The Proliferation of Porch Piracy

Yule Tide Thievery. Holiday delivery times have improved by nearly 50% since 2021, however, porch package theft in November has increased by 47% in the same period. So far in December, that number is 87%.

• Our Take: Despite the hot takes across the echo chamber of social media DTC as to the “ethical and moral dilemma of offering shipping insurance”, the spike in porch piracy is the real reason for the growth in solutions like Route. The low-cost confidence builder acts as a conversion lever with the consumer, despite the fact that we all know how difficult it is to win a claim. 
  
  The fact is that most of the outspoken voices who critique the use of shipping insurance would never be victims of porch piracy themselves. They live in gated communities and buildings with doormen. They have little understanding of the pervasive issues that the success of eCom, and the uncertainty of the economy, have created. They are a product of privilege. Plain and simple.

‍‍Noteworthy. Lots of movement in social media this week, but none more surprising than your ability to leave AIM-style status messages on Instagram. Meta has released Notes for IG, a new feature where users can share a written post up to 60 characters long, encouraging more messaging in-app. The text-only social share comes at a time when Twitter’s audience is having its fifteenth existential crisis as Elon bans competitor and press accounts across the platform.

More Sights & Sounds. Singapore-based eCom support service platform, Plugo, has raised $9 million in Series A funding. Instagram is paying some users a $10 bonus for each new reel they create.

Sneaky, Sneaky. According to Michael Sykes, author of KYW, a sneaker culture newsletter, the sneaker bubble has burst; and soon we’ll see a repricing of the many (many) resale platforms that were dependent on the continued growth. “It's inevitable - no chance StockX, GOAT, etc are worth their valuations and when their unsustainable business models start to crack, all the other ecosystem players basing their business on those platforms” says the author. There has been a small amount of agglomeration in the space with GOAT acquiring Grailed last year, but we predict a number of smaller apps to fold as they run out of funding options.

Honey, I Blew Up The Cereal. You can now get one giant fruit loop from MSCHF. At 930 calories, the nearly half-pound mega loop costs $19. We want it. Badly. 

‍

Spectral Shift. Streetlights throughout Florida, and across cities in the U.S., are turning purple. Why? It turns out that it is due to a manufacturing defect that can show up years after installation in lights that started out as white.