The Morning Rant – Buck Shots (7/15/2022)

Electric vs Gas-Powered Pickup Towing Competition Goes Very Poorly for the EV

Journalists Tow Camper Behind Electric Truck, End in Stunning Failure When They Only Make it 85 Miles

A fully-charged, electric Ford F150 and a fueled-up GMC Denali V-8 towing identical 25-foot trailers headed out from Longmont, CO with the intent to drive 147 miles to Pueblo, where the Ford could recharge at a fast-charging station.

The electric Ford’s estimated range was 160 miles. It quickly became clear that Pueblo was unreachable, so plans were changed, and a fast-charging station in Colorado Springs was the new objective. It soon became clear that even Colorado Springs was unreachable.

With low battery warnings blazing, and power automatically reduced to 90 percent, the electric truck, with 9 percent left on its battery, hobbled into a Target parking lot in Castle Rock.

But that caused another problem. Battery chargers tend to be lined in rows on the edge of parking lots. Because they do not provide a drive-through like a traditional gas pump, they cannot accommodate a vehicle with a trailer.

As a result, the F150 test vehicle and trailer were blocking a major portion of Target’s parking lot.

So how did the gas-powered truck do?

Its computer showed 129 miles of remaining range, so that driver had enough range to return to their starting point in Longmont.

I’m not sure whom I’m more afraid of – those credulous enough to believe that EVs can replace gas-powered vehicles, or the elites who know the limitations of EVs yet still intend to push forward in outlawing gas-powered vehicles.

Here’s the video of the team from Fast Lane Truck who did the comparo. It’s an entertaining 22 minutes.

Journalists vs Math

A “climate change reporter” for the New York Times learned that because of the political impact of high gas prices, the Biden team was considering the possibility of new drilling in Alaska. Her job, as an unbiased reporter of course, was to alert the left to mobilize and stop Biden from proceeding.

Unfortunately, this involved math.

You’d think someone capable of reporting on the “science” of climate change for an elite newspaper would have the capability of doing a simple google search and some elementary school level math.

You’d be wrong.

Global oil consumption is about 100 million barrels per day. That information can be found within seconds on a search engine. Yet elite climate journalist Lisa Friedman reports that just one field in Alaska could produce almost double the existing global demand.

Get Woke Go Broke – Burnt Coffee Edition

Starbucks used to be something I looked forward to on my weekend errands. Now I can’t remember the last time I was in one. I consciously chose to break that habit a few years ago due to Starbucks’ politics. Apparently, it’s not just me. A whole lot of other people have made the same choice.

Visits To Starbucks Drop [Yahoo – 7/13/2022]

As inflation reaches new record-highs, more Americans are ditching their daily cup of joe — at least at big coffee chains like Dunkin' and Starbucks.

No doubt, inflation is playing a part, but Starbucks is still getting hit harder by reduced store visits than Dunkin.

June delivered an unfortunate blow to the coffee giants' pricing power, with Starbucks and Dunkin’ seeing a year-over-year drop in monthly visits of 7.8% and 4.1%, respectively.

Starbucks has been woke longer than Dunkin has been dealing with inflation, however. Compared to three years ago, Dunkin’s store traffic is unchanged while Starbucks is down significantly.

Year-over-three-year comparisons show that Dunkin’ maintained its June 2019 visit levels while Starbucks foot traffic fell 6.6%.

Do you remember a few years ago when Starbucks’ woke executives decided that prohibiting non-paying customers from hanging out in its stores was racist, therefore they invited drug users and the homeless to come squat in their stores and restrooms? Yeah, that played out in a predictable manner.

Starbucks is closing 16 stores across Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and other cities due to a high frequency of 'challenging incidents' [Business Insider – 7/12/2022]

Starbucks stock has dropped 38% in the past year.

Get woke go broke.

The Sociology of Coffee Shop Drive-Throughs

Speaking of Dunkin and Starbucks…

I never read Freakonomics, but this sounds like one of their things, where there is a rational reason for behaviors that may not seem rational at first glance.

On my morning commute into town there is a Dunkin that has a very long drive-through line every morning, often backing into the street. Since I make my own coffee at home in just a few minutes, I wondered why people sit in line for 20 minutes or so on the way to work, just to get a cup of coffee. Wouldn’t it be quicker, cheaper, and easier just to make your own at home?

Finally, one of my co-workers explained why he often gets in line at the Dunkin drive-through – it’s his only daily solitude. There’s the morning craziness at his house, then the moment he gets to the office he is full speed. That 20 minutes in the Dunkin parking lot is his only daily quiet time. Makes sense.

On the same block is a stand-alone Starbucks with approximately identical access, ingress, and egress. But unlike Dunkin’s long queue during morning rush hour, the Starbucks will only have a couple cars in line. However, in the afternoon, there will be zero cars in the drive-through at Dunkin, while Starbucks usually has a line that’s longer than I see during morning rush hour.

I’ve wondered if Starbucks gets their drinks out quicker, keeping their line shorter than Dunkin’s in the morning. Or is it possible that they have different demographics in the morning? Or maybe people think of Dunkin as “wake up coffee” that’s appropriate for morning, while Starbucks is selling “dessert coffees” in the afternoon.

Feel free to share your thoughts.

Have a great weekend!

(buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com)

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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