A Texas-based investor named Matthew Brown reportedly offered to invest $200 million in the rocket firm, which was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
But in a complaint filed on Monday, the SEC alleged that the offer was a sham and that Brown had a negative net worth at the time.
The regulator has filed charges that accuse Brown — who it says resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas — of engaging in a "fraudulent scheme" to submit and publicly tout a "bogus" $200 million bailout offer for Virgin Orbit, which went bankrupt in April 2023.
Brown could not be reached for comment by Business Insider.
In its complaint, the SEC said Brown misrepresented his personal wealth in conversations with Virgin Orbit, including sending a fabricated screenshot of his company's bank account with a balance of over $182 million dollars, when the actual balance was less than $1.
Brown also appeared on CNBC shortly after entering into discussions with Virgin Orbit despite signing an NDA.
He told the channel he planned to close the deal "in the next 24 hours," and he would "basically be the owner" of Virgin Orbit as a result of the investment, according to the complaint.
The SEC says that Brown also told Virgin Orbit that he had graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a law degree. "Brown had never graduated from college, let alone attended law school," the SEC wrote.
When Brown's offer leaked to the media, shares in Virgin Orbit went up by over 33%.
The SEC said that the deal collapsed after Brown attempted to request the inclusion of a "break up fee" if the transaction did not close and refused to respond to Virgin Orbit's due diligence inquiries.
Christopher Stroup says his six figure income hasn't made him feel "rich" because he's struggling to meet his savings goals related to buying a home and starting a family.
Christopher Stroup
A California-based millennial earning six figures says he'd need to triple his income to feel "rich."
High home prices, the costs of surrogacy, and student debt have made his income feel insufficient.
If Christopher Stroup's only priority was maximizing hissavings, he might not be living in the Los Angeles area.
The 33-year-old financial advisor, who's based in Santa Monica, California, made roughly $130,000 last year, according to a document viewed by Business Insider. However, he said he's still paying off his student debt and working toward his savings goals for a down payment on a home, starting a family, and retirement. That's why he feels far from "rich," he said.
"Versus the traditional arc of life, I feel behind financially," he previously told BI via email.
To feel "rich," Stroup estimated that he'd need an annual income of about $400,000 to $500,000 a year — more than triple his 2023 earnings. At this income level, he estimated that he'd be able to meet his savings goals, enjoy life, and have some extra money left over.
If he can't boost his income to his desired level, Stroup said there's another thing that might help him feel rich: moving to an area with lower housing costs.
"I rent a 450-square-foot alcove studio in Santa Monica for $1,650 a month," Stroup previously told BI. "My sister, who lives in Cincinnati, rents a 1,600-square-foot home with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and a full backyard for $1,800."
Stroup is among a group of Americans with six-figure incomes who are struggling to meet some of their financial goals. These people are sometimes called HENRYs — or high earners, not rich yet.
In recent years, as rising costs have weighed on people's finances, a $100,000-a-year salary hasn't gone as far as it used to, and theUS housing market is among the top reasons.In recent years, high home prices and elevated mortgage rates have made homeownership unaffordable for many Americans. Business Insider has interviewed several Americans who have moved to different states in recent years in search of lower rents or mortgage payments.
As of 2022, a majority of millennials owned a home, according to an analysis published in 2023 by the apartment listing service RentCafe. But that offers little solace to millennials like Stroup, who are now faced with a more expensive housing market. Of course, for the majority of Americans who don't have a $100,000 income — the average annual full-time salary was about $84,000 as of March — affording a home is even more of a challenge.
Stroup shared whether he plans to move somewhere with lower housing costs, especially as he considers having a family, which could be particularly expensive for him.
Starting a family can be as expensive as a down payment on a home
Stroup said he sometimes jokes that he'd need to save $250,000 to buy a home, start a family, or become a partner at his firm — but he can pick only one.
The median sale price for a Santa Monica home was about $1.5 million as of April, per Zillow. A 17% down payment on a home of this cost would be roughly $250,000.
Additionally, Stroup, who's gay, said that family planning as a gay couple can be "extremely expensive" if surrogacy is opted for over adoption. He said the total costs of surrogacy can be well over six figures.
"These are the costs I could expect if I only wanted to have one child," he said. "In reality, I'd love to have at least two children, which means that serious financial planning needs to be considered."
And those are just the initial costs. In January, Business Insider estimated that it would cost parents about $26,000 to care for a small child in 2024.
Lastly, Stroup said the "buy-in" for partners at his firm begins at $250,000, which means he would have to pay this to "own a slice" of the firm where he works.
With all these expenses to consider, it might make sense for Stroup to move somewhere with lower housing costs. But he said there's at least one key reason he doesn't want to leave the Los Angeles area just yet: it has a strong LGBTQ+ community.
Stroup said he gained insight into the tradeoff between living expenses and community when he lived in Bakersfield, California for a few years.
"The cost of living in Bakersfield is substantially lower than Los Angeles, which did allow me to save and pay down debt," he said. "However, it wasn't really a welcoming environment as a gay man, and it meant sacrificing my personal life."
If Stroup were to move, he would have a lot of options because his job allows him to work fully remotely. He grew up in Troy, Pennsylvania, and he said he'd consider moving back there someday to be closer to family.
"Financially, the costs of housing and raising a family would be a lot lower there," Stroup said. "It would also allow me to lean more on my family, which would be a nice benefit while raising children."
For now, Stroup said he's grateful that he feels "wealthy" in three areas of his life that aren't tied to his bank account: freedom, control, and fulfillment.
He said his job allows him to have a significant amount of freedom and control over his day-to-day life, and that his work, which includes helping members of the LGBTQ+ community with wealth management, brings him "immense fulfillment."
"I currently check these three boxes, even if my income isn't at a point where I'd be considered 'wealthy' from a dollars and cents point of view," he said.
Are you making over $100,000 a year? Are you willing to share your story and the impact this income has had on your life? If so, contact this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
I drove a Tesla for the first time to work out why some people love them so much.
The Model 3 is a great car to drive, but has a few annoying features.
I couldn't help but feel somewhat underwhelmed by the Tesla, which is just a bit boring.
Regular readers of Business Insider know that we write rather frequently about Elon Musk and Tesla, his electric car maker. That's because he's a fascinating character, Tesla is a fascinating company — and we know you like reading about both. Consider cutting
I've been a passenger in plenty of Teslas over the years, and have friends who own one — but I'd never been behind the wheel to really get a feel of what it's like to drive one.
I figured there was only one way to resolve this problem: rent a Tesla. As I picked a holiday weekend in the UK last month to do so, none seemed available from rental firms, so I found a shiny grey 2022 Model 3 on Turo (despite imposing a frankly outrageous "service" fee.)
I rented this Model 3 on Turo.
BI
Gaining access to the Tesla was a clever procedure. I downloaded the Tesla app on my iPhone and the owner added me to his account, meaning no physical key was needed. This was just as well as the owner was away at the time. (I'm not quite sure what would've happened if I'd lost my phone during the rental, though. And the tech has not been faultless either.
So on this sunny Saturday my friend, who was visiting from Atlanta, and I set off from east London for Oxford — a journey of about 80 miles, which nevertheless took well over two hours because British roads are not quite as wide as those in America.
The Radcliffe Camera is one of the most famous buildings in Oxford.
UCG/Getty Images
Connecting my iPhone to the audio system was simple and there are convenient twin cordless charging pads built into the central console. The soundtrack for our trip included Dua Lipa's "Radical Optimism" and the latest Pet Shop Boys album, "Nonetheless." Both sounded great through the car's array of speakers.
What I found incongruous, though, was the fake wood paneling on the dashboard. It feels completely out of place, and I have no idea why it's there. (Tesla wisely got rid of the "wood" in the recent Model 3 refresh.) Seems to be some debate about the wood. Some folks say it's real wood with a veneer, others say it's fake. Let's hedge it if we don't know for sure. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/did-a-wood-dash-trim-delete-today.297047/
The interior of the Telsa Model 3.
BI
The Tesla's interior is dominated by an enormous touchscreen that controls every function of the car. It serves up a cavalcade of information and I often found it difficult to hit the right bit of the screen without taking my eyes off the road, though I admit it makes navigation easier.
The Model 3's touchscreen is big. Really big.
BI
The lane assist and hazard warning technology can often be too clever for its own good, getting overexcited about supposed dangers that are nothing of the sort.
The trunk is cavernous, and could easily accommodate the luggage of four or even five people.
The trunk of the Tesla Model 3 could fit quite a lot of luggage.
BI
The Model 3 is a very quiet drive, as you might expect of any contemporary EV. It handles well and does pretty much everything you might expect such a car to do, but I just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was missing. If I had to sum it up in a sentence, it'd be this: the Tesla was just a bit boring.
Maybe it's comparable to a movie or TV show with a three-star review — I either want it to be really great, or really bad. Being somewhere in the middle is just "meh." And I suspect this is going to be one of Tesla's biggest problems in the coming years.
Back in the day, if you wanted to show you cared to some degree about the environment (and had fairly deep pockets), driving a Tesla was a no-brainer — as long as you had a garage with a Powerwall and didn't make lots of long trips, that is. (I opted to return my Model 3 without recharging it, so I can't comment on the difficulty of finding somewhere to plug in the car — but I'm glad I didn't have to.)
Tesla now has plenty of competition from legacy automakers, its vehicles are still reasonably expensive and some of the people who bought them in the past might not be repeat customers for a variety of reasons (delete Elon Musk's politics, resale values etc etc as appropriate.)
Then there's the realization by some drivers and manufacturers, too, that hybrids might be a better bridge to a greener motoring world than pure electric.
Beginning this year, over 30 million boomers born between 1959 to 1964 will start to turn 65, marking the "largest and final cohort" of that generation entering retirement, according to a report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute.
Many in this cohort, known as "peak boomers," are facing significant economic headwinds, the report said. It's what some have called the boomer retirement bomb — and it might be costly for the rest of the workers in the economy.
Through an analysis of data from the Federal Reserve and the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, the report found that 52.5% of peak boomers have $250,000 or less in assets, meaning that they'll likely deplete their savings and rely primarily on income from Social Security in retirement. Another 14.6% of that cohort have $500,000 or less in assets, meaning "nearly two-thirds will strain to meet their needs in retirement," the report said.
"America has never seen so many people reaching retirement age over a short period, and well over half of them will find it challenging to meet their needs through their retirements, let alone maintain their current standard of living," Robert Shapiro, an author of the report and the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, said in a statement. "They lack the protected income that many older Boomers have from solid pensions or higher savings."
The peak boomers' retirement wave could also impact the overall US economy. The report projects that employers will have to replace as many as 14.8 million peak boomers — primarily in the manufacturing, healthcare, and education industries — which could decrease economic productivity.
On top of that, the generation's retirement is likely to have an impact on consumer spending. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the report found that peak boomers will spend $204 billion less in 2032 than they did in 2022, with the transportation sector taking the biggest hit.
Still, as the report noted, younger employees are likely to fill some of the jobs that peak boomers will leave, and productivity will rise as technology advances.
The crisis is partially due to changes in how Americans save for retirement
Peak boomers entered the workforce just as retirement plans shifted away from defined benefit plans like pensions — which generally guarantee stable income and are employer-subsidized — to contribution plans like 401(k)s, which rely on workers to pay into them.
Of the different types of retirement-savings plans the report looked at, defined benefit pensions have the least disparities along racial, gender, and ethnicity lines (although there are significant disparities in annual payments) — but only 24% of peak boomers hold them, and even those plans are coming up against potential underfunding.
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Already, many retirement-aged Americans are living on paltry incomes. A little over half of Americans over 65 live on incomes of $30,000 or less a year, per the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, with the largest share living on $10,000 to $19,000. And, per Business Insider's calculations of CPS ASEC data, 79.2% of retirees receive some type of Social Security income.
Retirement-aged Americans, many of whom fall in that peak boomer category, previously told Business Insider that they might just have to continue working until they die or become infirm to stay afloat.
"Only the very wealthy are going to have any dignity in their old age," Pam, who is nearly 58, said. "And the rest of us are just going to pray that they can die while they still have a job because nobody wants to die on the street."
That's on top of South Korean companies offering employees up to $75,000 to have children, and a government allowance system that gives all parents with newborns $750 a month until their baby turns one.
However, according to Trent MacNamara, a Texas A&M professor whose work has focused on fertility rates, throwing money at the problem can only do so much.
"Theoretically, it's possible to produce higher fertility with traditional policy," he told Business Insider. "If a government transferred new parents about 5% of the costs of raising a child, we could expect a roughly 5% bump in fertility."
But he noted that such measures come with "backbreaking costs" that governments are hesitant to bear, especially given the strain aging populations place on social welfare systems.
MacNamara said that even in countries like South Korea, which has invested billions, the impact of the policies is still inconclusive.
While governments are scrambling for solutions, none have discovered the holy grail — an affordable, practical policy leading to sustained fertility rate rises, he said.
Sarah Harper, a professor of gerontology and the director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, says that cash incentives have a limited long-term effect.
"It encourages a mini-baby boom, followed by a baby crash, as those women who would have spread their childbearing across several years all go at the same time to get the cash bonus," she told BI.
Harper said that instead of throwing money at the issue, the biggest chance for success is through promoting gender equity.
She said that countries that promote "positive parenting, ensuring that mothers, as well as fathers, can continue their careers through acceptance in the workplace," have the best chance of maintaining birth rates.
However, she added that even this is unlikely to return levels to above-replacement.
Philip N. Cohen, a family demographer at the University of Maryland, said it's a "fool's errand" trying to solve the fertility crisis.
He said that most policy ideas have failed, and besides, "human history in the period of modernity, the last few hundred years, is the history of declining birth rates."
A few unique, ambitious policy ideas could, in theory, make an impact — like a social welfare fund for single mothers and mass immigration from poorer countries—but, Cohen said, they're unlikely to be implemented in most countries.
"That's politically fraught, even if the math of it makes perfect sense," he said.
As for the overall trend, "there's no way I think we can turn that around," he said.
Here are some of Zuckerberg's most notable business leadership and management principles.
Mark Zuckerberg has been at the helm of Facebook, now Meta, since he created it in his Harvard dorm room 20 years ago.
And though he's perhaps best known for his "Move fast and break things" mantra, he's since evolved the phrase and shared plenty of other leadership and management tidbits in the two decades he's been running one of the world's largest companies.
"I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work," Zuckerberg said in an internal Q&A last year.
"I kind of think the way a founder should work is you should basically make as many decisions and get involved in as many things as you can," he said earlier this year.
"That's something that I guess I've just gotten more confident in over time, is just sort of feeling like hey, yeah I can go deep on all this stuff and push it in a direction that I think, and yeah not everything is going to go well in the near term but you just learn, rinse, and repeat," he added. "Do good work over a long period of time."
"I actually like trying to have a rule… for every hour of meeting that I have, the team sends out the pre-reads in advance," he told Forbes last year. "I want to have at least an hour to read the materials and think about it. And then I want to have at least an hour to follow up with different people after the meeting."
Execute, execute, execute
You're probably worrying about the competition too much, Zuckerberg says.
"I think most companies probably focus too much on competitors, and maybe even focus too much on ideas," he said in the Forbes interview. "And I think at the end of the day, a lot of what makes great companies great is the ability to just relentlessly execute, and efficiently execute and do that rigorously and just get better and better at it all the time."
That year, the company came to define moving fast as "acting with urgency and not waiting until next week to do something you could do today" and "continuously working to increase the velocity of our highest priority initiatives by methodically removing barriers that get in the way."
Amazon Fresh is one of the stores where you can shop using a Dash cart.
Alex Bitter/BI
Amazon is rolling out more smart shopping carts to grocery stores.
The Dash carts are meant to be a better option for grocery runs than Amazon's Just Walk Out tech.
I tried using a Dash cart at Amazon Fresh and felt like I was using a self-checkout on wheels.
Amazon is betting that a smart shopping cart will become integral to your weekly grocery run.
After years of using its Just Walk Out technology — which allowed customers to bypass traditional checkouts — in some of its stores, including a couple of Whole Foods locations, Amazon is now focused on using that in smaller sites where people tend to pick up just an item or two, the company said in an April blog post.
One possible reason: Just Walk Out had an error rate so high that most transactions required manual review by humans, the Information reported earlier this year. Amazon disputed the report at the time.
But for grocery shopping trips where you're buying lots of stuff at once, Amazon has another option: the Dash cart.
Like Just Walk Out, the Dash cart "uses a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to help identify items placed in and removed from the cart," Amazon said in its blog post.
The cart also contains a scale built into its basket to weigh out items like produce. Just above the handle, there's also a screen that allows users to enter product numbers, check how much they're spending, and look for specials. Amazon is also working on personalized ads that can be displayed on the screen.
Amazon offers the latest version of the Dash cart at just under 40 stores around the US. I went to an Amazon Fresh store to use one of the carts and see if it made shopping for food better. Here's what I found.
I visited the Amazon Fresh grocery store in Fairfax, Virginia, to test a Dash cart.
Amazon has run Fresh stores since 2020.
Alex Bitter/BI
This is one of 28 Amazon Fresh stores where you can use a Dash cart to shop, per Amazon's website. The company also offers them at a few Whole Foods stores and a regional grocer in the Midwest.
The Dash carts were on display as soon as I walked into the store.
These two carts were immediately inside the main entrance.
Alex Bitter/BI
As soon as I walked up to one of the carts, an employee greeted me and asked: "Would you like to try this new technology?"
He then showed me how to start using the cart. You have to download the Amazon Shopping app to your smartphone, log into your account, and then pull up an "in-store code" to scan using one of the cart's three scanners. That way, anything you place in the cart can be charged to your account.
I saw even more Dash carts as I headed toward the produce section.
There were plenty of Dash carts to use at the Fairfax Amazon Fresh store.
Alex Bitter/BI
This location had plenty of Dash carts — almost 20. During my visit, I only saw two other shoppers using them, while the others in the store were using baskets or regular carts to do their shopping.
The Dash cart has lots of on-screen features, like a shopping list.
You can add your shopping list through Alexa and check items off as you find them in-store.
Alex Bitter/BI
This shopping list allows you to add items manually or through Alexa, Amazon's voice-activated assistant.
The cart also had videos showing you how to use it.
You could watch this instructional Dash cart video with subtitles.
Alex Bitter/BI
Amazon has added instructional videos to the Dash cart that show you how to use it. I watched this one, for example, which clarifies how to remove an item from the cart once you've scanned it.
I headed to the produce section to make my first selection with the Dash cart.
Bell peppers were on sale at this particular Amazon Fresh.
Alex Bitter/BI
Produce was a good test of the Dash cart since most items don't have barcodes, and many are sold by the pound, making accurate weighing key.
That meant I had to enter PLU codes — those numbers on the stickers you find on produce — before placing it into the Dash cart's basket and weighing it using the built-in scale.
These bell peppers were priced per pepper, but I still had to find them on the Dash cart's screen before placing them in its basket.
Entering codes for produce reminded me of using self-checkout at other grocery stores.
Customers use this on-screen keyboard to enter product names and codes before placing them in the cart's basket.
Alex Bitter/BI
I use self-checkout a lot at my local supermarket. Punching in codes for the bell peppers and other produce reminded me of that experience — and made the Dash cart feel like a self-checkout on wheels.
Dash carts also have a "sales & deals" tab that changes as you move around the store.
The Dash cart's screen shows you what's on sale around the store.
Alex Bitter/BI
This selection of cranberry juice specials, for instance, popped up as I walked into the aisle where the products were located. The same thing happened later as I walked down the snack aisle and past the cooler case for milk.
Most products could be scanned via barcode, though some were easier than others.
Most products in Amazon Fresh just require a quick scan before you place them in the cart.
Alex Bitter/BI
The Dash cart includes three scanners: Two front-facing ones above the basket and another downward-facing one under the handle. You could scan most of the packaged goods in the store using one of the three sensors.
The position of the barcode on some products made scanning difficult, though. This four-pack of tonic water had its barcode on the bottom of the cardboard holder, making it tough to scan while keeping the glass bottles from slipping out.
I didn't get any error messages when I rearranged items in the cart or put items that were already there in my shopping bag.
I brought my own reusable shopping bag to Amazon Fresh.
Alex Bitter/BI
Unlike many self-checkouts I've used, which give you an error message when you rearrange stuff in your bag or knock something over, the Dash cart didn't mind when I had to rearrange my purchases. I also didn't encounter any problems consolidating things into my shopping bag.
Removing items required using the screen but was easy to do.
Scanning items with the Dash cart was pretty easy once you got used to it.
Alex Bitter/BI
While looking at the alcohol selection, I decided to see how hard it was to remove something from the cart and my bill.
Initially, I chose a can of hard seltzer, scanned it, and placed it in the Dash cart. Then, I picked it up out of the cart and put it back in the cooler.
The Dash cart asked me to confirm whether I had actually removed a product or not.
I was able to edit what was in my cart using the Dash cart's screen.
Alex Bitter/BI
This screen popped up when I returned the can to the cooler. I confirmed that I had indeed removed it and proceeded to add a different choice to my cart.
The Dash cart didn't catch everything, though.
I decided to see if the Dash cart would catch a discrepancy between the weight of my purchases and what was on the receipt.
Alex Bitter/BI
Given that the cart relies on its internal scale so much, I wanted to see what would happen if there was a discrepancy between the items on the screen and what was actually in the basket. (No, I did not steal anything, and neither should you.)
I scanned an item, then removed it from the Dash cart.
I used the scanner under the handle this time.
Alex Bitter/BI
I started by scanning this box of mac and cheese and placing it in the basket. Then, I put it back on the shelf.
When this message flashed on the screen, I said that I hadn't removed anything.
The Dash cart figured out that something was missing, but didn't question me more when I said nothing was gone.
Alex Bitter/BI
I was still getting charged for the mac and cheese even though it wasn't in my cart anymore. Once I hit "No, my receipt is correct," I could keep shopping, and neither the cart nor the employee working the exit for Dash cart users caught it.
This is a big difference from Just Walk Out, which Amazon touted as capable of catching whatever customers walk out with — down to whether the avocado they picked up was organic or not.
Buying a hot cup of coffee also presented a challenge for the Dash cart.
Amazon Fresh offers a variety of ready-to-consume foods, from coffee to pizza.
Alex Bitter/BI
Despite my last sub-par experience with Amazon Fresh's coffee, I decided to pick up a cup just to see how the Dash cart would handle it.
Placing the coffee in the cart's cup holder didn't work.
The Dash cart's cup holder appears to be separate from the cart's scale.
Alex Bitter/BI
There was no barcode to scan on the cup, so I entered a PLU number on the screen and set it in the cup holder. After all, what if I wanted to sip as I did my shopping?
But the Dash cart's scale didn't appear to extend to that part of the cart, since it didn't charge me for it.
Eventually, I got the Dash cart to add the coffee to my receipt by placing it in the cart itself.
The back of the Dash cart has a scanner and shelf.
Alex Bitter/BI
I felt like the hot coffee might spill on my shoes and the floor if I moved too quickly. Fortunately, I was near the end of my shopping trip.
When it was time to leave, I headed toward this special lane for Dash cart users.
Green arrows marked the lane for Dash cart users.
Alex Bitter/BI
An employee greeted me as I pulled into the lane. To my left were regular self-checkout options for customers using traditional shopping carts.
On the Dash cart, the screen prompted the employee to check my ID since I was buying alcohol.
This blue screen appeared right before the store employee checked my ID.
Alex Bitter/BI
After a quick verification, the employee directed me toward the entrance. She didn't check any other part of my purchase and didn't catch the box of mac and cheese that I had returned to the shelf but not removed from my receipt.
Amazon charged my account as I exited the Amazon Fresh store.
This message flashed on my screen once I went through the Dash cart lane.
Alex Bitter/BI
I got an email immediately after I went through the Dash cart lane confirming what I had purchased and charging my payment method on file with Amazon.
I had to leave the Dash cart in the store and carry my purchases out to my car.
I only had a few purchases, so it wasn't hard to put them in a bag and walk to my car.
Alex Bitter/BI
As I left the store, an employee was waiting to claim my Dash cart. That meant I couldn't take the cart with me and load everything into my car.
Fortunately, my purchases all fit into a reusable shopping bag I brought. But if I had done a proper weekly shopping trip, I probably would've needed to either take the cart to my car or pull up to the store to load everything.
Overall, I'm not convinced that the Dash cart is the future of grocery shopping.
There weren't as many advantages to using the Dash cart as I thought there would be.
Alex Bitter/BI
Using the Dash cart felt a lot like self-checkout: You have to scan everything yourself and punch in codes for some items. And, if you change your mind about something, you have to remove it from your receipt using the screen.
It's a far cry from the promise of Just Walk Out, which involves no scanning on the customer's part — other than to identify yourself when you enter the store.
My experiment with the box of mac and cheese also shows that, just like self-checkout, Dash carts aren't foolproof. Many retailers are pulling back on self-checkout because of theft, and it seems like the Dash cart has similar vulnerabilities.
Do you work at Amazon, Amazon Fresh, or Whole Foods and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
Aging is terrifying, and the internet — and corporate America — know it.
iStock; Adobe Stock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
There comes a point in every woman's life when she has to give up on jeans. Not on wearing them altogether — though that's the dream — but on trying to keep up with whatever jeans trends are in style. Low-rise or high-rise? Skinny or straight-legged or flared?
Millennials may not be there yet on pants, or at least that's what I, as a millennial, tell myself. But we're getting close.
We're constantly cycling through fashion and cultural trends that supposedly separate millennials from their younger Gen Z counterparts — how each generation parts their hair, where they put their hands when they dance, how they tuck their shirts in. The latest iteration of this back-and-forth is the generational debate over socks. Per TikTok, millennials date themselves by wearing short ankle socks instead of longer ones that come up closer to the calf. Ultimately, this isn't really about socks (though good luck with those tan lines, kids!). Rather, it signifies the uncomfortable fact of increasing age and all that comes along with it. The socks are a reminder that time comes for everyone, and in the era of social media, the ticking clock is online and in your face. The internet is fueling the millennials vs. Gen Z discourse, but underlying it is something deeper: millennials raging against the dying of the light. And there's money to be made from this fear of aging — because there always is.
"Millennials are trying to cope with getting old, and they are the first generation that is kind of getting old on display because we are in a hyperconnected world," said Valeria Penttinen, an assistant professor of marketing at Northern Illinois University who focuses on digital and social media.
Aging can be anxiety-inducing. Wrinkles and aches and pains are signs that our bodies are decaying, manifestations of the reality that we're marching toward the Big Scary that is death. Our society puts a premium on youth, and as people get older, they're viewed as irrelevant, invisible, and obsolete. Next time you're at the pharmacy, take a stroll down the greeting-card aisle. You'll find a bunch of birthday cards with jokes about aging — LOL, you're getting slow, senile, irrelevant, asexual, incapable, grumpy.
"A lot of those stereotypes are very deeply ingrained within all of us so that we almost sort of mistake them for truth," said Julie Erickson, a clinical psychologist in Toronto who focuses on adults and older adults and a coauthor of "The Aging Well Workbook for Anxiety and Depression."
There's definitely a '40 is the new 30' vibe.
To alleviate some of our anxieties around aging, we try to keep up with the times. We update our wardrobes, consume the latest culture, and stock up on endless skincare products. Essentially, we attempt to spend our way to eternal youth and beauty. For brands, millennials' existential dread represents a lucrative opportunity to sell, especially in an era when fads cycle through faster than ever.
"If we look at instincts that come along with feeling scared — that's when our fight, flight, freeze response kicks in," Erickson said. "One aspect of that response is the fight response, which gets us mobilized and activated to try to do things to defend against a perceived threat. That can include throwing money at a quote, unquote, problem, trying to spend your way into alleviating some of your fears."
The best example of this is probably the antiaging industry, which makes billions of dollars a year trying to convince us we can achieve the impossible: staying young forever. The message isn't exactly that you're not supposed to get older; it's just that you're not supposed to look like it. Age like J.Lo, basically, and blow a bunch of money on creams and injections that keep wrinkles at bay.
"There's definitely a '40 is the new 30' vibe, for better or worse, if only because millennials are more obsessed with health and wellness," said Michael Miraflor, the chief brand officer at Hannah Grey, a venture-capital firm.
The beauty industry is hardly the only one that capitalizes on the unfeasible pursuit of youth. So much of consumerism depends on novelty — the latest fitness craze or fashion trend or musical artist. Much of that novelty hinges on new generations and the interests and inclinations of young people, namely, the 18-to-34 demographic marketers so highly covet. For millennials, it's awkward to age out of that demo and no longer be the hot, new thing. It's jarring to realize Justin Timberlake's new tour and Usher's Super Bowl performance are nostalgia plays.
The struggle to stay young means that many millennials are still trying to chase the hot, new thing. Sure, they may not want to dress exactly like the kids these days, but they wouldn't mind shaving five or 10 years off by wearing looser jeans or taller socks or a baggier T-shirt. Your birth certificate may say you're 33, but your sneakers don't have to. It's tempting to try to hold on, especially with an influencer online explaining to you how to do it.
"Millennials are having an existential sort of crisis with regard to their loss of the grip on youth culture," Claire Tassin, a retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Consult, said. "It's really beneficial for brands that at least the online discourse has millennials looking to Gen Z for trends. Because if they can sell all of us the same stuff, that's more cost-efficient."
"Social media really ramps up the generational conversation and, sometimes, the generational conflict, whether that's over serious issues, like the economy and student loans, or things like fashion and consumer products," she said. Sometimes, the chatter can be fun — it's not that deep that your side part means you're over 30. "It's also somewhat mortifying when you realize that you're on the wrong side of the trend, and you have that constant reminder in your TikTok or Twitter feed," she added.
The internet makes it easier to keep up with what's going on coolnesswise and to know whether you're in or out. In the past, older people lost touch with youth culture because they didn't really see it in their day-to-day, but now, every shift in style is blasted right into millennials' feeds.
"Because of social media, because we can see what's new, what's trending, we can adapt our behaviors a bit easier," Penttinen said.
The nature of internet culture, much of which was created by millennials, puts a unique bent on the discourse and how creators and influencers address millennials. For a generation raised on a sense of irony and mockery, poking fun at their uncoolness can be an effective play — and maybe even persuade them to give some new trend a shot to stay in the loop.
"I think that the self-deprecation part of it and leaning into it versus trying to make a millennial who's aging feel better about aging — it's almost like let's have some fun with it and not shy away from the fact that you're entering into another phase of life," said Harley Block, the CEO and a cofounder of IF7, a brand-consultancy firm that focuses on Gen Z and millennials.
Joel Steckel, a marketing professor at New York University, told me marketers have to talk differently to millennials than they did generations past because the context around them is different — there's a lot more mistrust of information, they experienced an economic crisis, and the market is more crowded with brands. They think more about what brands say about them to the outside world than what the brand says to them.
"What's changing more throughout time is the extent to which consumers will use the information that the brand signals to them," he said. "They're using it less. They're using it less with respect to what the brand signals to them and more of what the use of the brand signals to others."
In some cases, what millennials would like the clothes they wear or the products they use to say about them is that they're still young.
Social media and shifting contexts are not the only things making millennials' aging-out experience a bit different from what it was for generations past, and I'm not just talking about the fact that they think everything is about them. (I kid, kind of.) Millennials have been defined by their youth. They were the generation putting off marriage, having children, and buying a home. In the popular narrative, that's not because they graduated into a recession but because they were splurging on Starbucks. Millennials supposedly needed to be coddled with participation trophies, and whenever they did do something grown-up, they got to call it "adulting." It feels like no matter how old millennials get — and plenty of them are in their early 40s at this point — the cultural image of the avocado-toast-obsessed 20-something paying back their student loans via a gig job persisted.
We try to buy our way into looking and seeming young because then we can still feel like it's OK.
Devon Price, a social-psychology professor and author at Loyola University Chicago's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, said millennials were the last generation to grow up with a real set of life milestones they were supposed to hit, and for a lot of them, those checkpoints have taken longer than they'd anticipated.
"The economy completely bottomed out on us just as we were coming into that adulthood that we were told to expect and earn. And I think that gave us a lot of weird neuroses and a sense of arrested development," Price said. "In a way, we got really attached to an idea of ourselves as perpetually young because we didn't have those milestones."
Now, the tables have turned — millennials are no longer "the youngs," but they're not quite "the olds," either because they don't feel like it or because society doesn't treat them that way.
"We try to buy our way into looking and seeming young because then we can still feel like it's OK. It's still just a big party. We're still having fun here. We don't need to mature," Price said.
Despite the stereotype, many millennials aren't doing too poorly financially, so it makes sense for companies to try to get their money. Over half of millennials have homes. Many of them have stable and lucrative jobs and solid investment portfolios. Many of them have gotten married and started families — which has forced some acknowledgment of a generational split. Once children come into the picture, some of the youth and trend chasing is diminished.
"One dividing line for a lot of people is whether they have kids. I mean, that's why we have the whole concept of mom jeans," Twenge said.
Even with kids, millennials may be more tempted to try to keep up with the times — it's not just that your child is going to say you dress lame; it's that they're going to post their critique on TikTok. So now, Miraflor said, you get millennial dads who are "allowed to be cool and smart and empathetic."
"The reality of the life milestones of marriage and having children being delayed means that the goalposts of 'growing up and being an adult' moves along with that, almost out of necessity," Miraflor said. "That, compounded with the pandemic that was timed right when many millennials were reaching middle age, means that there is a lot more nuance and texture required for mass millennial marketing. "
There are worse things one could do than buy a new outfit or some beauty cream to feel better about themselves and the process of getting older. Worst-case scenario, you wind up being a living, breathing version of that "how do you do, fellow kids?" meme. It's embarrassing, but you'll survive. Best-case scenario, the purchase perks you up for a time, and maybe someone asks for your ID, a serious over-25 thrill. But you can't spend your way out of aging, as much as corporate America would like you to think you can, unless you're Gwen Stefani.
I asked Erickson, the psychologist who focuses on aging, for some tips on dealing with getting older that do not involve opening up our wallets. She said the first piece is to unpack what your beliefs about aging are. What's the narrative you're telling yourself? That life will get boring, that you'll be lonely or become irrelevant? Try to look at some exceptions to those beliefs, like Martha Stewart, who was recently on the cover of Sports Illustrated, or people who have had second and third careers.
"Look at your own aging thus far. Are there aspects of being 20 that you're actually really happy to leave behind?" she said. "Start to look at the evidence from your own life to say, 'Sure, there's certain things that maybe have gotten harder or more complicated or difficult, but are there things about my own aging process that have been areas of growth or discovery or developing new strengths?'"
There's no sugarcoating it: Aging feels scary, and death is terrifying. TikTok and Instagram do make the discourse on all this worse. The jeans thing was inevitable, but the socks thing? Come on. Many of these generational divides are made up anyway. And if you're a smug Gen Z now, Gen Alpha is coming up right behind you, so be prepared to feel cringe or whatever their word for it is in 5 to 10 years.
Not to sound anti-capitalist here, but it's also worth remembering who the real enemy is, or not the enemy, per se, but the entity you want to keep an eye on. Gen Z, be nice to your friendly millennial next door, and vice versa. And both of you, be skeptical of that not-so-friendly company advertising to you on TikTok or Instagram or TV. They make money only if you buy something new, and making you feel like you're falling behind the times or presenting you with a hot, new trend you have to keep up with is a way to accomplish that.
And, hey, once your clothes go out of style, hold on to them even if you swap them out. They'll probably come back around in 15 years, and you can save yourself some money down the line.
Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.
Tim Cook has shared his thoughts on one of Apple's most controversial products.
The CEO was asked to blind-rank Apple products, including the Magic Mouse, during an interview.
The Magic Mouse has proved to be one of Apple's most controversial products.
Tim Cook has shared his thoughts on one of Apple's most controversial products.
The Apple CEO discussed some of the company's releases in an interview with tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD.
Cook was asked to put five of Apple's most famous products in order as part of a blind-ranking game. While he didn't actually rank the products, he did reflect on each one.
When asked about the mouse, Cook described its creation as an "incredible moment."
"Getting the ergonomics well done was key with the Magic Mouse," he said. "People don't think of that as much as they would the MacBook Air and the iPad."
When it was released in 2015, the Magic Mouse 2 became one of Apple's most controversial products. Users took issue with various aspects of the design, including a charging system that rendered it useless while powering up.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
The late Steve Jobs launching the MacBook Air in 2008.
"That moment of taking it out of the folder established a characteristic about that device that lives today," Cook said. "The first one, it wasn't about how many people buy it — it was about establishing the foundation."
Cook's tenure has produced valuable lessons that managers and execs can use to improve.
He's taken Apple to new heights by asking questions, sticking to his values, and more.
Tim Cook has been Apple's CEO since 2011, and he's led the tech giant to major milestones and through tough times.
An Alabama native, Cook is known for his mild manners and relatively private life outside work, but he's maintained his leadership position at Apple for 13 years and become an iconic name.
"I have one important piece of advice I want to share, so important that it's the only piece of advice I'm going to share today. And that is this: whatever you do, lead with your values," he told students during his commencement speech.
Cook continued, "By leading with your values, what I mean is that you should make decisions big and small, each and every day, based on a deep understanding of who you are and what you believe."
Know the difference between prepared and ready
In another commencement speech — this time to students at Stanford University — Cook spoke about taking over at Apple after cofounder Steve Jobs took medical leave and later died in 2011.
He said he "learned the real, visceral difference between preparation and readiness" when Jobs was "truly gone," and said it was a lonely time for him.
"Your mentors may leave you prepared, but they can't leave you ready."
Kahney writes that he could "wear people down through an endless barrage of questions." According to the book, the Apple CEO did this to ensure workers had a deep understanding of whatever they were tasked with doing.
"He's a very quiet leader," Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, told Kahney, according to the book. "Not a screamer, not a yeller … He's just very calm, steady, but will slice you up with questions. You better know your stuff."
Don't worry about a "legacy"
Although Cook didn't offer this as advice, his opinion on legacies might differ from that of other high-powered CEOs.
In a 2024 interview with tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Cook said he hasn't thought much about his legacy because it's "something that is defined by other people."
He's also made peace with the inevitable end of his tenure as the head of Apple and the beginning of another CEO's legacy.
"At some point, there will be another CEO," Cook said. "And my whole focus in life will be on making them successful."
For him, it's a way to "stay grounded in terms of what the community is feeling," he told Dua Lipa in November 2023. In past interviews, Cook has said he receives around 800 emails daily and reads most of them.
"I read emails from a lot of customers and employees, and the customers are telling me things that they love about us or things that they want changed about us. Employees are giving me ideas," he said.