➡ The text discusses the decline of certain businesses and changes in the market. It mentions the closure of many stores and the decrease in sales, with Subway as an example of a struggling business. It also talks about Hyundai’s plan to sell cars directly on Amazon, which could potentially disrupt the traditional dealership model. The text also mentions the rise of ghost kitchens during COVID, but notes that some, like Dickies, are closing due to high costs. Lastly, it discusses issues with crime affecting businesses in San Francisco and the potential return of Farmers Insurance to California in 2025.

➡ The speaker discusses various issues including the problems with housing on a hillside, crime in cities like San Francisco, and the inefficiency of homeless programs in Los Angeles. They also mention a friend’s experience with Amazon Prime and encourage listeners to sign up for a Christmas card list. Lastly, they promote a company called Delete Me and ask for feedback on these topics.

Hey, it’s Dan. Welcome back to Watch and I Allegedly. And I’ve got a good one for you today. Because the low-income shopper is destroyed. Plus, we’re going to look at Christmas trees today. Just you and me. Wow. Hello. Please don’t forget to hit the like button. Please subscribe to this channel. And today we’ve sponsored Delete Me. I’ll talk about them in a bit. But, wow. With the holiday shopping season fully underway in 10 days till Christmas, it is crazy how certain things are hurting right now. And the low-income shopper is not spending money at the Dollar Tree store.

And it’s funny. I talked to two people today about this. And I attribute it to a few things. $109 bucks. I’m at Home Depot in Huntington Beach, California. Man, oh man. Here’s the thing. Low-income customers, and there’s an article out of the Wall Street Journal that you can read below talking about how people are penny-pinching this Christmas. Yes, they are. They’re totally penny-pinching and they’re cutting back and trying to save money. But, man, oh man. The value in a Dollar Tree sucks right now. It’s not the Dollar Tree. It’s what we call it. Another $109 tree.

Man, oh man. This stuff is not cheap this year at all. So, here’s the thing I think about Christmas tree shopping. Seven to eight foot tree. $109 bucks. I think that people set their trees up right away. I’m not a guy that’s going to go and set a tree up ten days before Christmas. That’s just not me. And I would have somebody else do it for me, too. So, you know, like a girlfriend or my kids or something like that. But, anyways, the problem with the Dollar Store is the value that you’re getting. Is there anything that you go to the Dollar Store and get a good value on anymore? No.

I really don’t see it. Look at this. Six to eight foot grand for $80. $79.98. That’s a lot of money, guys. That’s a lot of money. And then look at this. Douglas fir. $89.98. A little taller than me. But, again, guys. I know. It’s going to be firewood, son. What we’re seeing is a two-fold problem. And the two-fold problem is that people do not have the disposable income. People only shop and buy the things that they absolutely need right now. I’m convinced of that more than ever. We used to go to the Dollar Store and say, yeah, you know what? I’ll stock up on toothpaste.

I’ll buy a bunch of toothbrushes, hairbrushes, hair gel, all the stuff that we can get for a dollar. And I don’t think people are doing that anymore. I really don’t. I think people are just staying away from it right now. So, with that being said, when it comes to the holiday shopping season, you’re seeing more and more people that are just spending less money. Now, we talked about the average person is going to spend $3,000 on Christmas. And a $49 tree. See, I mean, really, a nice tall tree, okay? But it’s like, you know, a lot of people go to those Christmas tree lots where you cut the tree down yourself, and then after you cut it down, you, you know, they load it in the car for you and stuff like that.

I mean, there’s people out here shopping, guys. It’s not like it’s dead completely. But I just think that, oh, wow, what are the reeds still? I just think that people are not spending the money this year. Now, look at this. Now, this is real Douglas furs and things like that. $24, $36 for a 30-inch wreath. Seems kind of reasonable, actually. Doesn’t seem that bad. So, does it seem high to you guys? I mean, I just think it’s, everything blows me away right now. The eight-to-nine-foot noble furs, $149. It’s kind of a big tree, you know? Home people’s always nice.

Always forget the name of these trees. But, again, $109 for that one. You know, guys, it’s kind of high, you know? So, great inventory, lots of supply. But when do you blow the stuff out? When does the stuff become super, super cheap that you can’t get around six-to-nine-foot noble furs for $89 here? Man, oh, man. Nordman fir. It’s kind of a fuller tree. But, again, $89.99. Does it seem kind of high, guys? Anyways, I just, you know… I know so many people that are about to fake Christmas trees, artificial trees. And I have a buddy that said, you know, I’ve had it up six years.

I’ve paid for it five times over. And that’s you, Tom, because you’re cheap. And I love you, but you’re the cheapest guy I know. And the thing about Tom, when he sets up stuff, is it’s always the economics of it and saving it and doing all this stuff. Now, you can unroll these and get rid of that. But I’m telling you guys, as much as people are shopping this year, they’re definitely trying to save some money right now. And lots of inventory, man. I mean, a little tiny six-to-seven-foot tree. Maybe a hundred bucks is not a big deal.

But what do you guys think? I think it’s too much. I think it’s too little. I just… And I don’t know. It’s like people have sent me, like, oh, check out this fake tree. And it’s 50 bucks. And then you go to Target or the stores that say that they have that and they just don’t have it anymore. And as far as the Dollar Tree, my brother said, this place has become Kmart, where you just don’t have value and you never know what you’re going to get when you walk in the door.

That’s the problem with these places. So let me know what you guys think about this. And did you buy a tree? Did you spend a lot of money? Is this a good value? Is this a good price? I mean, let me know. Because I clearly am clueless when it comes to this stuff. And, you know, 89 bucks, yeah. Okay. I was still also blown away that certainly cable TV is outrageous, you know? So let me know what you guys think so far. Let’s talk about our sponsor, Delete Me. One thing that people may not know is that data brokers are constantly mining and selling our personal information.

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It’s absolutely fantastic. And you can sign up there. Just take a picture of it with your cell phone. It’s that simple. So check out Delete Me today, use the discount code I allegedly, and save 20% today. Oh, here’s a little one. $34 now. It’s kind of Charlie Brown Christmas, but sad. Now, guys, nothing is going to be the same moving forward when we get to 2025. And it’s going to be everything from retail stores to restaurants to the way we buy cars. Everything is changing right now. Now, first things first, what is the largest barbecue chain across the United States? I was floored when I heard this.

It’s Dickie’s Barbecue. Dickie’s Barbecue. There was a Dickie’s Barbecue in Tustin, California that I ate at several times, and it was horrible. It was absolutely terrible. And the thing that was maddening was you walk up and if you buy a combo like the number of, you know, oh, I want three meats. I want chicken. I want brisket. And I want tri-tip. And if you do that, they would weigh everything. Everything was weighed. Now, one time I was like, you’re really going to weigh it. You’re just not going to give me three slices of meat.

You’re going to chop it in half and do that. And they weighed the baby back ribs. You know, okay, they cut a baby back rib in half in front of me. I’m like, really? Okay, enjoy. I’ll eat half a rib, okay? So I wonder who got the other half. I’ve always thought about that. They just announced that in their franchise agreement, in their franchise disclosure agreement, that they are getting rid of 30 more stores right now. Now, basically, there were 100 stores that were closed in 2024 for them. That’s awful, guys.

It’s horrible. At the peak of their stores, it was 2017. And again, the Tustin store, 2017, these stores started to close. Now, there’s only 385 stores that are open. And sales in the last year, the fiscal year that just ended, was down 5.3%. That is the kiss of death, guys. But also, number one, it was incredibly expensive. Number two, it was just completely off as far as people wanting to eat there. It was just terrible, and it was okay. Now, I’ve had great barbecue. I’ve been to Texas. I’ve been to Salt Lake.

I mean, it is fantastic. I mean, Texas barbecue, you know, when I went there three years ago, hard to believe it’s been that long, it was crazy just because every place was fantastic. And oh, this is nothing. Wait to get to Salt Lake. Wait to get to here. And it was just great. So everybody knows their version of good food, whether it’s good pizza, whether it’s good pho, whether it’s good steak, whatever. But I want value now. That’s what people want is value. Now, one thing that is absolutely broken right now that you cannot deny is Subway.

Subway has absolutely lost their freaking minds. Now, they have a brand new footloan they want to announce to you guys. And not everybody’s happy. But this is, you know, over the local news here, and it’s been shared on Instagram and Facebook and places like that. And I was blown away. They’re making nachos now. Oh, that’s great. Made out of Doritos. So have a little sodium content while you’re eating. But look at these. Is that disgusting? God, it’s just making me nauseous thinking about that. That’s their idea of something good to eat. And they can’t figure out why people aren’t going there.

They’ve lost their minds. Again, the guy that ran the place, that started Subway, got leukemia and died. He was a true trendsetter, but he was about value and service and locations. And then they started these franchise agreements. And I’m telling you, let’s talk about Tustin. At one point in the city of Tustin, there were three subways within one mile of each other. How would you all like to be the idiots that bought those franchises? Because one thing that they did was they started doing shenanigans where they would lay out and say, oh, we’re going to have no store within a mile of each other.

And not as the crow flies, but driving wise. And I’m like, yeah, it may be one street over, but it’s not a mile within each other. And I’m telling you guys, there were so many subways at one point, it was nuts. And none of them made money. None of them were busy. It was just terrible. Now, talking about changes with things, think about this. It was just announced with little fanfare. And you can read the story below that Hyundai is going to start selling cars directly on Amazon. You can get your financing.

You can pick out a car. And then once you order it, you go to the dealership and pick it up. This is going to change everything. But car sales and car, you know, you know, we’ve all experienced car sales. Hey, what do you have to put down? What kind of payment are you looking at? You know, do you have good credit? Well, what’s your story, Dan? You know, they do all this stuff to get you to get to a price point, whether it be a payment, the purchase, you know, interest rate, whatever.

But guess what, guys? It’s completely eliminated. Now, Hyundai has its own problems right now because Hyundai and Kia, for that matter, have a big problem because right now they have a problem with theft. And you’ve got cities that are suing them because they don’t have any anti-theft material. A year ago, two years ago, there was TikTok videos with these degenerates that steal cars and start the cars with paperclips and things like that. Mm, that sounds safe. So what are we going to do? We’re going to sell cars online at Amazon.

Will it work? Who knows? It’s going to kill dealerships. Think about, you know, you’ve been there. You’ve seen a car, an auto mall get built, and you’re like, wow, look at how big that place is. Done, guys. This is going to be a thing of the past with this. Now, I cannot imagine driving a car that you don’t sit in. You don’t start. You don’t, oh, I hate the steering on this thing. No, no, you just go pick it up, go get it, go finance it. And the thing about this is that people are getting more and more desperate.

I have people that write me all the time about the interest rates and how they’re paying top dollar for auto financing right now. I’m telling you guys, I like to buy used cars. I really do. And the reason for that is you pay the depreciation. I get in the car, my ex-wife and I would go out and we would buy lease turnbacks that were 24-month leases that people had, and we insisted, what did the people do for a living? It was the greatest thing ever. And we got tremendous deals on those cars because we would not, you know, get some crackhead, you know, oh, he was, you know, and there were no Uber back then, but we would get people that would literally not drive the cars, and they would have low miles, and we would save just an absolute ton on those cars.

Now, with that being said, is this going to change everything? Is this going to motivate you to go buy a car online from Amazon? I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting. But things are changing right now. Everything is changing right now. You know, talking about the Dickies, one thing that happened during COVID was they set up a bunch of ghost kitchens. And one thing that, you know, my daughter, when she moved in LA recently, there was a restaurant that she really liked, and a ghost kitchen is a place that just does delivery only.

And she was like, oh, let’s go get sushi at this place. We’ll drive over there. We drove to this warehouse, and it was their ghost kitchen. And we were laughing. She’s like, oh, my gosh, I’ve ordered. I’ve never eaten here, and it’s part of a chain, and they have several restaurants in LA, but she had no idea that this place was a ghost kitchen. Dickies is closing the ghost kitchens because nobody can afford it. I’m telling you guys, two- and three-piece combos that are $40 for barbecue is outrageous. Outrageous, guys. So let me know what else is going to change.

Holiday shopping, dollar store traffic, everything is down right now. When I went to the dollar store, I was going to bore you guys with another dollar store video, but things are broken right now. People don’t have the money. Where is their value for cheap prices? Let me know. Let us all know. Now, a couple more things that are interesting. Safeway stores wrote a letter to the current mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, who’s been sent packing because of her incompetence and loving crime ways, that they can’t stay open because of crime.

Now, great article below talking about how they talk to certain merchants, and they want to have a retail curfew at night. Well, again, let’s close the stores. Let’s close things after dark so that you can’t make a living. Your rent stays the same. Your employees stay the same. Inventory, all this stuff that people just don’t put two cents to, but let’s just turn the lights off and let’s make it so that there’s no crime. How about cops? How about arresting these people and prosecuting the hell out of them? How about that? Okay.

Farmers Insurance, the second largest insurance carrier in California, just announced that in 2025, they’re going to come back to California. Now, hopefully, this is the sign that they’re going to come back around the country, and you’re going to see more insurers come back around the country. I’ve talked to insurance agents, vice presidents, don’t use my name. We’re not coming back for a long time. What do you think? 2025? No, 2026, maybe 2027, 2028, depending on if there’s no wildfires. Every time something burns here in California, we just had a Malibu fire that finally got put out because of the weather, and it finally got under control.

I mean, you just sit there and go, okay, you’re never going to get insurance, and these people that have lost property, I mean, it is just such a nightmare to get this through, and all these insurance companies, all they want to do is not pay us right now and not pay for things to get fixed. So, a real problem all the way around, guys. But again, nothing’s going to be the same moving forward. I hope to God that, you know, other people follow a farmer suit and that there’s a variety of this, because the state options are terrible.

Now, you know what’s funny is, you have houses that are not in, you know, danger. They’re not in danger areas. They’re not in hills, but they will turn these houses off because you’re living a hillside. Oh, my gosh. You have too much shrubbery in your backyard. All this nonsense that they never even thought about before. The house has been there for 30 years, and now there’s a problem with it. So, let me know what you think about this, but crime is the problem. I don’t know why anybody would want to visit San Francisco, Oakland, any of those cities.

We have a friend right now who, her husband is in the hospital in San Francisco, and we want to get him the hell out of there because it’s San Francisco, okay? Isn’t that awful? Sorry, Matt. I know you’re hurting right now. I know you had a heart attack, but let’s get him out of hell, okay? Let me know what you think about that. I’m going to finish this video with these last few things, and the last couple stories were from Dr. Marvin. Dawn in Georgia sent me something great where she canceled her Amazon Prime account on February 1st of 2024.

She got 24 emails from me yesterday. Buy this, buy this. Don’t get that. It’s almost like sheer desperation, she says. So, there’s that. Speaking of sheer desperation, don’t forget to sign up for our Christmas card list. Mike signed up for it, and he wants to know if he can sign up 1,000 times using the same email. No, Mike, he cannot. So, sign up, guys. Go to dancepromo.com. We’re giving away a bunch of stuff. You have just a few days, the end of the week, and it’s done. Guys, it is done, done, done.

And then we’re going to send out the Christmas card, and then the winners will get notified, and then you will get your package, and we’ll tell you how we’re going to ship it out this year. Okay? But go to dancepromo.com. Final, final thing, and this is business because it sucked, and it’s here in California, and this is every homeless program across the country is broken right now. There are such a large percentage, hundreds of homeless beds that go to waste in the city of Los Angeles, just the city alone, not the county, not the state, to where they wasted $218 million.

$218 million wasted on homeless people not sleeping in those beds. That is disgusting, guys. You know, again, meals. There are veterans. There are so many people that are suffering right now, and if you go to any of these hellholes that are out there and people are just having it rough, there’s beds that they could sleep in. Now, it got to 40 last night, okay? It got cold, 42-ish, okay? But you don’t want to sleep in that, okay? And it’s terrible that these people are being subjected to this, so let me know what you think.

Please hit the like button, share the video. You want to email me. It’s hello at iallegedly.com. Don’t forget to check out our sponsor, Delete Me, because they’re a fantastic company, and it totally works. And use the QR code right here if you want to sign up. And don’t forget to sign up for the Christmas card list, too, okay? I’ll see you guys very soon. [tr:trw].

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