, I guess you missed the memo. Third anniversary Rolex, we'll take it. For our second story, ICE is in the headlines for ramping up deportations. And one business and one industry is feeling it most, Home Depot. HD is ground zero of Trump's immigration policy. And our third and final story is Starbucks.

Starbucks stock is struggling, so they just hosted the World Barista Championships. And Jack, what is Starbucks' next big move? They're hiring a full-time in-house influencer. Check out this orange mocha frappuccino. A first of its kind. Yes, it is, but not the last. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What?

It's a mix of stories to go into the weekend with, Jack. No one has tracked more alternative recession indicators than we have. Besties, you already know about the Lipstick Index and the Men's Undies Theory. We also track Botox, hair dye, and brown bag lunches. Not to mention Katy Perry concerts, all of them alternative recession indicators. But here's the newest.

TaskRabbit. That's right. Do more TaskRabbits mean a worse economy? Maybe, because here's the news. TaskRabbit has experienced a 20% surge in people seeking gig work this year. And remember, TaskRabbit is the platform that connects people with gig workers for hourly work jobs. I just hired a TaskRabbit to stain my patio furniture. I thought you chopped your own wood. I didn't know that. I do not chop my own wood.

Okay, is that not involved? I didn't even know you could stay in that kind of thing. It's teak wood. It's an investment. I trust you on this one, Jack. So here's the analysis. If TaskRabbit requests go up, that's actually a good sign for the economy. That's right, because people would be spending money on their homes. But if TaskRabbit

taskers go up? That's a worrisome sign about the economy. It means people must be worried about their income. And they're trying to supplement their paycheck by staining my furniture. Well, get this. Right now, there are so many taskers that TaskRabbit had to start a wait list. They don't want the market to become overwhelmed by people looking for work. And now, besties, we should point out this doesn't necessarily mean the R word.

Recession. After all, stocks are near all-time highs. But it does mean a little bit of economic uncertainty. Something to keep your eye on, yetis, is the TaskRabbit tipping point. In the meantime, if anyone can help Jack set up that baby's bassinet, he's paying 40 bucks an hour. Dude, I already set up the bassinet. Let me tell you, I can't do that. I can't assemble it or unassemble it, Jack. It's just an Allen wrench.

It's just an outage Why would they name it after a person? 15 years before this song Two boys from the northeast met in a dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip T-Boy City on your at list If you know, you know, cause we ready to go We can't wait no more, so just start the show Start the show Start the show

First, a quick word from our sponsor. Monarch Money. All right, Jack, can I tell you about my SMH? What is that? It stands for my stupid money habit. You ready for this? I just realized I spent $412 last month on taxis. Nick, that's a car payment. I know, I could have probably just bought another car at this point. Now, Nick only realized how much he spent on Ubers, Lyfts, and Yellow Cabs thanks to Monarch Money. Monarch. It isn't just about...

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This podcast is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. Yeah, these lots of financial companies want to talk to you, but Northwestern Mutual wants to listen to you. Some companies say they have all the answers, but Northwestern Mutual has better questions. Yeah, the financial pros, they are going to ask you questions about your financial situation that honestly, you never asked yourself. A big one?

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For our first story, Rolex sales are surging right now for a whole bunch of unexpected and totally random reasons like the Rolex engagement ring. But there's one stat about Rolex that shocked us. Apparently, Rolexes are everywhere. I feel awkward. I don't have one right now.

But yetis, let's start with some geographical context. Few countries are known for more things than the Swiss are, right, Jack? Fondue, chocolate, neutrality, and time, including cuckoo clocks. Absolutely. I went skydiving once, by the way, and my parents were not happy with it there.

I don't think that's a thing the Swiss are known for. That's also a fair point, Jack. But funny phenomenon we noticed in April, Yetis. Used Rolex watch sales popped 160% in just a few weeks. Why was Rolex, the Rolls Royce of your wrist, selling like beanie babies?

Out of nowhere. Well, Jack, the answer was trade war hoarding. People were worried about tariffs, so they loaded up on a Rolex before they got terrified. But besties, this is what Jack and I found fascinating. Even after the tariffs got paused on Switzerland, Rolex sales continued to spike.

Because Rolex just launched a new watch that took them seven years to design. Get this. It's called the Land Dweller, and Rolex actually filed 16 different patents to make it possible. It starts at 15 grand. If you have one of these, are you wearing them or are you just leaving them in the safe? I think it wears you, Jack. That's how it works with the new Rolex. But the thing...

Third Rolex headline nobody saw coming. Rolex engagement rings? Not rings. Well, they're rings because they wrap around your wrist, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess they're Rolex watches as engagement rings for dudes. Get this. A new trend on TikTok is...

is brides giving their grooms Rolexes before the wedding. That's right. She gets a diamond ring. He gets a Rolex. And let's just say Rolex is thrilled about this development. Yeah, they are. Oh, also, you should be too, because if you're going to a wedding this weekend, we basically just gave you the icebreaker for your table. On TikTok, one bride got down on one knee and opened up a box for her man, revealing a Rolex. That bride's video?

got a million views over just the last week. Financially, this trend makes sense. It does. You know, like a diamond, Rolex holds value. It's timeless. It's basically a 401k on your body. And sentimentally, it makes sense too. You pass down a ring to your children, you can pass down a Rolex to your children. It becomes a family heirloom. And the more we're talking about this, Jack, I'm starting to think Alex may owe you an Omega at the very least. But our takeaway about Rolex is probably going to shock you. That's right. Because it shocked Nick and me. It did. It did.

Rolex is valuable, but it's not as rare as you'd realize. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our strapped-on buddies over at Rolex? Like beauty, scarcity is in the eye of the beholder. Okay, so Yetis, how many watches do you think Rolex makes each year? I asked Jack that question before we started researching this story, and Jack asked...

50,000 Rolexes per year. I was way off. They actually make 1.2 million Rolexes every year. Yeah, that's true. In fact, Rolex is one third of the whole Swiss watch industry by revenue. Besties, what we're saying here is that Rolex ain't rare. Rolex is everywhere.

For context, Hermes makes 50,000 of their famous Birkin bags per year. So I was kind of on with my 50,000 guess. Right, but Rolex makes 20 times as many watches every year. Ferrari makes only 15,000 cars a year. Rolex makes 80 times as many watches. As we're saying to Jack, it's almost like Rolex's business model is like a Porsche. It seems exclusive and rare, but it's really everywhere. Maybe not.

Maybe not everywhere, but fairly common. And that's a reminder, Yetis, that scarcity and exclusivity, that can be manufactured and marketed. Perception of scarcity can be just as powerful as actual scarcity. Like beauty, scarcity is in the eye of the beholder.

For our second story, as ICE deportations kick into high gear, American companies are already losing workers. That's how Home Depot has become ground zero in Trump's immigration policy.

Now, Yetis, last week, the attention in politics was on Trump's Elon breakup and criticism of his big, beautiful bill. As we told you, it was the bro-force. This week, Trump and Elon made up. Yes, they did. And Trump successfully turned America's attention to something else. Immigration. Immigration. It just happens to be a consistent political winner for the president. Which leads to the news that his administration has reportedly set a quota to deport 3,000 people every day. Now,

To hit this 3,000 people a day deportation quota, Trump and his ICE agents...

have a strategy. They're going to Home Depot and 7-Eleven. Literally. ICE agents are doing raids at places where immigrants gather or work. Home Depots and 7-Elevens. They're asking for papers and if the people have no ID, they're detaining them. And if they're determined unlawful, they're getting deported. But yet, this is what made Jack and I jump in T-boy style. This immigration story is rapidly becoming an economics issue.

and business story. Because unauthorized immigrants are workers and deportation is already leading to work shortages. In fact,

Back in February, Jack and I noticed this was already an issue in Home Depot's earnings call. Home Depot got two questions from financial analysts back in February asking them about the impact of immigration policies on their business. Wow, we also just got some wild data from Cantor Research about what's happening right now, right, Jack? Home Depot has suffered a 9% drop in Hispanic shoppers in the first quarter. They're staying at home to avoid interacting with authorities. Now, let's sprinkle on more context here, Jack.

Of the 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants in America, many of them have been reliable workers for years. And half of them pay taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center. I actually did not know that stat. There's this alternative to the social security number that lots of unauthorized immigrants get in order to work. And

And they pay taxes hoping it increases their chances of getting citizenship someday. Now, studies also show that jobs done by unauthorized immigrants are jobs that native-born Americans just...

don't want to do. In many cases, we literally won't do them. Right. Like working in a field under the hot sun all day, that's something native-born Americans have no interest in doing. And even if American-born Americans did want to do these jobs, we just simply don't have enough of them to actually do the jobs. Here was a surprise twist on Thursday. President Trump admitted that

the economic implications and the economic impact of his immigration policies in a post on Truth. This was shocking, but Trump tweeted that business owners are losing, as he said, very good longtime workers who are almost impossible to replace. Trump seems to hear the complaints of business and CEOs, but he's proceeding with his deportations anyway. Now Trump would say that he's going to keep on deporting anyway because some of these individuals are criminals.

or maybe it is part of a deterrent strategy to stop other immigrants from coming in. So he's willing to take the pain of worker shortages in exchange for the immigration benefits. But still, Jack and I wanted to whip up this takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Home Depot? The two industries most vulnerable to deportations are the two most important industries in the economy right now.

Yetis, according to Oxford Economics, construction and agriculture, those are the two most dependent industries on unauthorized immigrants. 14% of construction workers are unauthorized immigrants. And 10% of farm workers are unauthorized immigrants. Jack, could you whip up a statistic translation for us over there? Because of these deportations,

the price of new housing and the price of groceries could be under pressure. And Home Depot, they're hit with a double whammy here, right, Jack? Losing customers, they're losing construction business, and deportations could be happening in their parking lot. Yeah, their stock is actually down 14% since that earnings report we mentioned.

Add it all up and there's a major trade-off in Trump's immigration policies that even he has acknowledged. More deportations equal more worker shortages. And more worker shortages could lead to higher prices. Especially in housing and groceries. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

The best one yet is sponsored by BetterHelp. All right, Jack, let me set the scene for you. My birthday dinner, we did a pizza party. I rented out a whole spot called the Dough Room in San Francisco. You mess with the pizza dough while you make it. I know. And then what comes next is the most San Francisco thing ever. Basically, group therapy over dinner. So all three people on my side of the table were in therapy, and all of us were talking about each other's therapy. You know, like one person was saying how their therapist helped them through a coworker battle. Another was talking about like the future of

fatherhood with their therapist. They were stressed about becoming a dad. It's not just San Francisco. Society's views on therapy have changed across the world. True. It's evolved to the point where you had a birthday dinner learning from each other's therapy session. Well, BetterHelp is an easy way to take that leap and find the therapist for you. Because BetterHelp has over 10 years of experience matching people, like your friends, with therapists. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. All

Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash T-Boy. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash T-Boy. Airbnb. Now, yeah, Jack mentioned his favorite skinny dipping spot. Where was that again? I did. A bunch of people asked me about that. But, Nick, there's nothing better than swimming in Mother Nature with the outfit Mother gave you. I mean, you know what they say. It's not the summer unless you're outside naked at some point and nobody knows it. Now, another way to do that is an outdoor shower. And I should mention...

My place has one of those too. And how is it possible you have an outdoor shower, Jack? Because I'm an Airbnb host. True. Now, I usually spend my Airbnb hosting income on travel for the family, but this time we earmarked it for a home upgrade. Now, Jack, I should point out, I'm no carpenter, but outdoor shower, it ain't cheap. You got the cedar wood install. You got the copper pipes, the French drains. But with the money we're making on Airbnb, it was affordable. We put it in last year. Well played. Yetis, I'm an Airbnb host with my current chalet and with two previous apartments, I'm

I can tell you it's very easy to use. Besties millions don't realize their space could be an Airbnb. You already have an Airbnb. You could be yodeling naked outdoors with fresh shampoo in your hair. In the outdoor shower, paid for by your guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host.

For our third and final story before the weekend, Starbucks is crowning barista champions and hiring full-time coffee influencers. What midlife crisis? We explore Starbucks' pivot to creator marketing and the new job that every company is soon going to offer.

World Barista Day!

That's right, besties. Starbucks held a competition during their company off-site over in Vegas. 14,000 workers watched latte lovers brew their best. The World Barista Championships is the Super Bowl for Starbucks. It's like the Olympics of lattes. It's the World Cup of white foam. It feels like the Harry Potter House Cup meets the Hunger Games with like a splash of pistachio milk. Now, the winner was declared on Wednesday. It's a man from Japan.

And he was the best out of 84,000 competitors. Pretty exciting because the winner has a chance to concoct their own signature menu item, which is going to be... The Blooming Yuzu Espresso. If they make a decaf, we'll take two. Or I'll take two. You'll take regular.

But besties, this is what Jack and I found more fascinating about this story. The job board. They're hiring their first ever global coffee creator. A full-time Starbucks influencer is going to be hired by Starbucks. If this sounds interesting to you, applications close today. Yeah. But if you get the job...

It sounds like the coolest gap year ever. FYI, again, few hours left for you to submit your resume. Starbucks is looking for someone to travel for 12 months to Starbucks shops across the world. You, like, check out the flagship Reserve Cafe in Milan, the new institution they've opened in Tokyo, plus the bean-growing hacienda down in Costa Rica. And because this is influencer marketing, airfare is paid for by Delta and hotels are paid for by Marriott.

Yeah, it's like the rare thruple of corporate partnerships. You've got Starbucks, Delta, and Marriott involved. Never seen those three together before. And naturally, you must capture all of your espresso experiences with a selfie stick and a ring light. Oh, and that content you record? Yeah, Jack? It's Starbucks property. Yeah, they're going to own it. So two people are going to get paid for this 12-month full-time gig. One of them is already going to be an employed barista. The other...

is one lucky TikToker. And we say TikToker because the application actually requires a TikTok video to be posted explaining why you should get the job. And you got to tag Starbucks. Yeah. It's a very public application that also gets Starbucks some views on TikTok. Not too shabby. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Starbucks? Starbucks is inventing a new role. In-house influencer.

Yetis, as Jack and I thought more about this, we think this is a job posting we're going to see more of and a job that we expect influencers to be really interested in. Because the reality is that influencer is a stressful job. It is hard to make money and the business model of sponsored posts

So you feel like you're always working. And that's when we remembered, some lawyers choose to become in-house lawyers. Instead of a law firm, they go and work as a lawyer for a corporation. And just like in-house lawyers, in-house influencer would be a more stable, less stressful job that has a better boundary between work and life. So for Starbucks, their first in-house influencer will capture coffee content from the seed to the cappuccino. Starbucks has invented a new role.

in-house influencers. Besties, expect to see more of them.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Rolex has become an engagement gift for men. Yeah. But Rolexes are more common than you think. Like beauty, scarcity is in the eye of the beholder. For our second story, as the Trump administration aims to deport 3,000 people a day, Home Depot has become ground zero. The two industries that are losing the most workers are construction and agriculture. And our third and final story is Starbucks.

They're looking for a content creator to travel the world, drink Starbucks, and take selfies. You're an in-house influencer. That is the new job that we think you're going to see a lot more of.

But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Chime, the McDonald's of online banking, as we call it, IPO'd yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares finished 37% higher on the first day of trading. The valuation is $13.5 billion. By the way, the reason we call Chime the McDonald's

Ds of money is because it's low-priced, consistent, and a scalable concept. And their IPO keeps the streak of successful IPOs going. And second, Mickey just called up the lawyers and told them, uh, let's sue artificial intelligence. Here's the news. Disney and Universal Studios sued Midjourney, the AI company, for copyright infringement. Yeah, because if you ask Midjourney to turn you into a minion, it's going to do so without paying the studios. They didn't sue OpenAI, though, which is interesting. It is interesting. That's the biggest player...

Like, probably vulnerable for copyright infringement. It seems like they're going with the cheaper model here. And finally, as Nick and I are recording this, we're just seeing now breaking headlines from the Middle East. Israel has attacked Iran Friday morning local time. We don't have any more details than that. It comes after the U.S. failed to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. And the attack raises fears of war in the Middle East between the region's two biggest militaries. This last one isn't pop business news, but it is something you need to know today.

Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by your dad because Father's Day is this Sunday. It should be called Barbecue Day. Yeah, it should be. Analysis of restaurant sales from Father's Day 2023 show that barbecue sales nearly doubled. Yeah, according to Toast, they were up 98% compared to an average June day. Speaking of Father's Day, Nick and I, two fathers, by the way,

I have a correction to make. Yeah, correction. Yesterday, we did a story on the controversy of putting ketchup on your breakfast food. And we played a clip of President Obama talking to Anthony Bourdain. We meant to play a clip of them ridiculing putting ketchup on eggs. Yeah, we accidentally played one about them putting ketchup on hot dogs. So here's the correct clip. Here's the right clip. Yeah. Nine seconds after the video that we played yesterday. My daughter's eight, and she put ketchup on eggs the other day, and I...

I didn't know what good parenting called for at this point. An intervention. I think you just got to say, you know what? That's not acceptable. I'm sorry. Yeah, Jack, I just still don't think ketchup works on oatmeal. I just don't see a world where I want to live in that world. No one is making that argument. Exactly.

Yetis, you look fantastic going into the weekend. Jack and I got a special surprise we're whipping up for you tomorrow morning. Happy Father's Day in advance to all those who celebrate. And Nick and I will see you there. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Megan Corrent-Langford in Salt Lake City, Utah, who also just got a new job at The Bickler. And a big shout out to my dad. Happy Father's Day, Dad. Also a shout out to this guy, Nick. See?

Fantastic father. I just finished spending three days in San Francisco. The way he interacts with his son, Maxie, is unreal. Yeah, you should have seen it though. Jack was carrying Maxie up a hill. Maxie made him get carried up all the hills. Dude, the hills in San Francisco are steep. Yeah, especially with a 35-pound two-year-old. I had him on my back for about...

400 feet of elevation. Big Ted and Big Mike, happy Father's Day. Oh, and to that Yeti who we saw on Market Street who shouted out at us, hello, thanks for listening to the show. And if you want to get a shout out on the pod, we got a form in this episode description. Fill it out and we'll get you on the show.

This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Nick and I both own stock of Chipotle. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you. Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be...

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