Brief - The Hustle

By the numbers: New York sand, slow chargers, and irritating $300m chipmunks

Written by Jacob Cohen | Nov 8, 2021 7:37:40 AM

Source: Kena Betancur / Getty Images

1) You probably don’t think of New York as a sandy place. But over the last decade, the state received 120m cubic yards of sand (8% of the US total) to replenish its eroded beaches. Much of it is for an 80-mile, $1.5B project in the Hamptons.

2) We’re charging up, slowly. In Q1 2021, the US added 4,566 public electric chargers, bringing the total to 100,709. Problem is, most were level 2 chargers, which take 8-10 hours to fully charge a vehicle.

3) Bagdasarian Productions, owner of the incredibly irritating Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, is looking to sell the rights for $300m. For reference, Netflix just acquired the entire Roald Dahl catalog (i.e., “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Matilda”) for $700m+.

4)  This isn’t a good flex. Between 2016-2019, Amazon Flex secretly kept $60m worth of 140k drivers’ tips, with 19,980 drivers losing out on at least $600. Now the FTC is sending drivers reimbursements, with an average payment of $422.

5) Folks paid $500 a ticket to watch a cadaver get dissected at an Oddities and Curiosities Expo at a Marriott in Portland, Oregon. The body, belonging to WWII veteran David Saunders, was supposed to be used for medical research according to his widow. Now, his remains are being tracked down to be returned.