Centives

Amazon has asked the government for permission to experiment with drones for package delivery. Dan Frommer uncovered their true motives:

• Amazon’s drone campaign is great for recruitment. Talented individuals who would normally choose to go to Microsoft or Facebook might opt for Amazon instead because of the drone program.
• It is a great bargaining tactic when it is negotiating rates with its current shipping providers. It can threaten to make them obsolete by launching its own rival service.
• The program is also giving Amazon a lot of favourable coverage, keeping it on top of people’s minds.
• Finally, some day many years into the future, drone deliveries might make a lot of business sense. Amazon is just getting into the gig early.

Read more here.

Source: Quartz

Crumbs, the chain of cupcake stores, has shut its doors. Lisa Wirthman took a look at where it all went wrong:

• In an increasingly health conscious world selling cupcakes with 800 calories in them probably wasn’t a winning strategy.
• It had too many stores. Manhattan alone had 20, and they all cannibalized each other’s sales.
• The bakery made the fateful decision of expanding into suburban markets, but its business model really only works in busy cities.
• Crumb stores were much bigger than they needed to be and this led to high rents and unused capacity.
• In contrast Magnolia, another cupcake maker, has remained successful due to diversification of products, and fewer stores.

Read more about what Crumbs did wrong and what Magnolia did right over here.

Source: Mid Market Pulse

Zachary Crockett investigated the death of Domino’s mascot, Noid:

• During its early years Domino’s launched “Noid” a troll dressed in a rabbit suit onesie.
• It was a play on the word “annoyed” and the advertising strategy was that the company’s 30 minute delivery promise helped customers “avoid the Noid”.
• The strategy was, surprisingly, successful, and in the late 80s Domino’s even launched a computer game featuring the popular character.
• Then in 1989 a schizophrenic man took employees hostage at a Domino’s store, believing that the Noid was targeting him.
• Newspapers went crazy with the story with headlines such as “Domino’s Hostages Couldn’t Avoid the Noid This Time”. The blow was fatal. Domino’s executives gently put an end to Noid.

Read more about Noid’s successes, the brief few moments in 2011 the chain breathed life back into the character, and more over here.

Source: Priceonomics

Helene Cooper writes that bombers may soon no longer be a part of the US Air Force:

• The country’s bomber fleet is ageing. It still uses 50 year old B-52s.
• In that time potential American adversaries have upgraded their air defenses to make it more difficult for America’s current fleet of bombers to attack.
• Some argue that bombers have become obsolete with submarines able to strike the same targets with greater ease.
• The air force takes various steps to increase the usefulness of bombers by, for example, altering the circadian rhythms of crew members to make them more alert during mission critical stages such as refueling and attacks.
• The Air Force is working to develop a next generation bomber with advanced stealth capabilities which would cost about $550 million per plane.

Read more about the roles that bombers have played in this decade, why they have been regulated to a support role, and more over here.

Source: The New York Times

Tim Fernholz visited America’s busiest seaport and wrote about what he learnt:

• Instead of drugs or weapons, the biggest source of contraband goods entering the United States is actually fake designer clothing.
• The port’s number one export by volume is air – in the form of containers that go back empty since America imports far more than it exports.
• Recently however America has started filling the containers with trash which can be recycled cheaply in China. The port has a mega-shredder to tear up cars and other large items.
• Geopolitical concerns don’t matter as much. Evergreen, a Taiwanese company, has no qualms working with Chinese freight.

The full article goes into much more depth and looks at a wider variety of the aspects of international trade. Read it here.

Source: Quartz

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a commercial, if not critical, success. Ezra Klein writes that all those interested in the future of the economy should take note:

• Those who can work with robots are best placed to be successful in the future. Nobody says that Transformers has wonderful acting, yet it’s making oodles of money. Why? Because Michael Bay knows how to work with machines.
• Humans are dispensable. Shia LaBeouf, star of the first three films was replaced by Mark Wahlberg in a heartbeat. But a Transformers movie without Optimus Prime wouldn’t have been half as successful.
• China is the future. Transformers is perhaps the first major instance of Chinese product placement in a western movie. It won’t be the last. China is where the future profits are and companies will make decisions with this in mind.

This article is also featured on our sister site, The Discussion, which has compiled the internet’s best reactions to the latest Transformers movie.

Read more here.

Source: Vox

Soon after Ukraine’s protestors overthrew the ruling pro-Russian government, Russian forces essentially annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Tensions remain high but Rajiv J. Chaudhri believes he has a solution to the crisis:

• The United States should have just convinced Ukraine to sell Crimea to Russia for, say, $100 billion.
• Russia would likely have accepted – $100 billion isn’t much for them – and they’ve already lost about $50 billion through capital flight anyway as a result of the current crisis.
• Putin would also likely have gone for this as it would remove the threat of international sanctions, and the initiative would probably have paid for itself through gas exports to Ukraine.
• Ukraine would have accepted too – its economy is in crisis and it needs at least $15 billion a year in aid just to function.
• The international community would also support it, and would probably be relieved that it wouldn’t have to put up the cash to tide Ukraine through its difficult times.

Read more about the idea, how it would work, why all parties would agree to it, and how it can still be operationalized over here.

Source: Quartz

Later this year Scots will vote on whether or not to secede from the United Kingdom. The Brits are doing everything in their power to avoid that writes Steven Erlanger:

• Haggis, a traditional Scottish delicacy, is banned in the US as America doesn’t allow the consumption of sheep’s lungs – vital to a proper haggis.
• Britain’s environment secretary visited Washington and lobbying for the legalization of haggis was a centerpiece of his mission to the States.
• The export of haggis and other specialty foods could be worth up to $85 billion a year.
• The Brits no doubt hope that by opening up the American market, the Scots will have further reason to stay within the Kingdom.

Read more here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

Douglas Main writes that helium isn’t just used for filling balloons. It’s used in heavy industry and we’re running out:

• Helium-3, a useful isotope of helium cost about $100 a liter for decades.
• After 9/11 the US government used the same isotope to detect bomb making materials, causing demand to spike.
• Prices have increased by a factor for 2.5 each year since 2008, and not only will science take a hit, helium balloons may start to cost up to $100 a pop.
• In 2021 the US will cutoff access to its strategic helium reserves causing prices to further spike.
• On the plus side, helium is fairly abundant on the moon so if the earth ever gets its moon programs together again, we could mine some there.

Read more over here.

Source: Popular Science