🚢 Port picket signs

…and drones team up with delivery bots (Hunter Cone/Shutterstock) Picket time   Presented by Hey Snackers, Uber Eats [linked up]( with Spirit Halloween to let customers order costumes through the app. You can finally get that “young wizard with scar” outfit delivered with your burrito. Stocks fell and oil prices [spiked]( yesterday after Iran [launched missiles]( into Israel, after Israeli forces conducted a ground offensive in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” spiked over mounting concerns of an all-out war.   DOCKED [Dock workers go on a historic strike, halting trade at America’s busiest shipping ports]( Check your package ETAs… Nearly [50K dock workers]( at East and Gulf Coast ports took to the picket line yesterday. Their strike began after the workers’ union rejected a last-minute wage-hike offer by port employers. It’s the first strike by East and Gulf Coast port workers since 1977, and a massive one, too. The stoppage could cost the economy $5B/day and disrupt nearly half of all US imports. Shortages could lead to higher prices for food, toys, clothes, and cars. - Worked up: The union wants a 77% wage hike over six years and stronger benefits, arguing that shipping cos have raked in huge profits. - Executive response: Yesterday, President Biden urged both sides to negotiate and end the strike, but also said he wouldn’t enforce the Taft-Hartley Act to keep port workers on the job. - Wide load: Half of North America’s busiest ports are affected, including the Port of New York and New Jersey — the third largest by cargo volume. ’Twas the strike before Christmas… The stoppage could create a supply-chain nightmare for big retailers like Walmart, Costco, and Home Depot ahead of the holidays. Canadian and West Coast union workers have already said they wouldn’t accept diverted shipments during the strike. Economists say that if the halt continues for more than a few weeks, consumers could see higher prices as the holiday-shopping szn ramps up. Even if the strike is short-lived, clearing the cargo backlog could take weeks (picture: mountains of shipping containers waiting out at sea). THE TAKEAWAY Labor has the wind at its back… Unions like the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers have scored big contract wins after recent negotiations. Experts say dock workers may have even more bargaining power because they’re crucial to global trade. Public support is also picking up: a new Gallup poll suggested that 70% of Americans support labor unions, just 1% shy of the highest approval rating since 1965. [Read this online](   Presented by EnergyX Get in, Loser, We’re Mining Lithium On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was… It’s not just any day. Tomorrow is the last day to invest in the future of clean energy with EnergyX’s current offering. The world is getting over trying to make oil happen — and Lithium may be the solution. - EnergyX’s patented tech extracts it 300% more efficiently than conventional methods. Plus, [where modern methods take 12+ months, they need just two days](. - EnergyX already earned a $5M DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant, and acquired 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land. Plus, General Motors recently led a $50M investment round. Li-mited time… Now EnergyX is working toward its planned production of 65,000 total tons of lithium/year – 66% more than the top-producing company in 2023. Don’t turn down a seat at the table — [join EnergyX as an early investor by tomorrow’s deadline.](1 Presented by EnergyX Get in, Loser, We’re Mining Lithium On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was… It’s not just any day. Tomorrow is the last day to invest in the future of clean energy with EnergyX’s current offering. The world is getting over trying to make oil happen — and Lithium may be the solution. - EnergyX’s patented tech extracts it 300% more efficiently than conventional methods. Plus, [where modern methods take 12+ months, they need just two days](. - EnergyX already earned a $5M DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant, and acquired 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land. Plus, General Motors recently led a $50M investment round. Li-mited time… Now EnergyX is working toward its planned production of 65,000 total tons of lithium/year – 66% more than the top-producing company in 2023. Don’t turn down a seat at the table — [join EnergyX as an early investor by tomorrow’s deadline.](1   BOT-TO-GO [Sidewalk bots will pass food to delivery drones as the autonomy economy revs up]( A delivery bot rolls up to a delivery drone… It’s not a joke. Serve Robotics, the Uber-backed company that makes sidewalk delivery robots, is [teaming up]( with Wing, the Alphabet subsidiary that operates delivery drones. Serve bots will pick up some Wing orders from restaurants and deliver them to a nearby drone-loading station. For Nvidia-backed Serve, whose bots make deliveries within two miles of a restaurant, the partnership could help it expand its delivery radius. For Wing, it could help it offer an easier solution for restaurants looking to tap drone delivery. The service will be piloted in Dallas. Coming in bot… While autonomous deliveries are still rare, sidewalk bots from companies like Serve are slowly becoming part of the pedestrian landscape in some cities. In Los Angeles, Serve’s four-wheeled boxes — which have been [humanized with big eyes]( and names — can be spotted rolling around making Uber Eats deliveries. Serve has 100 bots, only 48 of which are active as of its latest earnings. But it said it’s on track to unleash 2K robots by the end of next year and has plans to expand to other cities. - For customers the upside is they don’t have to tip. And for restaurants, Serve said that its autonomous bots could end up offering a cheaper and more reliable option. - “Our vision is to get the cost of delivery down to $1… and that requires autonomy,” Aduke Thelwell, Serve’s head of investor relations and communications, [told Sherwood](. THE TAKEAWAY Autonomy can drive economy… but it might take a while. From self-driving cars and drones to sidewalk robo-deliveries, one goal of autonomous tech is to reduce labor costs. But that kind of technology can take a long time to scale, especially in a way that’s cost-effective. Serve is still deeply unprofitable, but it’s hoping that advancements in autonomy can help it scale while lowering costs long term. [Read this online](   ON SHERWOOD [Missed paychecks, “free” DVDs, useless kiosks getting in the way: Inside Redbox’s insane bankruptcy unwinding]( It’s the Wild West out there for a “hopelessly insolvent” company. [Read more](.   What else we're Snackin' - The sneaker struggles continue: Nike withdrew its annual guidance after reporting that its quarterly sales [dropped]( 10% from a year ago. - Pepsi’s [buying]( grain-free tortilla-chip maker Siete Foods for $1.2B as snack giants scoop up health-branded eats. - GM’s sales ticked down last quarter, but EVs were a [bright spot](, with electric sales surging 60%. - Despite recent high-profile exits, most OpenAI employees [have stayed]( since signing an open letter in support of CEO Sam Altman. - CVS said it’s [laying off]( another 2.9K workers as the struggling pharmacy chain looks to cut billions in operating costs.   Snack Fact of the Day [The WNBA season had a record 54M unique viewers](   Wednesday - ADP private-payroll figures - Earnings expected from Conagra, RPM International, and Levi Strauss Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alphabet, CVS, GM, Nvidia, Uber, and Walmart Advertiser's disclosures: 1 Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular and [related risks]( at [invest.energyx.com](. DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck.   Was this email forwarded to you? Love what you’re reading? Don’t miss out on future stories — [subscribe to Snacks]( and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.   [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Sherwood Logo]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( [Our Editorial Standards]( [Contact Us](mailto:hello@snacks.robinhood.com) [Advertise With Us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy](