The Daily Valet. - 6/15/23, Thursday
✔️ That Was Fast
Thursday, June 15th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
The nice thing about getting a newsletter delivered? No packaging to get rid of!
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Today’s Big Story
Deliveries Keep Getting Faster
Shippers adjusted to pandemic-related disruptions to reach customers faster ... will it stay? SPeed Up? Maybe even slow down?
How many deliveries do you get each week? Between food deliveries, subscriptions and online shopping, we're all getting a whole lot sent to our doorsteps these days. In fact, a recent survey found that 79% of Americans get at least one delivery a week. Nearly a quarter received packages daily—including 33% of Gen Z , 22% of millennials and 20% of Gen X. And men were much more likely than women to get daily package drops.With all those deliveries, Gen Z paid the most in shipping and shipping fees: an average of $901.20 each year. If that sounds like a lot, it might be because shipping prices have surged recently. Despite generally receiving packages less often, millennials only spent an average of $2.00 less each year than Gen Zers.It's no wonder then that this boom in digital shopping has resulted in faster deliveries. In April, the time between a customer placing an order and the package arriving on their doorstep fell to an average of four days, according to Project44's “State of Last Mile” report released last month, compared to 5.6 days in April 2022. The company's supply chain platform tracks more than a billion shipments annually.There are several reasons why delivery speeds have improved. There are more workers in trucks and a lot of companies have moved inventory closer to end consumers—most notably Amazon and its shift to a regional network model. Target recently invested $100 million to leverage their stores for next-day deliveries, building upon Walmart's stores-as-hubs strategy.But according to Retail Dive, a confluence of factors will likely limit delivery speeds from going much faster, if not slow them down outright. For one, with rising costs (for both consumers and retailers), the demand for express shipping has dwindled. And as people pull back from buying, stores are less inclined to stock local warehouses, thus increasing shipping time. But really, what's a few more days? We've likely got something else coming today anyway, right?
Meanwhile:
UPS drivers may finally be getting air conditioning in their trucks next year.
Planning a Trip to Europe?
Maybe consider going literally anywhere else
Thinking about jetting off to Europe this summer? Maybe Barcelona or Venice, perhaps Berlin or Paris? It sure sounds nice. The only downside is that these legendary destinations now exist under a near-constant blanket of tourists—now more than ever. According a new report from CNN, the number of Americans traveling to Europe this summer is expected to increase by 55% over last year. That number is significant in its own right, but even more since last year's number was 600% higher than in 2021.Unfortunately, it's made summer travel to the continent damn near unbearable. Following a trip to Positano, Vox's Rebecca Jennings said the crowds are “inescapable and contribute to a sense of claustrophobic doom so great that the only way out is divorcing yourself from your body and disassociating until you finally reach open air.”Of course, as InsideHook points out, it probably won't deter many from making a pilgrimage to Italy's famed coasts this year. In fact, thanks largely to the second season of HBO's The White Lotus, searches for flights to cities in Sicily have skyrocketed this summer, with inquires for Messina and Palermo up by 335% and 180%, respectively.
Go it Alone:
Traveling with friends and loved ones is great, but don't discount the solo trip. It provides things you can't get with a group.
Partner
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Saturn’s Frozen Moon Is Now a Lot More Interesting
A Breakthrough Study confirms that it has all the crucial elements to sustain life
Saturn's moon Enceladus has apparently enticed scientists for years with its plumes and geysers fizzing their way up from an ocean of liquid water churning beneath a thick crust of ice. But now there's a new element to the story—literally. That cold, dark ocean appears to contain a form of phosphorus, an essential ingredient for life as we know it.What does that mean exactly? Put simply, it means that this moon has the only ocean beyond Earth known to contain all six elements needed to sustain lifeforms. This was all detailed in a new study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The breakthrough also hints that phosphorus may be present in other possible ocean worlds far from Earth, such as Neptune's moon Triton or the dwarf planet Pluto. At this point, nobody knows if any of these places are actually inhabited by alien life, but the new findings bolster the evidence that habitable conditions may be common in the solar system, and possibly beyond it.Modest in size at just a few hundred miles in diameter, Enceladus seems to have what scientists call a “soda ocean”—carbonated, bubbly and salty. The report is based on data from an instrument on board NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which explored Saturn and its moons for 13 years before engineers sent it plunging into the massive gas planet's atmosphere in 2017.
Meanwhile:
SpaceX is preparing for the next Starship test flight, launching in six to eight weeks.
Forver Young
Toys, a Barbie movie and throwback fast food heat up 2023's “summer of nostalgia”
Go ahead and throw it all the way back. From upcoming films like Barbie and Indiana Jones to some old school fast food treats, nostalgic products and entertainment are making a big splash this summer.According to Axios, the Gen Zers and millennials whom marketers call “kidults” seemingly can't get enough of foods, fashions and movie franchises that remind them of childhood, and profit-minded companies are eager to please them.This explains the adult water guns we mentioned a few weeks ago, why NBC recently debuted a reality show called Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge and how, on the heels of releasing adult Happy Meals in October, McDonald's has introduced a “Grimace Birthday Meal,” complete with a GameBoy-like video game. Oh and speaking of food ... remember Count Chocula and Franken Berry cereals? General Mills thought so: Monsters Cereals, which debuted in 1971, will return to retailers nationwide sometime later this summer.
Just a Number:
Your mental age (aka intellectual age) is determined by your attitude, behavior and intelligence. PyschCentral has a quiz.
In Other News
A lack of music licensing has lead to “massive copyright infringement.”
Have you heard about ...
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Smarter Summer Shoe Options
Nisolo’s footwear options are good for your karma and your wallet
When it comes to summer shoes, you don't want any old pair. You want footwear that is comfortable, breathable and functional. And those are just the kind of shoes that Nisolo specializes in. The brand is also known for its commitment to ethical and sustainable manufacturing. A certified B-Corporation, the brand is taking a holistic approach to social and environmental responsibility—from guaranteeing 100% livable wages for its employees to committing to reducing and offsetting 100% of their carbon emissions.What's more, the shoes are actually cool. Their huaraches were already one of our favorites and the stylish Alejandro woven slip-on is ideal to pair with your summer suits for wedding season. But they've got a range for you to choose from, and to help sweeten the deal, readers of The Daily Valet. get 20% off your first order with the exclusive code VALET20.
Huarache sandal, $150
Alejandro woven slip-on, $190
Everyday Oxford, $200
Everyday low-top sneaker, $160
All-weather Andres boot, $280
Everyday chukka boot, $220
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Shopping
What We’re Buying
A coffee scale
Do you take your coffee seriously? Then you might already weigh out your freshly-ground beans each morning. But you probably don't have a scale that is smart or this sexy like this one. Following in the footsteps of Fellow's other gadgets, the new Tally scale features a sleek, minimalist design that's been thoughtfully considered for all the needs of a true coffee nerd. For instance, along with the more standard weight and timer modes, there's a new “Brew Assist” setting that aims to take some of the math out of hitting that perfect coffee-to-water ratio.
Get It:
Tally Pro precision scale, $180 by Fellow
Morning Motto
Give it time.
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