Happy Saturday Besties,

Pepsi is adding 20% more chips back to the bag. Seriously — buying a bag of Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos, or Cheetos will include 20% less air. Still no judgement if ya finish the whole thing ofc. This is a much-needed case of reverse-shrinkflation…

Scroll to the bottom for what Nick is cracking into (not Cheetos), and what Jack is jumping about.

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DID YOU KNOW

🍫 How Butterfinger got its name?

Answer: A popularity contest. The creator of the peanut buttery chocolate bar was an early crowdsourcer— he asked the people what he should call his peanut-y chocolate bar. A Chicago man submitted the winning name, which described a baseball player who couldn’t catch a fly ball.

But here’s the news: For the 1st time in its 101-year history, Butterfinger is adding a new flavor… Caramel. And we think it’s a mistake, here’s why: Butterfinger is giving up a competitive advantage: timeless-ness.

Question: Which marketing message sells better?

• A. “We have a new flavor: Caramel”

• B. “We haven’t changed our recipe in over a century”

(From the Butterfinger’s 101-year streak story)

GET THIS

 🌮 Pay whatever you want: Taco Bell is letting customers name their price. It’s a new app feature: Choose how much wanna spend, between $5-$25. At each price level, Taco Bell shows a combo of food for that price. In Econ Terms: Instead of pricing on 1 point of the Demand Curve, it’s pricing along the entire Demand Curve.

💍 Big Lab Bling: Half of all diamonds sold today were grown in a lab (they’re cheaper, but still real). But here’s the wild part: Instead of spending less for lab-grown, future-fiancés are spending the same dollar-amount, just getting a bigger rock.

• 1.4 carats = Avg size of a natural diamond bought last year

• 2 carats = Avg size of a lab-grown diamond bought last year

GOTTA’ KNOW

🚀 Race to Mars: SpaceX landed a skyscraper-sized rocket on the exact spot it took-off from — THIS IS HUGE. Now, the enormous (and expensive) rocket can be reused, which grows SpaceX’s economic viability by 10x. More flights for less $….that’s the key to get humans to Mars.

 ❌ This should be illegal: Ya know that feeling when you have to physically call to cancel that monthly subscription? It’s irritating. Welp, the FTC has your back — because it just finalized a rule to end the devious practice. With the new federal rule, canceling subscriptions must be as easy as signing up. If you can subscribe online with a click, you must be able to unsubscribe online with a click too. Victooorryyy screeeeech.

IN STOCK NEWS…

🚕 Uber has discussed acquiring Expedia in what would be its biggest deal ever.

That would be consistent with Uber’s recent strategy of partnering with everyyyoneee. It Acquired Postmates for food delivery, Drizly for alcohol, it partnered with Waymo for self-driving cabs, and Netflix for product placements (Nobody Wants This? S1E2, we saw you, Uber 👀 ). The strategy has worked. Uber stock is up 84% in the past 12 months.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

(From our Uber’s African proverb story)

BEST TAKEAWAY

👄 Your job isn’t a role, it’s a value.

Walmart has a Meteorologist who was busy prepping for this month’s hurricanes. But so does Ford (for its test tracks), Paramount (for its movie sets), and Campbell Soup (for its crop forecasting). Get this: All those companies have in-house economists too.

Meteorologists don’t just work at CNN. And economists don’t just work at Goldman. Because your job isn’t a role, it’s the value you provide.

(From our Walmart’s in-house weatherman story)

TELL A BESTIE

The best headlines to bring to the dinner table…

• 🧢 Election Hats for both Harris and Trump and are made by 1 company in NJ.

• 🍔 Cincinnati’s Skyline Chili collabed with Graeter’s ice cream, Midwest freaks out.

• 🎓 This college tutor is 98% certain it can get Timmy into Harvard, it’s venture-backed, and it’s valued at $500M.

• 🐾 Crocs started making dog shoes (above). But you’ve got to remember to buy 2 pairs for your pooch.

And one more thing. Nick is cracking into this book. And Jack may have found a new fitness routine he’s been burpee-ing about… not ready to share yet until it’s #official. Stay tuned….

— Nick & Jack

🍟 PS: If you are craving something salty this weekend, listen to the 1st episode of our new show The Best Idea Yet: The untold story of The Happy Meal. #TeamYolanda