(all $ is USD unless noted otherwise; CAD figures are converted to USD at $1 USD: $1.28 CAD) The waste management business isn’t hard to understand conceptually, though to get a felt sense of the territory probably requires a bunch ground level inside knowledge because the competitive dynamics differ so much by market. Still, the […]
When a car gets into accident, an insurer must decide whether to repair it or cut a check to the claimant for the pre-accident value and recoup whatever it can by sending the car to a salvage auction. In the US, that salvage auction is most likely operated by Copart or IAA, who each handle […]
A few weeks ago, I did an interview with Mirakle, a Korean language business newsletter (link) Below is the English version: Thank you so much for the opportunity – My first language is not English and although I have learned English for 6 years in regular school system in South Korea, my written English may […]
Related posts: [KMX – CarMax; CVNA – Carvana] Moat, Growth, and Competition (Mar. 30, 2018) [CVNA – Carvana] Fat tail investing (Aug. 13, 2020) As previously discussed, the cost structure of used car retailing has become less variable, more fixed over the years. CarMax pioneered this transition in the early ‘90s, applying the lessons of […]
Diabetes is a disease caused by the body’s inability to produce or effectively use insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that carries glucose into the body’s cells and stores excess glucose in the liver. Its absence can trigger a hyperglycemic state, where blood glucose levels rise to abnormal levels, which can lead to long-term […]
Trupanion is a pet medical insurer that promises its members the best value, not the cheapest price. It runs a cost-plus model, targeting a 71% claims ratio (% of premiums paid to vets) for each category, so that if it turns out that vet costs for 3-year old German Shepherds in 97214 run at, say, […]
With 60% of rooms supplied by a fragmented set of independent hotels, the European hospitality market is set up to be aggregated: no individual hotel is large or prominent enough to effectively bargain against an aggregator or attract guests on their own, and coordinating action among a diffuse set of players is challenging. A hotel […]
