🎨 Paint is expensive AF

PLUS: Twitter’s big crypto play. September 27, 2021 [The Hustle] [The Hustle]( We screwed up our email a little bit yesterday. If you’re interested in reading about why school bus drivers all over the US are leaving to work at Amazon, [check out our story here](. Today’s rundown: - Dried up: Paint supply is running dry, and everyone’s paying the price. - Twitter’s crypto play: The blue bird app is rolling out features for Bitcoin and NFTs. - Digits: You can buy “The Conjuring” house for $1.2m, and more wild numbers from around the web. Let’s do it. The Big Lead [painting]( Paint supply is running dry -- and everyone’s paying the price If you’re planning a home renovation, you may want to stop reading this and go paint shopping, like, now. The perfect storm of factors has [created]( a massive shortage in paint supply, leading to the highest prices since 2009, per CNBC. It’s a classic supply and demand story Here’s what’s happening: - Demand for paint spiked when the pandemic created a rush of interest in home projects - A freeze in Texas interrupted production of petroleum, which is needed to make paint - The congested global supply chain has caused shortages of epoxies, acrylics, and solvents used in paint As a result, popular paint colors are both harder to find than usual, and also way more expensive. But consumers aren’t the only ones paying the price The shortage is being felt across the board: - Paint manufacturers are facing rising costs for materials - Big stores are facing the highest producer prices since 2010 - Small businesses are struggling to get any paint at all since producers supply the larger stores first There’s bad news and good news The bad news? Experts believe prices will continue rising through the end of the year. The good news? It should be temporary -- the Federal Reserve considers paint part of a group of materials experiencing a period of “transitory” inflation, which they claim is already showing signs of recovery. The best news? There’s no shortage of paint-mixing [videos]( on YouTube, which may help you relax while waiting for your favorite color to get restocked. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Paint+supply+is+running+dry+--+and+everyone%E2%80%99s+paying+the+price%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F09272021-paint%3Futm_campaign%3DPaint%2BSupply%26utm_content%3D09272021-paint%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS NEW! Introducing our new and improved [Snippets](. You can now get extra snippets on your favorite topics. Follow the button below to get started. (It takes less than 30 seconds!) Apple vs. Facebook: The iPhone maker’s recent iOS update makes it harder for advertisers to track users. Per [Facebook](, the change is having a material impact on its advertising revenue. Crypto ban: Chinese regulators now deem all crypto transactions [illegal](. This policy comes a few months after China banned the mining of crypto assets. The new normal: Pfizer’s CEO [expects]( “normal life” to return within a year but people will require an annual COVID booster shot moving forward. Resolved: Meng Wanzhou -- CFO of China’s telecom giant Huawei -- reached an [agreement]( with the US government over fraud charges. She was held in Canada for 3 years; her release coincides with the Chinese government releasing 2 Canadian citizens. Join the 103,001 others who are now enjoying extra, personalized snippets. Click the button👇 to choose your favorite topics and see your list grow in tomorrow’s email. [Personalize Your Snippets]( Twitter Updates [tweet]( Jack Dorsey, a man of few profile words (Source: Twitter / @Jack) Twitter is going all-in on crypto In addition to his affinity for beards, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has long signaled his interest in crypto: - His Twitter bio says one thing: “#bitcoin” - The blue bird app is working on a decentralized [protocol]( - Square -- the other company he runs -- grew in part due to its [crypto]( trading platform Last week, Twitter rolled out… … 2 very notable crypto-friendly features The social network previously tested a “Tip Jar” for fans to give their favorite creators money. Users will soon be able to tip profiles with bitcoin, per [TechCrunch](. Next up: non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These digital assets -- often JPEG artwork -- have exploded in popularity and are often used as profile pictures. Twitter is working on a solution to authenticate whether a user actually owns said JPEG. (Tech journalist [Casey Newton]( says the move could help take NFTs “mainstream.”) Twitter is speeding up product development... … after years of stagnant growth. TechCrunch highlights a suite of recent feature: - Social audio: Spaces is its Clubhouse clone (Twitter will also launch a creator fund to support audio content) - Newsletters: After acquiring Revue, Twitter users can post their newsletters right in their bio for easy subscriber sign-ups - ‘Communities’: A new option for users to tweet to a select group of followers who share a common interest (instead of the entire network) The most recent announcements come as Twitter agreed to pay [$809.5m]( to settle a 2016 suit charging it misled investors about user engagement. If these new tools work, Twitter’s actual engagement should explode. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Twitter+is+going+all-in+on+crypto%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F09272021-Twitter-crypto%3Futm_campaign%3DPaint%2BSupply%26utm_content%3D09272021-Twitter-crypto%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( HOSTED BY HUBSPOT INBOUND 2021: With Spotlight Speaker Oprah The 3-day digital experience for business builders is back! INBOUND is the event of the year for entrepreneurs, the level of epic that every business TED Talk aspires to be. Your Starter Pass is free. [Grab it here](. Your Starter Pass gives you access to every spotlight speaker, including the top icons: [Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Hasan Minhaj, Sarah Paiji Yoo, Tristan Walker, David Chang](, and plenty more. For full access, buy (or expense) the Powerhouse Pass. You’ll get 100+ live masterminding sessions with leaders from giants like Google, Shopify, and Spotify. Plus, on-demand content and meetups to make new friends. Hosted with orange hearts, by HubSpot. [Free ticket to INBOUND →]( By the numbers [The Conjuring]( Digits: Phone cords, ‘The Conjuring’ house, fake Christmas trees, and more 1) Sorry, Apple. In a move to reduce the [11k metric tons of electronic waste]( tossed out annually by Europeans, the EU proposed legislation requiring phone makers adopt USB-C as a uniform charging cord. 2) The house from “The Conjuring” is [listing on the market for $1.2m](. The couple who owns it bought it for $439k and turned it into somewhat of a bed-and-breakfast for paranormal investigators. It’s booked straight through 2022. 3) Americans aren’t big readers. A recent Pew survey found [23% of US adults]( have neither read nor listened to a single book in the past year. 4) Last Christmas “I gave you my heart”, [85% of American homes]( with a Christmas tree used an artificial one, up from 46% in 1992. Inflated shipping costs mean this year’s prices could jump 25% for some retailers. 5) In 2020, Israeli companies raised $10.7B in total. In 2021, [they’ve already raised $15.1B](. Expect that to go up: SoftBank recently hired ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to lead its cyber investing there. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Digits%3A+Phone+cords%2C+%E2%80%98The+Conjuring%E2%80%99+house%2C+fake+Christmas+trees%2C+and+more%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F09272021-digits%3Futm_campaign%3DPaint%2BSupply%26utm_content%3D09272021-digits%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( AROUND THE WEB 🌳 On this day: In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was [published](, detailing the harm that pesticides cause to the Earth and sparking the environmentalist movement. 🔉 Useful: To quickly transfer files between devices, try [Ozzillate](. You upload a file to the website, which it turns into a sound that a 2nd device can receive. 🙄 Haha: This art critic is [not as impressed]( as we are by a Godzilla statue meticulously carved from a single grain of rice. 🦇 Wild story: Vampire bats like to call out to their friends when they’ve found a good bite. It’s a [sound]( humans can’t hear. 🧑‍💼 How to: Many new hires will find they start their new gig remotely. Here are some [tips]( for adapting to a new job when you’re not in an office. 🦆 Wait, what: A federal duck stamp contest currently requires submissions to include a hunting scene. The mandate expires next year, but this year, artists are [trolling hard](. Meme of the day [paint meme] Life is about the small things (Source: Imgfip / [Pinterest]() SHARE THE HUSTLE [Hustle Cons Greatest Hits ebook]( Over the years, we’ve learned… secrets. The business secrets, tips, and tricks that have helped founders go from zero to millions -- and even billions -- of dollars. 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