The TechMobility Podcast
Welcome to The TechMobility Podcast, your ultimate source for authentic insights, news, and perspectives at the nexus of mobility and technology. We're all about REAL FACTS, REAL OPINIONS, and REAL TALK! From personal privacy to space hotels, if it moves or moves you, we're discussing it! Our weekly episodes venture beyond the conventional, offering a unique, unfiltered take on the topics that matter. We're not afraid to color outside the lines, and we believe you'll appreciate our bold approach!
The TechMobility Podcast
Are You Who You Say You Are, Why Public Transit is Safer, Changing Coffee Options
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A digital doppelgänger might be stealing cars in your name right now. The automotive industry is facing an alarming new threat as sophisticated scammers deploy deep fake technology to defraud dealerships and manufacturers. These criminals create convincingly realistic digital personas—sometimes mimicking actual customers—to orchestrate vehicle thefts worth tens of thousands of dollars each.
What makes this particularly chilling is how they might be using your own social media videos as raw material. That innocent Facebook update or Instagram reel could provide everything needed to clone your digital identity for fraudulent purchases. In response, dealerships are now requiring at least one face-to-face meeting before completing transactions, even for home delivery services like Carvana and Vroom. F&I professionals are becoming the front line in a sophisticated technological battle against fraud that grows more advanced by the day.
Meanwhile, common assumptions about transportation safety are being challenged by hard data. Scientific American reports that contrary to popular belief, public transportation is significantly safer than driving personal vehicles. The numbers are striking: bus transit experiences just one-eighth the fatality rate of personal cars, and communities centered around public transit show approximately one-fifth the overall traffic deaths compared to car-dependent areas. These findings might make you reconsider your commuting choices.
The F&I department at your local dealership is evolving too, with expanded product offerings beyond traditional financing and service contracts. From tire protection plans to cybersecurity packages, these additional products represent new profit streams for dealers—but savvy consumers should know they're typically highly negotiable and often available elsewhere at better prices. For instance, gap insurance that covers the difference between your car's value and what you owe might be substantially cheaper through your regular insurance provider.
On the lighter side, Gen Z is revolutionizing coffee culture, preferring cold, sweet beverages loaded with creamer—so much so that Nestle has invested $675 million in new production facilities just to meet demand. This shift has companies scrambling to innovate with cold-dissolving instant coffee and liquid espresso concentrates as younger consumers transform a centuries-old ritual.
Ready to dive deeper into these fascinating intersections of technology, transportation, and consumer trends? Subscribe to the TechMobility Podcast and join our community of forward-thinking listeners navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.
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Speaker 2:I'm Ken Chester On the docket why public transportation is safer, more F&I products at the dealership and how Gen Z is changing our coffee habits. To add your voice to the conversation, call or text the Tech Mobility hotline, that number, 872-222-9793, or you can email the show directly. Talk at techmobilityshow. Also, be sure to subscribe, like and follow us on social media, our YouTube channel and our two podcasts, the Tech Mobility Podcast and Tech Mobility Topics. And, by the way, if you're a subscriber to Substack, you can also find us there too, at Ken Chester or my handle at Ken, the letter C, the word Iowa, i-o-c-a, so that's at Ken C, iowa. You can find me there also From the Tech Mobility News Desk.
Speaker 2:With all the challenges of personal identification used to be in the good old days. People would just you know kind of steal your identity. They'd go out and they'd steal your social security number or your credit card numbers, or they'd hack something and get that information. Those were the good old days, if you can believe it, and it caused people a lot of problems. Identity theft was a big deal still is, with a lot of a number of companies that have stepped up to protect quote, unquote your identity for a fee. What happens if you are trying to buy a vehicle and the dealership is trying to prove and this is real that you're a real person and not a synthetic identity or worse, that you are really who you say you are, that it's really you?
Speaker 2:Recent automotive news article talks about avoiding deep fakes in the dealership. And the question that I ask for you to consider are you a deep fake? Auto dealers want to know. Let me give you some context. Typically, this has a lot to do with online or digital communications between the dealership and the prospective vehicle buyer, between the dealership and the prospective vehicle buyer. They have a way, with all the technology that's available now, to totally create a fake personality, down to looks, words, voice, likeness, everything, the whole purpose. As always, it's all about money. It's all about stealing the vehicle and defrauding the dealer or the manufacturer. That's always been the thing. But let me take this one step further. That would be very chilling and the article doesn't quite go this far. But with technology and we talk about technology here on the show every single week We've talked about deep fakes. We've talked about week. We've talked about deep fakes. We've talked about AI. We've talked about agentic AI as opposed to generative AI, the next level of AI sophistication, the increasing sophistication of chat, gpt and their ilk, mid-journey and others.
Speaker 2:What if because they said this could do it if a criminal wanted to impersonate you? Okay, most people have Facebook entries where maybe you've even recorded a little video talking about a major achievement or a trip you've been on, sharing family news or anything. They got your face, they got your voice. What if they took that information and created a digital copy of you? Sounds like you, looks like you, but you had no knowledge, no authorization Did you give to these people or anything. And somebody's out there taking your credit in your name to defraud a dealership for a vehicle they plan to disappear with and stick you with it, and you you're saying, oh no, that could never happen. Let me talk to you about this article.
Speaker 2:Modern scammers are using artificial intelligence to replicate voices and faces and calls and videos, opening up a new realm of auto finance fraud. Scammers are employing deep fake technology for off-site deliveries. That means delivering it to a site off the dealer property. These scams on off-site deliveries of vehicles are costly to a dealership. In a deep fake video, a scammer swaps one person's face for another using a facial recognition algorithm and machine learning. Everyday, videos and photos posted online and in social media can be used by scammers to create deep fakes. Scammers who create the deep fake identities then use the video technology to communicate with the dealership during the off-site delivery process. In other words, if they could do this completely digitally and deliver the vehicle, that vehicle is going to disappear.
Speaker 2:The person doesn't exist and they have no way of tracking who it was. Particularly, if they do a little digging and they find out, either that person doesn't exist or the person that they replicated has no knowledge and can prove it. That's the scary thing going on. You used to believe that you believed everything you saw and only half of what you heard. In today's world, you can't believe anything digitally that you see or hear, even if it's in the voice of somebody that you know and trust. It may not actually be them. Dealerships and cybersecurity professionals in the automotive industry are sounding the alarm to dealerships around the country and, unfortunately, finance and insurance people are the first and last line of defense in trying to figure out if this deal is legitimate, if it's real, if this person is who they say it is and they're training them, if they're in action with somebody online, even in a video chat, what to look for? Key earlier renditions of AI generated videos.
Speaker 2:Usually the gimmick is the hands. It doesn't have the hands quite right, or the backgrounds are not quite right. There are tricks, but these are getting better and better and better with each iteration. And if you're a scammer bent on defrauding a dealership, you're spending the best money to get the best iteration, or you've got programmers yourself that you're paying to develop this stuff in real time. And, yes, this is turning into billions of dollars worth of theft if the dealers can't catch it, not to mention the people that they're mimicking, maybe somebody in their own community, maybe even somebody that a dealership has done business with before down through the years. That's where this is going.
Speaker 2:And with off-site companies like Carvana, vroom, others Drive, where they specialize in bringing the dealership to you, the risk for them is exceptionally high because they have to develop a whole group of technologies and cybersecurity protocols that they didn't have to even three, four years ago. But now, because the average price of a new car is 50 grand, somebody decides to defraud you out of one or two Escalades. You're 200,000, you're almost a quarter of a million dollars. You replicate that over the country and it gets to be millions of dollars really fast. And it doesn't take all that. And the worst part about it, you don't have to buy the most exotic, expensive vehicles to get to those numbers.
Speaker 2:If you are going to be buying a car SUV, minivan, ev, doesn't matter in the next few years. And you don't like dealerships and most people hey, I'm strange. I love to go to the dealership, but most people don't. Don't be surprised if, in fact, if one, the dealer still allows off-site delivery.
Speaker 2:Number two one of the big ways that they will check this is they will require at least one in-person visit. They want to see you face-to-face, nose-to-nose. It's one way that they can put the scammers in check. There has to be at least one. So even if you have no intentions of availing yourself at the dealership, you want to do it at your home, far away from the dealership. Just remember this the dealer is going to be, if they've got the training right, adamant about you showing up at least once, particularly if they don't know you, and anymore, even if they do. That is how good the scammers are getting. This is how good the technology is getting. Despite what you may have heard it's actually safer to ride public transportation than to drive. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.
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Speaker 2:Social media is the main place to be these days, and we are no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Facebook videos, from my latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary of a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you. Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Facebook. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook page. Social media is the place to be these days. We're no exception. I'm ken chester, the tech mobility show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:For those of you that listen to podcasts, we have just the one for you. Hi, I'm Ken Chester. Tech Mobility Topics is a podcast where I upload topic-specific videos each week, shorter than a full show. These bite-sized programs are just the thing, particularly if you're interested in a particular topic covered on the weekly radio show, from Apple Podcasts to iHeartRadio and many podcast platforms in between. We got you covered. Just enter Tech Mobility Topics in the search bar, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 5:Looking for high performance Any way you want. Escort, gt, pro Mustang, thunderbird, taurus, sem, sho All priced to move Any way you go. The hottest performance cars around, like Ford Mustang, can only be found at your local Ford dealer Any time, any way, any how, and right now you can lease a 95 Ford Thunderbird for only $247 a month, and it's loaded with extras Just $247 a month.
Speaker 2:Ford was trying to turn every passenger car that they had into a sports car. Obviously Mustang, yes, that makes sense. T-bird well, considering the frame it was on at the time, okay, I'll, I'll even let you run with that. It's a big platform, okay. But honestly, escort, the Ford Escort, no.
Speaker 2:Ford built the Escort in 1981. It was designed to be what they call their world car. It was supposed to be their world economy car that they could build for every market across the world. Didn't work out that way. They ended up, actually globally, with two different Escorts, one for the United States and one for the rest of the world. But to take that little platform and think that somebody is actually going to pay money for a performance version of it Not as far-fetched as you think, because they were doing that to dodge, omni's and Plymouth Horizons, which, literally, when you say the word econobox, these things were econoboxes and that was the big deal. You know, everybody wanted a little taste of performance. So the automakers dressed them up and tweaked them a little bit and got a lot more money for him. So it's something the automakers have always done and continue to do, but that was from 1995.
Speaker 2:I want to leave you with the thought of a Ford Escort GT. Just put that in your mind for a minute, because it just doesn't work out, trust me. It just doesn't Now for this segment. It comes by way of an article in Scientific American magazine. The title of the article is these Charts Explain why Public Transit is Safer Than Driving, and the opening statement is, quote the rates of fatal crashes and crime are both lower on public transportation than on roadways. Even if you were willing to go with the first one, you're going to argue with me and say maybe that second one's a reach, but this is Scientific American. Argue with me and say maybe that second one's a reach, but this is Scientific American. We investigate the claim. This is topic A. Let's keep things in perspective for a moment.
Speaker 2:In public transportation, whether it be a trolley, a bus, a subway, it's going according to an established route, day in, day out, on a schedule. How it does, what it does and when it does, it doesn't vary much. When you get into your vehicle and you get into traffic with other people in their vehicles, you may attest for your driving professionalism and proudness, but you can't speak for everybody else around you. You got to take that on faith. You got to take number one, that they're paying attention. Number two, that they know how to drive. And number three, there's not either a medical condition or a mental condition that may color, shade or impact their responses to things that happen on the open road which could escalate into some sort of violence, ie road rage Kind of hard to get road rage in public transportation.
Speaker 2:I mean relative to where it would impact you. When I was going to college in Boston I didn't own a car for my whole college career. Didn't need to. If I had to travel anywhere within 40 miles of Boston and their network is considerably larger now than it was then all you needed was the right level of pass and you could ride just about anything, go just about anywhere, and the schedule was realistic enough to where you could get there and back. And I got to tell you for all the miles that I rode and this is back in the 70s for all the mileage I rode on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority as a country boy, including when I was working late and falling asleep on the train. I mean how cold I was, never beat up, I was never robbed. I never had either one of those problems. And this is late 1970s in Boston, in the city, just so we're clear. So I can attest to some of this.
Speaker 2:Now, according to the article, there's a common perception in the US that taking public transit is dangerous and you hear about the exceptions. But what the article says is what you hear about in the media is the exception, not the rule. And if you look at the thousands, if not millions, of people I mean just take Boston, washington, new York and Chicago just those four cities the thousands of people in the tens of thousands, in the millions over a course of a year that take it to work, home, family affairs, going to visit folk every single day, there's a lot less of crime, accidents and problems. In reality, a closer look shows the safety risks of taking public transportation are relatively low. According to the data, driving a car in the United States is far more dangerous than taking public transit in terms of crash risk and crime.
Speaker 2:Let me give you a numbers, and they've equalized these numbers, so it's more apples and apples between cumulative mileage and public transportation and cumulus mileage driven Motor vehicles and rural areas. They're looking at 2022, both vehicle occupant and non-occupant 16.8 fatalities per billion passenger miles. Motor vehicles in urban areas same year, 11.5 fatalities per billion passenger miles. Rail transit these numbers are a little older for rail traffic 5.9 fatalities per billion passenger miles and it comes with a note which I thought was a little odd, so I'll read you the note. The majority of non-occupant rail fatalities represent people who died by suicide, people who maybe willingly walked off a platform, sat on the train tracks. Yeah, bus transit. This number is from 2021, four years ago 2.8 fatalities per billion passenger miles. One-eighth of car fatalities, one-eighth by bus, one-third by rail. And again, this is not some fluff, liberal magazine, this is Scientific American. I'm reading this straight out of their.
Speaker 2:Research puts public transit death or injury rate at about one-tenth that of car trouble, car travel one-tenth, and the neighborhoods oriented more around public transit have about one-fifth overall traffic deaths per capita of car oriented neighborhoods. One important factor is that communities with better public transit often tend to be more compact and walkable or cyclable, which makes them safer. Also, if you're on public transportation, you don't have a problem with texting while driving, driving while drunk, all that stuff. You're on public transportation. Someone else is doing the driving for you. Food for thought the F&I Department of the local new car dealer is offering additional products to part you from your money. We discuss.
Speaker 2:This is the Tech Mobility Show. Do you listen to podcasts? Seems that most people do. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. If you've missed any of our weekly episodes on the radio, our podcast is a great way to listen. You can find the Tech Mobility Podcast just about anywhere you can enjoy podcasts. Be sure to follow us from Apple Podcasts, iheart Radio and many platforms in between. We are there. Just enter the Tech Mobility Podcast in the search bar.
Speaker 2:Wherever you listen to podcasts, social media, it's the place to be. We're no exception. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility show. Several times a week, I post to TikTok several of the topics that I cover on my weekly radio show. It's another way to keep up on mobility, technology, news and information. I've built quite a library of short videos for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to watch, like and subscribe. That's the Tech Mobility Show on TikTok. Check it out.
Speaker 2:When it comes to purchasing a vehicle at your local car dealership, usually the only interaction with the dealership's F&I department and that stands for, in case you didn't know it, finance and insurance is usually once the deal's been made and financing is being discussed, after you've met the manager and they shepherd you into a room and the person usually fills out the paperwork and let you know sign here, sign there. People handling that level of the paperwork are usually the finance and insurance folks. They're also the folks that, if you finance through the dealership, those are the people you'd be working with. Fun fact, 85% of all car loans are actually written at the dealership. A lot of people do that. However, there are new products available that they want to discuss with you at vehicle purchase. They're driving a new profit stream. They want to push it. We review some of those offerings.
Speaker 2:This is topic B. Let me start with the two usual things. There are three things normally, and that's still their big push. Number one they want to go to the bank for you and see if they can get you a better rate, lower down payment, better terms and, as I've always told folks, you shop the money just like you shop the vehicle, so that when you get to the dealership you already got an approval in your pocket. However, if the dealership, either through their relationships with the bank or their captive finance company from the automobile manufacturer, can offer you a better deal, at least you'll know it and be able to take it. But if they don't, if you've got a better deal from your bank or credit union, you can do that. The difference is that the loans they write at the dealership they make money on, there's an additional pocket of money for originating that loan, as opposed to you bringing a loan in or paying with cash. That's money not on the table. The second way they make money normally is called the service contract. They want to sell you some sort of maintenance contract or free. You know, oil changes for life or something like that. Here's my beef with that. In most cases, it is almost total profit for the dealership and, if you hadn't noticed, if you haven't bought a car lately when I talk about these, suddenly those numbers are extremely negotiable. Yeah, anytime that happens, you should be warned.
Speaker 2:My take is very simple try to buy the highest quality, cost-effective price vehicle that you can afford. Do the research, check consumer reports, go out to the Google, go out and find out what kind of problems, if any, that particular make and model and year may have that you need to be aware of and you try to avoid this. Stuff is problematic. Most vehicles today and I do mean most, regardless of who made them if you take care of them from the day you buy it. If you buy a 2025, anything today, there is no reason why you can't still be driving it 2040. And I'm talking 250, 275, maybe 300,000 miles on it and still driving it and done, been paid off for years. Vehicles are exceptionally well made today. Don't let anybody tell you different. Don't get scared by these aftermarket service contract ads that you see on TV. It's a scam. They want your money and, honestly, if the vehicle is that defective, it may qualify for a buyback under a lemon law If you're blowing an engine or transmission, or there may be a technical service bulletin, unless you are just hard on vehicles.
Speaker 2:Now here's the last one. It's called gap insurance, guaranteed asset protection, now gap insurance. In case you don't know how that works, gap insurance is usually for the first two to three years of your car payments. You owe more than the vehicle's worth On average, and we're talking a five-year loan on average, it takes three years for you to cross the line to where what you owe is less than what the vehicle's worth. For the first couple of years, you're going to be what they call technically upside down by buying gap insurance. What happens is if, a year and a half from driving it off the lot, you're in an accident, vehicles total, your insurance company pays actual cash value. In other words, you had 25, 30,000 miles on it and the condition of the vehicle. That's what they pay you, but you can't replace it. There's still a gap between what they paid you and what you owe, and it could be $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 difference. Well, guess what You're liable for that, even though your vehicle's been totaled and even though the insurance company paid you. If there's a gap between what you owe and what it's worth, that's on you.
Speaker 2:Here's something you didn't realize. The dealerships will gladly sell you gap insurance and I love the principle of gap insurance but here's something they won't tell you. I'm going to. You can probably get it for less money Wait for it from your insurance agent who is insuring your vehicle. If you're considering gap insurance and if you're buying a new car today, you should be get the price from the dealer, get the price from your insurance agent. Find out who's got the better deal.
Speaker 2:Like I said, shop everything. These are the typical three items that f and I typically goes for. But in addition to all of that, they will make a pitch for prepaid maintenance. Key, key, pair of replacement here's one that's really popular Tire and wheel protection and this is over and above the warranty that the tire manufacturer gives.
Speaker 2:And this kind of depends where you live. If you live in a deep country and you are way, way off road and tires get beat up and rims get tore up, that might be money worth spending. Get beat up and rims get tore up. That might be money worth spending If you drive 12,000 miles a year on relatively decent roads, then probably not. But you have, that is one they'll gladly sell you. But you have to look at whether or not it makes sense for you. Really makes sense. They'll scare you but you need to determine. You know, if I'm driving on normal roads, highways and stuff, you know, and the potholes ain't too bad, not so bad but if I'm in Chicago or Boston I might do this because the roads are horrible and I bent a rim. In Chicago I came around a corner, hit a pothole, bent the rim. By the grace of God it still held air, but bent the rim. The rim was no good. When I got it to where it was going and they took a look at it, they said, ken, you bent the rim. What you bent the rim? What Blew my mind. I haven't done that in years.
Speaker 2:Security, all kinds of security, extra systems, extra protection, cybersecurity stuff. Again, check with your insurance agent. Here's a thing that they may try to get around this and they'll use colorful names. You know the Patriot package, the Freedom package, the, you know bumper-to-bumper protection package. They like bundling which would contain several of these different products all in a bundle. But let's be real here. What you're talking about per. These contracts are thousands of dollars. Now the way they'll try to ease the pain for you oh, we can roll that into your car loan and up your payment. You don't feel the pain as much and they walk away with big time profit because these are new profit streams for them.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying the products are not worth considering. I'm saying get all the facts and maybe shop them too. Or, if you feel the dealer's got the best deal, guess what? All of those, all of them I just mentioned, are negotiable, all of them. So if you want to do it at the dealership, don't be afraid to negotiate Just because they tell you it's X. You might press them a little bit. You might find you could save two, three, $400, $1,000 on the package at the dealership. If it's something you feel you want and it has certain attributes, you feel it worth your time. So how do you like your coffee? Gen Z is flipping the script on how coffee is consumed.
Speaker 2:We are the Tech Mobility Show. To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
Speaker 3:Are you tired of juggling multiple apps and platforms for meetings, webinars and staying connected? Look no further than AONMeetingscom, the all-in-one browser-based platform that does it all. With AONmeetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, host virtual meetings and webinars and stay in touch with family and friends all in one place and for one price. Here's the best part you can endure a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity.
Speaker 2:Aonmeetingscom, where innovation meets connection Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate. Social media is the place to be these days, and we're no exception. I'm Ken Chester of the Tech Mobility Show. If you enjoy my program, then you will also enjoy my weekly Instagram videos, from the latest vehicle reviews to timely commentary on a variety of mobility and technology-related topics. These short features are designed to inform and delight you Be sure to watch, like and follow us on Instagram. You can find us by typing the Tech Mobility Show in the search bar.
Speaker 2:Coffee, regular, decaf, black or with cream and or sugar, hot, iced my word, frou-frou or not. First, full disclosure my name is Ken. I'm a coffee snob, but I'm an old school coffee snob. While my daughters and my wife like some of the frou-frou stuff, my wife hasn't wrapped her mind around iced coffee. My daughters, however, have. I can't. I mean, iced coffee for me is right up there with decaf. Like why, just why? No, no, no. And as far as creamer, I love my creamer, but keep the hazelnut, keep the French vanilla, keep all that other weird stuff you got. I just want half and half, half and half. I do like a lot of sugar. My kids will say oh my God, yes, I do so, as you can tell with me and we won't even talk about the different coffees I have at home everybody's got a preference and I just spoke with mine. And speaking of preference, it seems that Gen Z is on a totally different page. These kids just weren't raised right as a group. They like it cold, sweet and loaded with creamer.
Speaker 2:I got a question Is nothing sacred? I got a question. Is nothing sacred? Coffee, really. This is Topic C.
Speaker 2:I thought, with everything going on, we could kind of use a topic as kind of a mind cleaner, kind of get away from some of the typical tech mobility stuff we talk about. I wanted to do something fun. I love my coffee and I got into that habit in college and yeah, I'm one of those. I need my cup in the morning. I don't drink a lot of coffee. I drink maybe one cup a day, two at the most. I've got friends of mine that if they could get it inveniously, if somebody could start a coffee drip directly in the vein, they're all in. And I've got some of my friends they drink it black, they drink a lot of it. I'm not that way. My stomach would rebel if I tried to drink it black and tried to drink too much, but I do love the taste of coffee. Still do not understand decaf, I'm sorry, and half-calf. Why, why, please, why, why, please, why, makes no sense.
Speaker 2:This article is, I believe, from Fast Money, and let me get to. Yes, it is Fast Company, I'm sorry. And it starts with if you want to instantly reveal your age, just order a hot black coffee. It talks about how Gen Z is flipping the script. For a lot of young drinkers, that very first cup of coffee was just as likely to be iced as it was hot. And here's the thing 85% of Gen Z coffee fans are adding creamer, compared to just 70% of coffee drinkers overall.
Speaker 2:That shift in taste is making waves in the industry. Nestle, for example, has been rolling out new products just to keep up, from cold-dissolving instant coffee to liquid espresso concentrates and all kinds of flavored toppings. Let me stop you. If it ain't half and half, I'm not interested. I'm not down with all the fruit. In fact, I get frustrated. Go to a restaurant and they got all these single servings. All I want is half and half. I don't want hazelnut, I don't want French vanilla. Can I get some half and half, please? And in a perfect world. If you had straight cream, I'd even be there.
Speaker 2:Nestle spent $675 million to build and open a new plant just to make creamers and right now they're grappling with grocery stores because grocery stores often have creamer in one place and coffee in another place. Now, full disclosure. If you are buying a liquid creamer, chances are, if it's dairy based, it's in the dairy department and it is chilled. Meanwhile your coffees are going to be in your breakfast aisle. So I don't know how Nestle is going to make that conversion. Now, if they want to dry, like now, your dry creamers or your non-dairy creamers are there next to the coffees. But where Nestle is going, they would have to develop a shelf-stable non-refrigerated creamer if they're going to do liquid. But what they're talking about, gen Z is even going back.
Speaker 2:Instant coffee is enjoying a renaissance and instant coffee for those of you that may not know what it is is actually freeze-dried coffee, which was a big deal, and one of the big names back in the day was Taster's Choice. They talked about. It was Taster's Choice, freeze-dried coffee. But your average coffee snob today would turn their nose up at freeze-dried coffee. Nestle's embracing it because they can add flavors to it. They can manipulate it, like we talked earlier cold-dissolving instant coffee, liquid espresso concentrates.
Speaker 2:I've had espresso in Italy. I was up for three days. No, I'm good, I'm good, do not need that. No, I don't do lattes, that's my wife, I don't do that. I don't do all this crazy stuff with a pump of this and dash almond milk and two pumps of that and, yeah, I will take a nice, smooth cup of coffee, dash of creamer, lot of sugar. I'm good, it's all I need.
Speaker 2:But they're not building these factories for me. They're saying Gen Z's taking the whole industry into a different direction. And the article goes on to say we've done a lot of things in cold coffee the last two years to really meet this need of Gen Z and young millennials. And this is Daniel Jehung, president of Nestle's USA Beverage Division. This is a big trend that we're pushing into and, whether you know it or not, right now, according to the industry, the coffee world is booming and the opportunity to innovate while still providing value for a broad spectrum of consumers makes it a fun time. They say to me in the industry Now, I do have my own coffee grinder and, yes, I do use Cureg cups and in fact I have reusable ones with disposable filters.
Speaker 2:That's how much of a coffee snob I am, and I have three different kinds of regular coffee sitting on my shelf in my kitchen that I will drink from regularly, and my favorite one is actually minority roasted here in Des Moines, called Black and Bold. That is my number one go-to when I want a smooth cup of coffee, and it's amazing. If you haven't had it, you need to try that. And no, they're not paying me, so that's just an unsolicited endorsement.
Speaker 2:One of the reasons it made sense for Nestle to unite coffee and creamer under one team is because there's such a natural connection between these products. Now, or, as the president of Nestle USA likes to quip, what's more Americana than peanut butter and jelly or milk and cereal? It's actually coffee and creamer and, according to the article, data from an industry company backs this up. Coffee and creamer are purchased together 60% of the time, versus 40% of the time for milk and cereal and 20% of the time for peanut butter and jelly. Be still my heart. Peanut butter and jelly only gets bought together 20% of the time. Where have we gone wrong? While it's easy to offer coffee and creamer bundles to online shoppers in bricks and mortar and we just talked about this. Grocery stores. Coffee and creamer offerings are often found in far-flung aisles. This is the point of friction between Nestle's heard about from consumers. Okay, nestle, what you need is to do something else. We've come to the end of our visit. Be sure to join me again next time, right here. This has been the Tech Mobility Show.
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