The Daily Valet. - 6/21/22, Tuesday

✔️ Summer Starts Now

Tuesday, June 21st Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Were you off yesterday? Only 18 states have made Juneteenth a state holiday.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

Summer Starts Now

Today is the longest day of the year

If you’ve been enjoying all the warmth and extra sunlight lately, then today is a day to savor. June 21 is the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

This solstice (which occurred at 5:14 am ET this morning) marks the official beginning of summer in this part of the world—occurring when Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt toward the Sun. (In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite: the solstice marks the astronomical start of winter, when the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky.)

Why, exactly, does this happen? Solstices, equinoxes and seasons occur because the Earth doesn’t orbit the sun completely upright. Instead, Earth’s axis is tilted by about 23.5 degrees, which causes each hemisphere to receive different amounts of sunlight throughout the year.

According to Almanac, the June solstice is significant because the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky at this time, at which point the Sun’s path does not change for a brief period of time. Fun fact: the word “solstice” comes from Latin solstitium—from sol (Sun) and stitium (still or stopped). After the solstice, the Sun appears to reverse course and head back in the opposite direction.

Just how much sun are we expecting to see today? Daylight hours on the summer solstice depend on latitude: The closer you move toward the North Pole, the more time the sun spends above the horizon. A climatologist shared a pretty cool graphic, noting that the sun is up for 16 hours in Seattle, but only 13 hours and 45 minutes in Miami.

Summer’s heat often arrives before the solstice and we’ve already felt that over a large portion of the Lower 48 along with parts of Europe this month. And scientists now say that climate change is causing heat waves like these to be more severe, frequent and longer-lasting than just a few decades ago.

↦ Meanwhile: A heat wave will return to parts of the Midwest and South this week and threaten dozens of daily record highs for the official first days of summer.

Biden Considers a Gas Tax Holiday

The president says decision may come this week as he tries to tame costs

President Joe Biden said Monday that he is seriously considering a temporary halt in the federal gas tax as the White House looks to take steps to lower the cost at the pump ahead of the July 4 holiday.

According to the New York Times, the increasingly high gas prices have become a major political dilemma for the White House as it struggles to address record inflation. Suspending the gas tax, which is 18.4 cents per gallon, would require action by Congress. In February, when Democratic lawmakers explored the idea, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, dismissed it as a gimmick.

Biden said members of his team were to meet this week with CEOs of the major oil companies to discuss rising prices. Biden lashed out at oil companies, saying they are making excessive profits when people are feeling the crunch of skyrocketing costs at the pump and inflation.

Biden is also weighing whether to back sending Americans gas rebate cards: “That’s part of what we’re considering, that’s part of the whole operation,” he told CNN. And questioned whether he was close to deciding on forgiving student debt, fulfilling one of his campaign promises, Biden said: “Yes.”

↦ FYI: The national average for regular gasoline was $4.98 per gallon on Monday, according to AAA, after topping $5 this month.

Do You Really Want Faster Delivery?

Because nobody seems to want to pay for ultra-fast food delivery

This is where we are. We want what we want and, ideally, we want it as fast as possible. But do we really need it that fast? It reminds me of an Onion headline that recently made me chuckle: “Package That Arrived in 24 Hours Sits Unopened on Table for Week.”

I felt that. Of course, with more than half of American adults wielding Amazon Prime memberships, I'm clearly not alone in getting deliveries faster than I probably need them.

Ultra-fast delivery startups that have proliferated throughout the U.S. and abroad might have gotten ahead of themselves, according to Forbes. Only 2% of shoppers polled in a new survey said they were “very likely” to pay an additional fee to receive deliveries in 15 minutes. On the other hand, 57.5% said they definitely would not pay a fee for the service.

The pandemic introduced a range of new delivery options and the practice rapidly evolved to include the so-called ultrafast delivery. But now that market is faltering just as quickly as it arrived. Featuring very start-up-y names—Gopuff, Jokr and Buyk—these relatively new companies are either folding up or leaving markets, exiting the scene just as quickly as they arrived. I guess in retail as in life, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

↦ FYI: Venture capitalists invested nearly $4 billion in the ultrafast global delivery market in 2021, up from $500 million the year before, according to data from PitchBook.

Cars Suddenly Cost More

Average monthly car payment is now $712

The average monthly car payment in May hit a whopping $712, thanks to inflation, inventory shortages and increased demand. Meanwhile, the cost of new vehicles continues to rise, according to industry insiders.

While analysts told ABC News that prices could come down soon—prices only rose 1% in May over March—others say it could be years before supply goes up and prices come down. Then there's that old chestnut of supply and demand: familiar supply chain disruptions and occasional plant closures due to COVID spikes have kept dealer inventories on a tight leash.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, new-car prices have risen 12.6% compared to a year ago, while used-car prices are up 16.1%. The latest available numbers are from May, when the average price of a new car hit $47,148, reports Car and Driver.

When it comes to inflation, the Federal Reserve just announced the highest interest rate hike in 20 years. Which means your financing offers might be higher than they would have been before last week. Or they might not, as Yahoo Finance points out, since car loans are “so reliant on the buyer's individual credit score and history” that any effects of the higher interest rate will not fall on each buyer in the same way.

↦ FYI: It’s not just new cars spiking in cost. Jalopnik reports that used car prices were up 40% over last year in February.

In Other News

↦ Despite Another COVID Surge, Deaths Stay Near Lows

↦ As Latin America Embraces a New Left, the U.S. Could Take a Back Seat

↦ The Open Secret of Google Search … It’s Not What It Used to Be

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The dangers of stoicism

Pickleball

Clothes for a good cause

Optimize Your Mornings

A four-part plan to optimize your day

Your mornings have the power to set the tone for an entire day. A lousy start can derail any good intentions and leave you feeling overwhelmed and underachieving. That's how I was feeling lately.

I was getting a bit burnt out and stressed and realized I had access to experts and products to help me. Like any problem I have, I did my research and asked questions. I talked with successful people I admire, along with smart founders and entrepreneurs making stuff designed to get your day started on the right foot.

I was curious ... could I biohack my way to a better morning? Turns out, it wasn't all that hard. In fact, the habits I developed were rather small. They seem obvious or insignificant but when combined, they ensure that my transition from groggy, grumpy zombie to energetic optimist is smooth and speedy.

↦ Read: A four-part plan to optimize your mornings.

Summer’s Best Sneakers

The Union canvas sneaker,$149 by GREATS

Vans, Converse, Stan Smiths and Common Projects are the Mount Rushmore of white sneakers. They're crisp, clean and available in different materials and price points—these shoes are easy to pair, easy to wear. Each summer, there's always an internal battle with me: Do I invest in a nice pair of leather kicks or purchase an affordable pair in a nice canvas material and wear them to death? To help you pick, we've selected a few in a range of different fabrics and price points, so take your pick.