September 12, 2024 • 23 mins
Host of ‘How to Money’ on KFI Joel Larsgaard joins the show to talk about Americans having LOTS of home equity but tapping into it could be extremely costly, election fatigue possibly causing people to spend more money, and more people abusing return policies causing companies to become stricter. Disney is ‘playing hardball’ with DirecTV over ‘skinnies bundles. Here’s what’s at stake. Host of “Later with Mo Kelly” on KFI closes the show talking about Saturday Night Live turning 50 this year and the importance of the show over the decades.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And it is a Thursday morning, September twelfth, Handle and
the Morning crew and Neil that was a great commercial
for the Bugman and that just it just occurred to me.
We have a new segment coming up on the show
and that is the Termite Poop Report. I thought that
was absolutely superb learned something. I learned something, especially for example,
(00:33):
when the poop comes out, that makes more room for
additional food.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm see that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Boy, that's I've never understood that happening with anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, that's the truth. They eat ince. Isn't that the best?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Wait a second, who doesn't Who.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Shout the poop to eat more?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That is a fact, by the way, that's all of us,
that's every living creature on the planet.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
No, no, oh, I meet not out of their fanny.
You wing that.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I'm saying that they eat like a cavern in the
wood and the poop stays in it and they have
to push the poop out from the cavern, so they
continue eating the wood.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm not saying they're passing the wood so they could
eat more and pass that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes, I'm saying imagine you pooping in your bedroom, which
I do, imagine a lot, and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
You go, I have no more room to poop in
my bedroom.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I got to push it out a window so I
have more room to eat and poop in my bedroom.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's what I was trying to say.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, I missed it, and I'm sure everybody else did too,
So congratulations.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Really, when I should get a break, so Joel can take.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Joel, let's go to you, all right, Joel, how to
money every Sunday twelve to two pm, and how to money?
Or at how to money? Joel and Joel, let's talk
about the financial aspects of termite poop.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay I can follow that?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I don No one can. Here's a question, and
this was interesting as you brought this up election fatigue.
Are we spending more money because of that? And you
go to the Wall Street Journal and it says, yeah,
how do you connect those two?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
So this was purely anecdotal. There's no like study or
anything like that that was done. But this journalist was
basically saying that the election is weighing on me so heavily.
And if you watch the debate on Tuesday night, your
brain kind of cracked a little bit, because it's just
tough to stay in tuned into this stuff this long,
and we have the longest elections essentially that happened in
(02:39):
the world. Right, These things happened for years essentially. On end,
it feels like there's not a time that politicians aren't campaigning,
and it's part of the twenty four to seven news cycle,
and politics has become the new American religion, and so
we're tuned in so much more to every little nook
and cranny of what's happening politically, and.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Then we do have fatigue.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And apparently I think this is true in general, and
I think maybe the election thing specifically for some hyper
political people could be accurate that the more fatigued we
get mentally, the more maybe burned out we feel. If
we're overworked or we're over stimulated, in some ways, we
do tend to jump into online buying or going into
our favorite store or purchasing something to make us feel
(03:20):
a little bit better, whether it's one of our favorite items,
and so I yeah, I do think maybe in some
ways this is a true phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I would think that's true for disasters, natural disasters, the
economy dropping interestingly enough if you still have a job
and you still have money. Basically life is so miserable
you make it better by spending money.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I think that's very true.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I think sometimes when people are stressed out, instead of
going to the root of the problem, like hey, guess what,
my finances aren't in great shape, and I need to
maybe make some changes so that I'm creating a softer
landing for myself in the future, a better financial future
for myself. That is one way of going about it.
But sometimes we feel like we're so stressed to the max,
so we don't have the ability to do that. So
(04:05):
the easiest thing to do, the thing that's going to
give us the quickest boost of dopamine and the quickest
feeling of satisfaction is to spend money. And so I
do think that that that is a natural human phenomenon,
and taking a long view can be harder to do,
but ultimately it's going to produce the best results.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Wow, Okay, I'm just trying to think when in my
life I had something similar.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
To go on.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
There was a point when I was I remember being
very very depressed, and coming out of that I got married.
That was a big mistake that didn't work out very
well at all. So I don't suggest you do that,
just spend the money.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I wish I had marriage advice.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But yeah, I want to be clear, Joel, this this
doesn't this doesn't count for like Star Wars for cool things, right, No.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yeah, if it's just a if it's a hot if
it's an expensive hobby, neil spend as much as you want,
go into credit card dead It's totally fine.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, cool things are okay, you know what you know
next week?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
What I'd like to do that is explore how much
people are spending on hobbies more and are people getting
into involved in more expensive hobbies? All right, excuse me?
It really is the furtatis top of tya sauce on
honest to god, it's it's like a daily thing. And
where do I get him? I get him from Costco.
(05:21):
And that leads right into a segment about Costco, and
that is well, Costco probably has the best return policy
in terms of us the consumers that you could ever imagine.
Lbean does the same thing, and of course Amazon does
exactly the same thing. The difference is Amazon makes a
lot of money on theirs or they move it over
(05:43):
to the vendors. Lbean and Costco don't. So the world
is changing in terms of free returns.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Isn't it, Joel.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So there's like almost like a Barbell effect happening, I think,
with the way companies handle returns these days. And so
some companies are becoming more and more generous there making it,
but that's largely because they're selling more expensive products. So,
for instance, I got some socks a few years ago
from this company called Bombas, and then it turns out
they got holes in them. They've got this incredibly generous
(06:12):
one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee. Because I got holes in them,
they're gonna send me some new ones, and I just
got them actually this morning, So I'm super excited about that.
But then there are other companies that they're saying, people
are taking advantage of our return policies, and so we're
gonna have to tighten things up. And I think people
are less adhering to the spirit of a return policy
and they're more saying, wait a second, you guys are
(06:35):
gonna be really generous with that return policy, Like a Costco, Well,
I'm gonna return my mattress like four years later.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
After I've been sleeping on it, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And some companies do that, by the way, bombas which
advertise I don't know if they advertise on kfive, but
I hear there ads all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's a fascinating business model.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
For every pair of socks they sell, they give a
pair of socks to the homeless. Now, how does it work. Well,
you pay fifty nine dollars for a pair of socks,
right right, all right.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
And that's why they can afford to honor that return policy,
and the.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And the ones that they give to the homeless are
made out of tissue paper, so they're able to do
just fine. But let's talk about Costco because you know
that one they have the most generous return policy, and
are they changing the way they work like a four
year old mattress.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Well, so here's the thing. I think that they are
still taking back no questions asked, almost everything. But you
remember a few years ago bill where they had to
change their return policy for electronics, and now it's ninety
days on most electronics where you can return stuff, which
is still more generous than a whole lot of other retailers.
But even Costco said, listen, you can't bring back your
computer from two thousand and eight in twenty twenty five,
(07:52):
when or in twenty twenty four when now computers.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Cost a whole lot less.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
That's gonna bankrupt us essentially as a company, Like, we
can't have people overdoing the return policy, and so Costco
even had to tighten.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Things up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And I'm just worried because we're seeing more and more
stories and people are even, like on TikTok, being honest
about the ridiculous things they're doing returning stuff bald tires
or something like that, like years after purchasing them from
a company like Costco and saying cool, I'd like to
return these now and get another set for free. Those
are the kind of things that are going to kind
of ruin it for all of us. I think it's
(08:24):
that kind of behavior that you gotta have that internal
moral compass to not return.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And you know, come on, who has a moral internal
compass when you are out buying product, especially expensive? But
Nordstroms used to have the most generous policy. People would
come in and buy a wedding dress or they were
gonna go to a formal event, and then a week
later return it and there were the armpit stains, sweat
(08:50):
stains right there that don't come out no questions asked.
I'm assuming that's becoming less and less as these companies saying,
come on, then let's get reasonable.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It is, yeah, And there was this new survey essentially
saying that more and more Americans feel okay, feel comfortable
abusing return policies. They're lying about products not showing up.
They're wearing stuff like you said, and returning it with
the pit stains. Now they're claiming items are defective when
they're not necessarily defective. They just change their mind after
you know, fifteen twenty days or something like that. And
so it's I think it's important to realize that that
(09:23):
is going to increase costs for everyone. And it's great,
Like I love the fact that a company like Arii
they similarly have like a one year, no questions asked
return policy. And if you use something and they're like,
it didn't hold up to the it wasn't enough to snuff,
it wasn't up to the standards I hoped it was
going to be. You can return that, and that's really cool,
but you also have to be cognizant of the fact
that This costs those companies money. And if you want
(09:45):
these companies with generous return policies to be around, you
can't abuse the heck out of them.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It used to be that the only way you could,
both in terms of store policy and just your thinking
about it, return a product if it was defective. You
could never say, eh, I just don't like it, or
just say you know what, it just doesn't meet my
standards again Costco, because of course I live at Costco,
as you know. A matter of fact, there's my Furtada
(10:11):
right there that I got from Costco. And I occasionally
return something that it's the wrong size because you can't
fit anything. So when I buy a pair of shorts,
you buy three different sizes and eight different colors, Yeah,
and you just return it. Now, I return stuff with
the tag still on it, because I'm pretty good about that.
Sometimes they even ask me what's wrong? Is there anything
(10:34):
wrong with the product, and I'll say no, I just
don't like it or whatever, And then I realize that
they're asking what's wrong with the product, not to question you,
but to talk to a customer and ask do you
find a problem with this product? That then goes to
the manufacturer saying X number of people are unhappy, and
(10:56):
I'm assuming that at some point that has to change, because,
as you were saying, the abuse factor is astronomical.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Yeah, and I'm glad that there are consumer protections and
I've talked about this with Amy before that there are
if you buy stuff with a credit card there and
you don't get what you what you bought, or if
the item comes and it's not what it was built
as on the website, you can do a chargeback, right
and the credit card company will fight for on your
behalf to get your money back, which is really cool.
(11:24):
But just because these systems are in place, people are
now going too far with them. And that's again, like
I said, going to kind of upset the Apple card.
It's going to ruin it for everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, I'm gonna nail you on the credit card statement
you just made, because every time I've had a problem,
all they do is contact the vendor, and the vendor says, yeah,
I sent it to him, Yeah, the deal is there,
and then they leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Oh really Okay, Yeah, I got a charge.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I got charged for an extra hotel nights stay that
I didn't that I didn't make, and I didn't stay
at the hotel that evening, and I was able to
get that credit.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That makes sense. You know, they asked it, joel'll stay
four days, and they have it on the record they didn't.
That's a fairly easy one. But it's I don't like
the product. We sent it too bad. It's on you anyway.
Good I get to nail you on our statement or two,
because usually I can't. All right, Joel, we'll catch you
this Sunday from twelve to two here on KFI, and
(12:21):
of course next Wednesday, next Thursday too. All right, you
have a good one. Now, there is a fight afoot
with Disney and Direct TV, and this has been going
on for a while, and not just with Disney. There
was Charter and a few other folks that bitch and
(12:43):
moan about Direct TV. They are negotiating and have not
reached any kind of agreement or conclusion because Disney pulled
out its own and operated channels ESPN, ABC off of
Direct TV last week because DirecTV just wouldn't pay the money.
(13:05):
And that's one of the reasons that I got off DirecTV.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I don't like sports.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I don't watch sports, particularly I watch football games. I
kind of like those now, But is sports in general no,
And Direct TV I was paying buckets of money for
the sports channel. It's just got too expensive. And here's
what's happening all of us. We want to pick and choose.
And what happens is you have these major producers of content,
(13:35):
for example, Disney, and it says you don't carry ESPN
and pay for it and pay lots for it. We're
not gonna let you have our product. We're pulling all
of our product and people are going and Direct TV
and others are saying, wait a minute, this is just
too much. It certainly was for me. So I go
(13:59):
direct to streaming. But again, you've got bundles of things
that you just don't need. And what I do is
I shop. We're actually Lindsay shops and we're constantly changing
the bundles because you have this, you have that, and
you have one streaming service all of a sudden picking up
this kind of content. And so things are changing because
(14:23):
consumers just want to pick and choose. They call it
a skinnier bundle. And the media company themselves have begun
to experiment. Why because of the decline in linear television viewerships,
more and more subscribers are cutting the cord and going
directly to streaming, where you have a lot more choice now.
(14:49):
The an analyst Laura Martin, who's well respected in the industry,
said content and distribution are complementary networks. They both win together,
they both lose together, and if Disney wants to keep
raising prices, it's just not going to happen. And Direct
TV has gotten just very expensive. As I said, I
(15:11):
don't have direct TV.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I gave it up.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I originally had Dish TV and gave it up for
Direct TV. Do they still have Dish out there, by
the way, I have absolutely no idea. It's been a
bunch of years. Do you know, Kno's looking it up
whether Dish even exists anymore. And while he's looking it up,
I'll continue on there is yeah, because I haven't seen
(15:37):
or heard much about Dish. I mean DirecTV has taken
over everything. And remember those big satellite dishes. Then they
became the size of dinner plates that you would hang
out the door. And there's nothing like going to a
major apartment building and you see on the balconies all
of these dishes that are appointed to this Southwest because
(16:01):
that's where the satellite is and now everybody is doing
cable and that's what I do. Everything's on the internet,
although when the Internet goes down, you've got nothing. Satellites
don't go down, so there's there's well, there's a reason
to keep a satellite company. So Charter reached the settlement
(16:26):
and offered some Disney streaming services and what they're doing
and this is going the other way, and we talked
to MO about this a bunch of times. Add supported
versions of Disney plus ESPN, and it's ESPN is going
to be a direct to consumer offering and it's the
(16:48):
Unfortunately the streaming services that are advertising supported. So I like,
I went to Hulu and I like the documentaries. As
you know, I'm crazy about documentary films, and there are
documentary products documentary films, and I start watching them and
they go to a commercial. I go, what are you doing?
(17:09):
I'm paying for streaming. The whole point of streaming is
not to have commercials in your face. And you can't
fast forward through them either. Bastards they don't let you
fast forward. You have to look at the stupid ad.
And when you have product programs that were not made
(17:31):
for TV for commercials, Usually when you see commercials being
inserted and the show is made for that, then that's
kind of weird too, because there's a cut. Then you
come back and there's sort of a recap that you
don't need. But when they go to commercials, it's in
(17:51):
the middle of sentences sometimes and you go, what are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Okay? Mae Kelly?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Who is Monday through Friday every evening seven to ten pm.
My show is later with Mo Kelly, and our segment
with Mo is earlier with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Good morning, Mo, Good morning Bill. Did I hear you
correctly that you had your ass removed?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah? I know. I had the nerves of my ass removed.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh okay, you had an assect of me? Got it?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh yeah, I had an ASSECTI me. I lost a
lot of my ass when I had bariatric surgery. I
lost a tremendous amount of weight in my ass. So
I've got a real flutter issue. When the wind is
out and it's I'm going to go on July fourth,
you know, stars and stripes and it flutters. But you know,
that's a different topic for a different time. Saturday Night
(18:40):
Live turns fifty this year, and the importance of this show,
and this has become not only iconic, it has become
a cultural phenomena. And quickly, before you start diving into that,
I want to share with you that I saw the
first season of Saturday Night Live. Now I was not
very old, but I saw that first season and that
(19:04):
was John Belushi and Chevy Chase and Jane Curtin, Dan Ackroyd,
and it was I was fanatic about watching it every Saturday.
And then through the years I didn't because I've done
this show and you can't stay up, and I didn't record.
But let's go ahead and talk about how important this is.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Sure, if you want to look at a cultural touchstone,
I would say a variety show, which I'll say encapsulates
what America is thinking at a given time.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
It has been Saturday Night Live, and although.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
It has fluctuated over the years as far as its
importance and also its viewership. I remember, you know, Richard Prior,
John Belushi, the Samurai Hotel. There are some real iconic
moments in television history connected to SNEL. This upcoming fiftiest
season is poised to become one of its biggest seasons,
if only because of what's happening in the presidential election
(19:57):
season and the cast which they have lined up, like,
for example, Maya Rudolph is poised to come back as
Kamala Harris. The season is going to kick off on
September twenty eighth. If things hold and there is a
second presidential debate, it would be on September twenty fifth,
just days before this season kicks off.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So there's a lot to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, and not only politically, but look at the number
of stars that have come out of Saturday Night Live. Now,
Richard Pryor was already a successful comedian, but Eddie Murphy wasn't.
Billy Christ Billy Crystal was a breakout.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Sir Sandler, Chris Rock.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, I mean it's incredible what that show has created
and how many stars and the kind of talent it
was able to get. Hey, if I remember correctly, it
was George Carlin the first host.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I don't know off the top of my head, I
would be guessing.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking it is has it become more
important or has it already reached its apex.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
I don't think it's because more important. I think people
are rediscovering it. Like for example, the show average seven
point two million viewers last season season forty nine. That
was a three percent increase from the previous season, but
before that there was a decline in ratings. And to
your point, Bill, where SNL had a history of churning
out worldwide stars, in the past twenty years, it was less.
(21:21):
So you had people who were notable, who were funny,
who may have gone on to do movies, but they
didn't have the type of worldwide fame that an Eddie
Murphy or others might have enjoyed. So it wasn't the
same star factory that it used to be. And also,
we're now living in an age where people are not
looking at broadcast televisions or their entertainment.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, I was just about to say that seven million
viewers and it's still on the air, where seven million
viewers twenty thirty years ago was an utter failure and
no show would last more than one show, much less
one season.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You're spot on. You're spot on.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
But also the cast this year, they've added Jane Wickline,
who was best known as a TikTok comedy personality, so
they're acknowledging the show, is acknowledging that there's an online
viewer space, and audience that they need to reach and
they can better reach.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Mo. Thank you always great information and a lot of fun.
Later with Mo Kelly Monday through Friday. Tonight included seven
to ten pm and his address social is at mister
mo Kelly, have a good one. Mo Bye, Bill Bye,
And I want to remind you as we walk out,
I am taking phone calls Handle on the law, giving
you marginal legal advice off the air, and I'm starting
(22:37):
in just a few moments so you can call eight
seven seven five to zero eleven fifty. And sometimes on Saturday,
I'll go through the whole show without asking for her,
without giving phone numbers. I mean, we can get real jammed.
So we obviously have lines open usually Tuesday and Thursday.
Eight seven seven five to zero eleven fifty. In just
a few moments. Again, we start tomorrow Amy Live at
(23:01):
five am with wake up call Neil and I come
aboard right after that, and I have to mention the
KNO and because I'm contractually obligated to do so, this
is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch My
show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am, and
(23:23):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And it is a Thursday morning, September twelfth, Handle and
the Morning crew and Neil that was a great commercial
for the Bugman and that just it just occurred to me.
We have a new segment coming up on the show
and that is the Termite Poop Report. I thought that
was absolutely superb learned something. I learned something, especially for example,
(00:33):
when the poop comes out, that makes more room for
additional food.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm see that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Boy, that's I've never understood that happening with anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, that's the truth. They eat ince. Isn't that the best?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Wait a second, who doesn't Who.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Shout the poop to eat more?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That is a fact, by the way, that's all of us,
that's every living creature on the planet.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
No, no, oh, I meet not out of their fanny.
You wing that.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I'm saying that they eat like a cavern in the
wood and the poop stays in it and they have
to push the poop out from the cavern, so they
continue eating the wood.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm not saying they're passing the wood so they could
eat more and pass that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes, I'm saying imagine you pooping in your bedroom, which
I do, imagine a lot, and.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
You go, I have no more room to poop in
my bedroom.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I got to push it out a window so I
have more room to eat and poop in my bedroom.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's what I was trying to say.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, I missed it, and I'm sure everybody else did too,
So congratulations.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Really, when I should get a break, so Joel can take.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Joel, let's go to you, all right, Joel, how to
money every Sunday twelve to two pm, and how to money?
Or at how to money? Joel and Joel, let's talk
about the financial aspects of termite poop.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay I can follow that?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I don No one can. Here's a question, and
this was interesting as you brought this up election fatigue.
Are we spending more money because of that? And you
go to the Wall Street Journal and it says, yeah,
how do you connect those two?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
So this was purely anecdotal. There's no like study or
anything like that that was done. But this journalist was
basically saying that the election is weighing on me so heavily.
And if you watch the debate on Tuesday night, your
brain kind of cracked a little bit, because it's just
tough to stay in tuned into this stuff this long,
and we have the longest elections essentially that happened in
(02:39):
the world. Right, These things happened for years essentially. On end,
it feels like there's not a time that politicians aren't campaigning,
and it's part of the twenty four to seven news cycle,
and politics has become the new American religion, and so
we're tuned in so much more to every little nook
and cranny of what's happening politically, and.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Then we do have fatigue.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And apparently I think this is true in general, and
I think maybe the election thing specifically for some hyper
political people could be accurate that the more fatigued we
get mentally, the more maybe burned out we feel. If
we're overworked or we're over stimulated, in some ways, we
do tend to jump into online buying or going into
our favorite store or purchasing something to make us feel
(03:20):
a little bit better, whether it's one of our favorite items,
and so I yeah, I do think maybe in some
ways this is a true phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I would think that's true for disasters, natural disasters, the
economy dropping interestingly enough if you still have a job
and you still have money. Basically life is so miserable
you make it better by spending money.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I think that's very true.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I think sometimes when people are stressed out, instead of
going to the root of the problem, like hey, guess what,
my finances aren't in great shape, and I need to
maybe make some changes so that I'm creating a softer
landing for myself in the future, a better financial future
for myself. That is one way of going about it.
But sometimes we feel like we're so stressed to the max,
so we don't have the ability to do that. So
(04:05):
the easiest thing to do, the thing that's going to
give us the quickest boost of dopamine and the quickest
feeling of satisfaction is to spend money. And so I
do think that that that is a natural human phenomenon,
and taking a long view can be harder to do,
but ultimately it's going to produce the best results.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Wow, Okay, I'm just trying to think when in my
life I had something similar.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
To go on.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
There was a point when I was I remember being
very very depressed, and coming out of that I got married.
That was a big mistake that didn't work out very
well at all. So I don't suggest you do that,
just spend the money.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I wish I had marriage advice.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But yeah, I want to be clear, Joel, this this
doesn't this doesn't count for like Star Wars for cool things, right, No.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yeah, if it's just a if it's a hot if
it's an expensive hobby, neil spend as much as you want,
go into credit card dead It's totally fine.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, cool things are okay, you know what you know
next week?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
What I'd like to do that is explore how much
people are spending on hobbies more and are people getting
into involved in more expensive hobbies? All right, excuse me?
It really is the furtatis top of tya sauce on
honest to god, it's it's like a daily thing. And
where do I get him? I get him from Costco.
(05:21):
And that leads right into a segment about Costco, and
that is well, Costco probably has the best return policy
in terms of us the consumers that you could ever imagine.
Lbean does the same thing, and of course Amazon does
exactly the same thing. The difference is Amazon makes a
lot of money on theirs or they move it over
(05:43):
to the vendors. Lbean and Costco don't. So the world
is changing in terms of free returns.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Isn't it, Joel.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So there's like almost like a Barbell effect happening, I think,
with the way companies handle returns these days. And so
some companies are becoming more and more generous there making it,
but that's largely because they're selling more expensive products. So,
for instance, I got some socks a few years ago
from this company called Bombas, and then it turns out
they got holes in them. They've got this incredibly generous
(06:12):
one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee. Because I got holes in them,
they're gonna send me some new ones, and I just
got them actually this morning, So I'm super excited about that.
But then there are other companies that they're saying, people
are taking advantage of our return policies, and so we're
gonna have to tighten things up. And I think people
are less adhering to the spirit of a return policy
and they're more saying, wait a second, you guys are
(06:35):
gonna be really generous with that return policy, Like a Costco, Well,
I'm gonna return my mattress like four years later.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
After I've been sleeping on it, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And some companies do that, by the way, bombas which
advertise I don't know if they advertise on kfive, but
I hear there ads all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's a fascinating business model.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
For every pair of socks they sell, they give a
pair of socks to the homeless. Now, how does it work. Well,
you pay fifty nine dollars for a pair of socks,
right right, all right.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
And that's why they can afford to honor that return policy,
and the.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And the ones that they give to the homeless are
made out of tissue paper, so they're able to do
just fine. But let's talk about Costco because you know
that one they have the most generous return policy, and
are they changing the way they work like a four
year old mattress.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Well, so here's the thing. I think that they are
still taking back no questions asked, almost everything. But you
remember a few years ago bill where they had to
change their return policy for electronics, and now it's ninety
days on most electronics where you can return stuff, which
is still more generous than a whole lot of other retailers.
But even Costco said, listen, you can't bring back your
computer from two thousand and eight in twenty twenty five,
(07:52):
when or in twenty twenty four when now computers.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Cost a whole lot less.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
That's gonna bankrupt us essentially as a company, Like, we
can't have people overdoing the return policy, and so Costco
even had to tighten.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Things up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And I'm just worried because we're seeing more and more
stories and people are even, like on TikTok, being honest
about the ridiculous things they're doing returning stuff bald tires
or something like that, like years after purchasing them from
a company like Costco and saying cool, I'd like to
return these now and get another set for free. Those
are the kind of things that are going to kind
of ruin it for all of us. I think it's
(08:24):
that kind of behavior that you gotta have that internal
moral compass to not return.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And you know, come on, who has a moral internal
compass when you are out buying product, especially expensive? But
Nordstroms used to have the most generous policy. People would
come in and buy a wedding dress or they were
gonna go to a formal event, and then a week
later return it and there were the armpit stains, sweat
(08:50):
stains right there that don't come out no questions asked.
I'm assuming that's becoming less and less as these companies saying,
come on, then let's get reasonable.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It is, yeah, And there was this new survey essentially
saying that more and more Americans feel okay, feel comfortable
abusing return policies. They're lying about products not showing up.
They're wearing stuff like you said, and returning it with
the pit stains. Now they're claiming items are defective when
they're not necessarily defective. They just change their mind after
you know, fifteen twenty days or something like that. And
so it's I think it's important to realize that that
(09:23):
is going to increase costs for everyone. And it's great,
Like I love the fact that a company like Arii
they similarly have like a one year, no questions asked
return policy. And if you use something and they're like,
it didn't hold up to the it wasn't enough to snuff,
it wasn't up to the standards I hoped it was
going to be. You can return that, and that's really cool,
but you also have to be cognizant of the fact
that This costs those companies money. And if you want
(09:45):
these companies with generous return policies to be around, you
can't abuse the heck out of them.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It used to be that the only way you could,
both in terms of store policy and just your thinking
about it, return a product if it was defective. You
could never say, eh, I just don't like it, or
just say you know what, it just doesn't meet my
standards again Costco, because of course I live at Costco,
as you know. A matter of fact, there's my Furtada
(10:11):
right there that I got from Costco. And I occasionally
return something that it's the wrong size because you can't
fit anything. So when I buy a pair of shorts,
you buy three different sizes and eight different colors, Yeah,
and you just return it. Now, I return stuff with
the tag still on it, because I'm pretty good about that.
Sometimes they even ask me what's wrong? Is there anything
(10:34):
wrong with the product, and I'll say no, I just
don't like it or whatever, And then I realize that
they're asking what's wrong with the product, not to question you,
but to talk to a customer and ask do you
find a problem with this product? That then goes to
the manufacturer saying X number of people are unhappy, and
(10:56):
I'm assuming that at some point that has to change, because,
as you were saying, the abuse factor is astronomical.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Yeah, and I'm glad that there are consumer protections and
I've talked about this with Amy before that there are
if you buy stuff with a credit card there and
you don't get what you what you bought, or if
the item comes and it's not what it was built
as on the website, you can do a chargeback, right
and the credit card company will fight for on your
behalf to get your money back, which is really cool.
(11:24):
But just because these systems are in place, people are
now going too far with them. And that's again, like
I said, going to kind of upset the Apple card.
It's going to ruin it for everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, I'm gonna nail you on the credit card statement
you just made, because every time I've had a problem,
all they do is contact the vendor, and the vendor says, yeah,
I sent it to him, Yeah, the deal is there,
and then they leave it alone.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Oh really Okay, Yeah, I got a charge.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I got charged for an extra hotel nights stay that
I didn't that I didn't make, and I didn't stay
at the hotel that evening, and I was able to
get that credit.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That makes sense. You know, they asked it, joel'll stay
four days, and they have it on the record they didn't.
That's a fairly easy one. But it's I don't like
the product. We sent it too bad. It's on you anyway.
Good I get to nail you on our statement or two,
because usually I can't. All right, Joel, we'll catch you
this Sunday from twelve to two here on KFI, and
(12:21):
of course next Wednesday, next Thursday too. All right, you
have a good one. Now, there is a fight afoot
with Disney and Direct TV, and this has been going
on for a while, and not just with Disney. There
was Charter and a few other folks that bitch and
(12:43):
moan about Direct TV. They are negotiating and have not
reached any kind of agreement or conclusion because Disney pulled
out its own and operated channels ESPN, ABC off of
Direct TV last week because DirecTV just wouldn't pay the money.
(13:05):
And that's one of the reasons that I got off DirecTV.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I don't like sports.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I don't watch sports, particularly I watch football games. I
kind of like those now, But is sports in general no,
And Direct TV I was paying buckets of money for
the sports channel. It's just got too expensive. And here's
what's happening all of us. We want to pick and choose.
And what happens is you have these major producers of content,
(13:35):
for example, Disney, and it says you don't carry ESPN
and pay for it and pay lots for it. We're
not gonna let you have our product. We're pulling all
of our product and people are going and Direct TV
and others are saying, wait a minute, this is just
too much. It certainly was for me. So I go
(13:59):
direct to streaming. But again, you've got bundles of things
that you just don't need. And what I do is
I shop. We're actually Lindsay shops and we're constantly changing
the bundles because you have this, you have that, and
you have one streaming service all of a sudden picking up
this kind of content. And so things are changing because
(14:23):
consumers just want to pick and choose. They call it
a skinnier bundle. And the media company themselves have begun
to experiment. Why because of the decline in linear television viewerships,
more and more subscribers are cutting the cord and going
directly to streaming, where you have a lot more choice now.
(14:49):
The an analyst Laura Martin, who's well respected in the industry,
said content and distribution are complementary networks. They both win together,
they both lose together, and if Disney wants to keep
raising prices, it's just not going to happen. And Direct
TV has gotten just very expensive. As I said, I
(15:11):
don't have direct TV.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I gave it up.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I originally had Dish TV and gave it up for
Direct TV. Do they still have Dish out there, by
the way, I have absolutely no idea. It's been a
bunch of years. Do you know, Kno's looking it up
whether Dish even exists anymore. And while he's looking it up,
I'll continue on there is yeah, because I haven't seen
(15:37):
or heard much about Dish. I mean DirecTV has taken
over everything. And remember those big satellite dishes. Then they
became the size of dinner plates that you would hang
out the door. And there's nothing like going to a
major apartment building and you see on the balconies all
of these dishes that are appointed to this Southwest because
(16:01):
that's where the satellite is and now everybody is doing
cable and that's what I do. Everything's on the internet,
although when the Internet goes down, you've got nothing. Satellites
don't go down, so there's there's well, there's a reason
to keep a satellite company. So Charter reached the settlement
(16:26):
and offered some Disney streaming services and what they're doing
and this is going the other way, and we talked
to MO about this a bunch of times. Add supported
versions of Disney plus ESPN, and it's ESPN is going
to be a direct to consumer offering and it's the
(16:48):
Unfortunately the streaming services that are advertising supported. So I like,
I went to Hulu and I like the documentaries. As
you know, I'm crazy about documentary films, and there are
documentary products documentary films, and I start watching them and
they go to a commercial. I go, what are you doing?
(17:09):
I'm paying for streaming. The whole point of streaming is
not to have commercials in your face. And you can't
fast forward through them either. Bastards they don't let you
fast forward. You have to look at the stupid ad.
And when you have product programs that were not made
(17:31):
for TV for commercials, Usually when you see commercials being
inserted and the show is made for that, then that's
kind of weird too, because there's a cut. Then you
come back and there's sort of a recap that you
don't need. But when they go to commercials, it's in
(17:51):
the middle of sentences sometimes and you go, what are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Okay? Mae Kelly?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Who is Monday through Friday every evening seven to ten pm.
My show is later with Mo Kelly, and our segment
with Mo is earlier with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Good morning, Mo, Good morning Bill. Did I hear you
correctly that you had your ass removed?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah? I know. I had the nerves of my ass removed.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh okay, you had an assect of me? Got it?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh yeah, I had an ASSECTI me. I lost a
lot of my ass when I had bariatric surgery. I
lost a tremendous amount of weight in my ass. So
I've got a real flutter issue. When the wind is
out and it's I'm going to go on July fourth,
you know, stars and stripes and it flutters. But you know,
that's a different topic for a different time. Saturday Night
(18:40):
Live turns fifty this year, and the importance of this show,
and this has become not only iconic, it has become
a cultural phenomena. And quickly, before you start diving into that,
I want to share with you that I saw the
first season of Saturday Night Live. Now I was not
very old, but I saw that first season and that
(19:04):
was John Belushi and Chevy Chase and Jane Curtin, Dan Ackroyd,
and it was I was fanatic about watching it every Saturday.
And then through the years I didn't because I've done
this show and you can't stay up, and I didn't record.
But let's go ahead and talk about how important this is.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Sure, if you want to look at a cultural touchstone,
I would say a variety show, which I'll say encapsulates
what America is thinking at a given time.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
It has been Saturday Night Live, and although.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
It has fluctuated over the years as far as its
importance and also its viewership. I remember, you know, Richard Prior,
John Belushi, the Samurai Hotel. There are some real iconic
moments in television history connected to SNEL. This upcoming fiftiest
season is poised to become one of its biggest seasons,
if only because of what's happening in the presidential election
(19:57):
season and the cast which they have lined up, like,
for example, Maya Rudolph is poised to come back as
Kamala Harris. The season is going to kick off on
September twenty eighth. If things hold and there is a
second presidential debate, it would be on September twenty fifth,
just days before this season kicks off.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So there's a lot to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, and not only politically, but look at the number
of stars that have come out of Saturday Night Live. Now,
Richard Pryor was already a successful comedian, but Eddie Murphy wasn't.
Billy Christ Billy Crystal was a breakout.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Sir Sandler, Chris Rock.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, I mean it's incredible what that show has created
and how many stars and the kind of talent it
was able to get. Hey, if I remember correctly, it
was George Carlin the first host.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I don't know off the top of my head, I
would be guessing.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking it is has it become more
important or has it already reached its apex.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
I don't think it's because more important. I think people
are rediscovering it. Like for example, the show average seven
point two million viewers last season season forty nine. That
was a three percent increase from the previous season, but
before that there was a decline in ratings. And to
your point, Bill, where SNL had a history of churning
out worldwide stars, in the past twenty years, it was less.
(21:21):
So you had people who were notable, who were funny,
who may have gone on to do movies, but they
didn't have the type of worldwide fame that an Eddie
Murphy or others might have enjoyed. So it wasn't the
same star factory that it used to be. And also,
we're now living in an age where people are not
looking at broadcast televisions or their entertainment.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, I was just about to say that seven million
viewers and it's still on the air, where seven million
viewers twenty thirty years ago was an utter failure and
no show would last more than one show, much less
one season.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You're spot on. You're spot on.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
But also the cast this year, they've added Jane Wickline,
who was best known as a TikTok comedy personality, so
they're acknowledging the show, is acknowledging that there's an online
viewer space, and audience that they need to reach and
they can better reach.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Mo. Thank you always great information and a lot of fun.
Later with Mo Kelly Monday through Friday. Tonight included seven
to ten pm and his address social is at mister
mo Kelly, have a good one. Mo Bye, Bill Bye,
And I want to remind you as we walk out,
I am taking phone calls Handle on the law, giving
you marginal legal advice off the air, and I'm starting
(22:37):
in just a few moments so you can call eight
seven seven five to zero eleven fifty. And sometimes on Saturday,
I'll go through the whole show without asking for her,
without giving phone numbers. I mean, we can get real jammed.
So we obviously have lines open usually Tuesday and Thursday.
Eight seven seven five to zero eleven fifty. In just
a few moments. Again, we start tomorrow Amy Live at
(23:01):
five am with wake up call Neil and I come
aboard right after that, and I have to mention the
KNO and because I'm contractually obligated to do so, this
is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch My
show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am, and
(23:23):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!