Yesterday we had three, This morning four.
I wish all my investments were as productive as our resident Robin.
I spent the July 4 weekend mulling the birth of our nation and how lucky we are to be . We revel in all the opportunities it’s produced for us and is still producing.
My mantra is simple: Wherever you work, whatever you do, wherever you are, there’s always a better way of doing what you’re seeing or doing. And with “better” comes opportunity to start (or improve) your own business. Items:
+ The hugest opportunity is “computerizing” businesses — making them more efficient, and, most importantly, more appealing to customers. There isn’t a web site that couldn’t sell more stuff, deliver better service, offer better advice. Exhibit one is Dominoes. Look what happens when you embrace the Internet, online ordering, fast delivery, etc.
I’m partner in a small tennis club in Old Chatham. We subscribe to Kourts, which lets our employees and our players book court time. It’s a huge improvement in service, allowing customers to book at at their convenience, not when our operator is standing by (or not on the court playing tennis).
+ There’s a Dairy Queen in our area. It’s very popular. But it always has long lines for take-out. Why not put in a second line, perhaps one featuring speech recognition and AI. I like their hamburgers, but not enough to line up for 20 minutes behind F150s spewing noxious fumes.
+ Every item LLBean sells has a number. That way to you can buy another one. Except that they’re always out of stock and their online system doesn’t suggest an alternative. Dumb!
+ Most web sites have an awful search engine. Clothing sites will show me women’s stuff. If I type in shoes, they’ll show me jackets. I understand the “logic” of upselling me on women’s clothing! But, frankly, it’s irritating. And I’m not a cross-dresser, yet.
+ Why do web sites charge shipping? It’s far more irritating (at least to me) than a higher price.
+ Angi.com (nee Angies List) lets you hook up with local contractors. But,….even before your first contractor comes to your house, they make you sign something that gives irritation a whole new meaning.
Angi is a public company which you don’t want to own shares in:
Angi is also losing money, though it’s hard to understand why. I’d pay them oodles of money if they could find me an electrician, an airconditioning fellow, a carpenter, a painter, etc. There are some things that even I can’t fix!
+ Why do customer “service” operations insist on asking so many stupid questions when they can easily join your incoming phone line to their databases? Banks are actually getting better at doing this. AT&T/DirecTV is the absolute worst.
If all this sounds trivial, it is. Few of us are Bezoses or Musks. But we’re all capable of fixing things and improving service. And we now have these wonderful tools called the Internet, software and the Cloud. Get blown away: Perused the library of software tools which AWS (Amazon Web Services) routinely makes available to its customers — for free.
Angi, the company, is losing money. Its stock isn’t going anywhere. Here’s the last year.
Angi is, however, a great idea. I wish someone would do it properly.
Not turned on by China
I remain totally against owning shares in any companies based in China. And I’m frankly I have sounded China warnings for months. I have no idea what Xi, aspiring dictator, is trying to accomplish other than make himself as rich as Putin (estimate net worth – $200 billion).
For now, this chart of key China companies paints a depressing picture. Here we see BABA. TCEHY, BIDU, JD and PDD, all dropping steadily.
And today we have the sorry story of DIDI.
Didi began trading a few days ago at $16.82 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, up 20 percent from a $14-a-share offering price. But investor interest cooled throughout the day, and Didi closed at $14.20, pegging the company’s value at more than $69 billion. It closed today at $12.07. It’s going lower.
Excellent weekend reading
+ Roger Federer’s Gift to Tennis: A Shot That Players Love to Hit
The squash shot may be a last-resort play, but it’s fun to unleash and spectacular to watch. Federer made it his own, but many other players, especially women, are adopting it. Click here.
+ Didi’s removal from China’s app stores marks a growing crackdown
It comes mere days after the ride-hailing giant’s New York listing. Click here.
+ How Britain Became Plague Island
Brexit Britain is Imploding Into the Dumbest Country on Earth.
Harry’s note: Many of my English friends have serious objections to this piece. One said it was “sensationalist, cheapest, cheesiest, foulest’ journalism.”
It’s on a web site called Medium, which publishes many authors, apparently without fact-checking them. Personally, I found the article fascinating. If you’d still like to read the piece, click here.
+ A Fourth of July Symbol of Unity That May No Longer Unite
In a Long Island town, neighbors now make assumptions, true and sometimes false, about people who conspicuously display American flags. Click here.
+ A World Without American Democracy?
The Global Consequences of the United States’ Democratic Backsliding. From Foreign Affairs magazine. Click here.
Back to playing tennis every day
My shoulder has improved with icing (iceing?) and rest. I started playing last Friday — gently. My partner suggested one Advil half hour before playing. Brilliant idea. Thank you, Mark. I played at 6:20 AM this morning. It was cool, though humid and buggy. I feel great, but sore.
Let’s go traveling
Friends are traveling. This is the next place I’d like to visit. This is Paris from the Eifel Tower:
I love this guy
I’m watching Wimbledon tennis. They play better than I do. But I’m learning. Read the article above on Federer’s squash shot.
We did good today with our favorites — AMZN, AAPL, GNRC, CRWD, NVDA, PANW, etc.
I updated my list of favorite stocks. Check them in the right hand column on the web site.
See you tomorrow, after tennis. — Harry Newton
