Small talk: Duane Reade, keeping credit cards, Chatroulette
TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL: This final note today, a way to slide into the weekend on the lighter side with some of the news that didn’t quite make the headlines, courtesy of Brendan Francis Newnam, Rico Gagliano, and the rest of the Marketplace staff.
BRENDAN NEWNAM: Dalasie Michaelis, web developer for Marketplace, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
DALASIE MICHAELIS: Duane Reade, a division of Walgreens, just opened up a new place in a hip, artsy place in Brooklyn. And they were a little bit worried folks wouldn’t like them because those folks like their local pharmacies.
NEWNAM: And so have they been shunned?
MICHAELIS: No, actually, they’ve been well embraced because Duane Reade decided to sell fancy, draft beer in the drugstore.
NEWNAM: That’s all it took to placate them was beer?
MICHAELIS: Yeah, you think they’d at least hold out for a skinny jeans tailor or something.
RICO GAGLIANO: John Haas, editor, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
JOHN HAAS: A guy gets kicked out of a bar in Germany and stabs the doorman three times on his way out.
GAGLIANO: Great story.
HAAS: Well, there is good news. The bouncer actually came away unscathed because he had a wallet in his breast pocket. It was stuffed with credit cards.
GAGLIANO: There were enough cards to survive a knife attack?
HAAS: He had a total of 20 cards. Most of them were video rental cards. It’s as if he hadn’t cleaned out his wallet since 2003.
GAGLIANO: Man, but that’s a good argument for clinging to outmoded forms of media.
HAAS: Yeah.
NEWNAM: Adriene Hill, reporter for Marketplace, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
HILL: I’m going to be talking about Chatroulette, which if you remember, is the website where you see a live video feed of random strangers around the world.
NEWNAM: But then it became a magnet for men who wanted to expose themselves.
HILL: There was naked everywhere in Chatroulette and basically they realized they can turn it into money.
NEWNAM: I’m afraid to ask. How?
HILL: Well they basically have a system where people can flag any other people who are getting a little too naked online. And if you get flagged enough, they send you to an adult partner site. And Chatroulette actually gets paid for each referral. So right now they’re making $100,000 a month off all these naked men.
NEWNAM: I can’t believe it.
HILL: Super clever, right?
NEWNAM: No, I can’t believe they’re making this much money off of me.
RYSSDAL: Oh Brendan. That’s just the tiniest taste of what Rico and Brendan have to offer. Their podcast is called “Dinner Party Download.”
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