Louis Penna

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Our friendship started in @LittleLeague⚾

This summer he visited Eugene and we played in a little league for grown ups I'm apart of.

I also miss umpiring a lot right now.

[Bradley Spires @bspires5]

If you are a baseball person please join the challenge of posting a baseball photo. Just one picture, no description. Please copy the text in your status, post a picture and look at some great memories/pictures.
Missing baseball so very much. Greatest game in America!

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Thank you for the Boston radio tomfoolery @LeBatardShow -- made my morning

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Kobe Bryant's spirit just possessed Jimmy Butler for the last 5 minutes.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

@franceslin1215 Finally, something on this! seemed like 10 blocks were cordoned off.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

I hope they can hang on for a while longer. My favorite hot dog, every time.

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

The Costco hot dog combo is a legendary meme.

But how does it still only cost $1.50? Introduced in 1985, the price of that combo should be ~$4.20 if adjusted for inflation.

Thankfully, the $216B warehouse retailer has done everything in its power to keep the price down.

And Costco sells A LOT of them: 130m+ hot dogs a year (more than all MLB teams combined).

Many believe the $1.50 combo is a “loss-leader” for Costco, but this is incorrect.

In a 2009 interview, Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal told the Seattle Times that Costco doesn’t “engage in loss leaders” and “the only time we sell below cost is when we’ve made a mistake and have to mark it down”.

However, the retailer does cap its margin at 14% and drives many products to near break-even.

Here’s how Costco has managed to keep the cost of the inconic hot dog combo at $1.50:

1️⃣It dropped leading hot dog suppliers like Hebrew National and Nathan’s because they wouldn’t lower prices

2️⃣In 2009, Costco built its own hot dog manufacturing plant in LA (and has a second one in Chicago)

3️⃣ It got better pricing on buns, ketchup and mustard

4️⃣ It removed onions and sauerkrauts as free condiments

5️⃣ It dropped Polish sausages

6️⃣ The pop that came with the combo was swapped from a can to refillable fountain soda

Costco’s effort to keep hot dog prices low is also the source material for the greatest quote in business history.

In 2018, the current Costco CEO Craig Jelinek was recounting a conversation he had with Sinegal, who he just replaced as CEO.

Jelinek told Sinegal he wanted to raise the price of the $1.50 hot dog and pop combo.

Sinegal shot back, “If you raise the [price of the] f**ing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.”

Costco has figured it out and, in September 2022, the company’s CFO Richard Galanti confirmed that the hot dog combo would remain at $1.50 despite rising inflation.

��There are some businesses that are doing well with margin like gas business on a smaller way -- in the travel business,” said Galanti. “Those things help us be more aggressive in other areas, or as you mentioned, hold the price on the hot dog and the soda a little longer, forever.”

Forever sounds about right.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

🤔 I wonder if people will be able to legally represent themselves with the help of AI in the future and save themselves the financial heartache of legal expense.

[a16z @a16z]

AI belongs in the courtroom … at least according to @joshuabrowder of @donotpay.

Others disagree, as he found out when he ventured to have his "robot lawyer" defend an upcoming court case.

The result: Browder says State Bar prosecutors threatened him with 6 months of jail time.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Fuck you, let's not go there! 😭😭😭

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

The potato pancakes at @IKEA don't get enough critical acclaim. Love me a good potato disc.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

@ChrisWittyngham @LeBatardShow Lebron's dream

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

He also said he sees Warren Moon as a father figure and grabs beers with Ben Roethlisberger.

[Dov Kleiman @NFL_DovKleiman]

Ohio State QB CJ Stroud said today that one of the quarterbacks he looks up to is #Browns QB Deshaun Watson.

He also said he chose to wear number 7 because of Michael Vick.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

@AlezandreLV @Seve_Candela @ninaturner Twitter isn't America -- and those of us that keep falling for divisive tactics will remain divided.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

"This is not a difficult decision." 😂

[clevelanddotcom @clevelanddotcom]

"Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, went on a racist rant this week on his Coffee with Scott Adams online video show, and we will no longer carry his comic strip in The Plain Dealer," writes Chris Quinn. "This is not a difficult decision." https://t.co/tF7tN9SrXc

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

@RealMitchellC Most I've learned on the war in 5min, thank you.

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Dude's done more for mental health in America with this alone than all of Congress will do this year.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, checked himself into a hospital to seek treatment for clinical depression. https://t.co/0J1dQHFzcX

[The Daily Show @TheDailyShow]

Wondering why you're so angry all the time? It's not a coincidence. @SarahKSilverman explains how entire industries are profiting off our anger in a new #LongStoryShort

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

I'm sinking battleships along the C7 to the F8 corridor.

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

We are doing a scientific research right now and we need your honest answer (for males only): which coordinates do you piss in?

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Jmfc

[Daily Loud @DailyLoud]

Michigan State shooting survivor Jackie Matthews also endured the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre: “I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through” 🙏😔

[Charlemagne @Clarksvillain]

@chelseahandler

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

Why, @RicolaUSA , why tf did you do this?? 🙃

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

@rhernandez2016 @kevinburkhardt Dude was screaming it like he has money on the game

[Louis Penna @louispenna]

No one told @Workday that rockstar is a pet name for underpaid?