10.30.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Buying A TV

Clark Stinks & #1 TV Brand People Keep the Longest Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also today, are there TV brands worth paying extra money for? Just in time for Black Friday, new data from CNET readers reveals the TV brand people actually keep the longest – and it’s not the most expensive one on the wall. All this and more on the October 30, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your opinions or questions: Ask Clark. Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2 TV Purchase: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Should You Make Your Child an Authorized User on Your Credit Card? How and When To Cancel a Credit Card - Clark Howard Should You Max Out Your 401(k) Early in the Year? How to Max Out Your 401(k) Best Credit Cards for Restaurants and Dining in 2026 - Clark Howard Should I Contribute to a 529 Plan Only To Roll It Into a Roth IRA Later? Backdoor Roth IRA: How High Earners Can Still Contribute Some TV Brands Aren’t Worth the Hype. CNET Readers Say These Are Should you register your new products? - Clark Howard Clark.com - Streaming TV #1 Way To Protect Yourself From Credit Card Skimmers 5 Ways To Save on Holiday Shopping This Year - Clark Howard Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5, only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 0:15Speaker 02

  They're running a Cover 2 defense. But you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go to restaurants. Or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats, order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

• 0:50Speaker 03

  I'm so glad you're here with us and excited you are part of the Clark Howard Show today, where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And I hope you're looking forward to this weekend. I can tell you what I'm looking forward to, and that's learning where I got it wrong in today's Clark Stinks segment. Also, in this episode, if you so often, people buy TVs very heavily in the next four weeks in Black Friday month, are there TV brands that are actually worth paying more for?

• 1:35Speaker 03

  Oh, man, I got some shocking information for you coming on that. But right now, it's time for you to hear where I messed up.

• 1:48Speaker 04

  I should have never encouraged you to speak.

• 1:50Speaker 05

  You must think I'm pretty stupid.

• 1:51Speaker 06

  You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right, pal.

• 2:01Speaker 07

  Steph in Wisconsin says, old advice turns stinky. Is there a smell in the air or did I mess up? I think your advice to add kids as an authorized users is solid. I couldn't find any articles on the impact of removing them. Following your suggestion, I added my high school kids as authorized users on my credit cards to help build their credit, and they do not utilize the cards. They don't even have the cards. One card is the Chase Southwest, and since we rarely fly Southwest, I'd like to cancel the card to save the $100 annual fee. The credit limit is $20,000, so how can I cancel the card without negatively impacting their credit score or impeding their ability to get additional credit on their own? The kids are now 26 and 23.

• 2:42Speaker 07

  One has a home of their own with one Chase card with a small limit, and the other is a graduate student that has one Capital One card with a very small limit. Neither need new credit this time. Thanks and go pack, go.

• 2:54Speaker 03

  Tough to say to a Falcon fan. Anyway, so you got this $100 annual fee on the Southwest card. Both your kids, now in their 20s, don't yet have enough credit. The 26-year-old who owns a home and has the one card, before you make a move on the Southwest card, I'd like for the 26-year-old to apply for another card. They're obviously in the workforce now.

• 3:25Speaker 07

  A non-Chase, right?

• 3:26Speaker 03

  Non-Chase, another credit card. And then they're not going to suffer from the Southwest card going away if they get another card. The other in grad school, they're going to benefit from being an authorized user on another card of yours. You just add them to another one you have, and they'll still get the benefit of that authorized user status. But you were right, at this point, neither of them have enough of their own credit established, the older one almost, that removing them as authorized user will affect them negatively.

• 4:05Speaker 03

  So that's how I'd handle it, is some other card before, add your 23-year-old on some other card before you cancel the Southwest card.

• 4:18Speaker 07

  Stetson in Florida says, whoa, what's that smell? Oh, it's Clark's stinky lack of details advice that misses the mark. For all these years, Clark has encouraged us to max out our 401K if we can. What he failed to remind people of is the trap of front-loading contributions. When you rush to max out your 401K early in the year, you often hit the IRS annual limit before December. The hidden catch? Most employer matching policies operate on a per paycheck basis. Once your contributions stop because you maxed out early, your employer's matching contributions stop right along with them, leaving hundreds to thousands of dollars in free match money completely off the table. Please remind those to max out their 401K to spread their contributions across all pay periods annually.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  So, okay, I got to credit you on two points. One, you're so determined to contribute a lot of money, and that's fantastic. Number two, you are completely right that as your income rises, you want to do the math computation to make sure you don't end up with too much money contributed, just as you said, and miss part of the match that your employer would offer. And thank you for, this is, this is a perfect example of why we do Clark Stinks. I want to thank you for taking the time to write that.

• 5:42Speaker 03

  The percent of people that this applies to is relatively small overall, but among our listeners and viewers, because we have so many people that are big time savers, you may have helped a number of people right now.

• 6:00Speaker 07

  Paul in Massachusetts says, Clark, you certainly don't stink, but I feel you neglected a great resource for saving a great deal of money. As a listener for over 25 years, I don't remember you discussing neighborhood thrift shops. These local resources offer great buys on ladies and men's clothing, plus home accessory items, while offering a second life for items that could easily end up in a landfill. My wife and I run a nonprofit shop in our town in Cape Cod, with all profits going to the local senior center and the police and fire departments. Not only do we offer great clothing bargains on donations of what would normally end up in the trash, but we support our senior center by purchasing furniture and paying for their mailings and computer needs. As for the police and fire departments, we have paid for defibrillators and traffic

• 6:45Speaker 07

  light change devices. Plus, we pay for the town fall and Christmas decorations. Support your local thrift shops. Oh, I wish that you had said, Paul, which town on the Cape your thrift store is in?

• 6:56Speaker 03

  Because you'll go visit it.

• 6:58Speaker 07

  I definitely would.

• 7:00Speaker 03

  So, Paul, thank you, and, gosh, you're right, all the way around. And thank you for what you do to serve your community. Plus, not just serving the police, firefighters, and the senior center, you're giving people bargains in a place not really known much for bargains.

• 7:21Speaker 07

  For sure. Jim in California says, you advised using a credit card with a 2% rebate when dining at a restaurant. I use my Sam's Club credit card at restaurants, and I get a 3% rebate. Costco also gives 3% at restaurants.

• 7:35Speaker 03

  Jim, when would I have lost my mind and talked about getting only 2% back at a restaurant?

• 7:41Speaker 07

  I don't remember that, but...

• 7:43Speaker 03

  I wonder what that was, because I don't get 2% on restaurants. I do 3%.

• 7:48Speaker 07

  3%.

• 7:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:49Speaker 07

  Andy in South Carolina says, Clark, your advice usually smells like a rose, but in this instance, you smelled like an old fashioned, highly agitated skunk in an extremely tiny room with no ventilation.

• 7:59Speaker 03

  Ooh.

• 8:00Speaker 07

  When you wrote about the bank trap threatening your home, you stated the only reason to take a home equity line of credit is to improve your home. This line of credit is also a good defense against title fraud. We obtain this line of credit at no cost, initial or ongoing, through our credit union. In addition to our monitoring of local property transactions involving us, this approach helps us protect our home.

• 8:22Speaker 03

  Thank you for that post. And Andy, I want to say this. So, this is something I never really talk about. Having a standby home equity line of credit in place already is a good idea as an emergency source if something major went wrong with your home that you needed to repair or replace. And with credit unions, so often being willing to originate home equity lines of credit at no cost, as long as you'd avoid the temptation to use it for lifestyle things, it's great to have a standby home equity line of credit. Now, I did want to mention another thing, and that is county registries.

• 9:07Speaker 03

  It's become, from something that was obscure five years ago, very common now that with the county where you have your home, you can go on a registry that anytime there's any funny business, any activity at all concerning the title on your home, they email you or text you, depending on how the county does it, to alert you before somebody tries to steal your home or place dead against your home, impersonating you.

• 9:38Speaker 07

  Don in Tennessee says, you say a 529 can roll over into a Roth, but you fail to mention the stinky constraints, like the 15-year rule and four more. My grandson is approaching 30, so we rolled his ESA into a 529, and now he has to wait until he's 44 to roll over to a Roth.

• 9:56Speaker 03

  Okay, so, yeah, there's all these hoops you have to jump through with, so you took a CoverDell education savings account, moved it to a 529. Why the rules for use of a CoverDell never were mirroring what goes on with a 529? I don't understand. But anyway, it does work that way.

• 10:20Speaker 03

  Don't feel bad about this because you, you keep it invested in the 529 in the child-based expected enrollment date. So it'll be invested mimicking pretty much what you'd be doing with your grandchild's Roth. And then, over the years, you start moving the money over tax-free. Everything's going to work out fine. It's just, you're right, a lot of extra bureaucracy to take advantage of being able to move money from the 529

• 10:57Speaker 03

  into the Roth tax-free. But it continues to grow tax-free in the 529, and then transfers tax-free into the Roth.

• 11:08Speaker 07

  This is from CPA in Arizona. Clark doesn't stink, but a previous Clark Stinks author does. They stated, "You can move into a rental property for two years to exclude the gain. Any amount of time rented before is your primary residence, counts as non-qualified use and reduces the gain exclusion. Plus, any depreciation taken reduces the basis and must be recaptured, not to mention the five-year requirement to get any gain exclusion after a 1031 exchange."

• 11:35Speaker 03

  Right. So CPA, thank you for bringing this up. Again, this is, there's a misperception because there was a point at which you could have a long-term rental property, then move into it for a couple of years, and then turn all the gain from it when you sell it, up to quarter million, single, 500,000 married, as tax-free money. And now, it's all ratios. And so, I appreciate you very much pointing that out. And I just want to give an NFL reference.

• 12:10Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 12:11Speaker 03

  When are the Cardinals going to have a home game that it looks like is the Cardinals' home game? So many fans from whoever the Cardinals are playing use it as an excuse to go enjoy the beautiful Arizona weather this time of year and cheer their home team that you can never tell when the Cardinals are playing who the home team is.

• 12:36Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 12:37Speaker 03

  Enough said about that.

• 12:38Speaker 07

  Chris in South Carolina says, "Clark, your advice to a young man with Parkinson's disease was so incomplete, it raised my blood pressure. Any group long-term disability policy is going to have a pre-existing condition exclusion clause. The insurance companies hire people, and I was one of them, to comb through your medical records to look for testing, medication symptoms, or diagnoses on any given claim. Usually, the exclusion is for 12 months prior to filing for coverage, but I know I used to see some policies which excluded pre-existing conditions for 24 or even 36 months prior. Individual policies were the same, but I've never worked that side of the operation. Anonymous needs to proceed with extreme caution on any long-term disability policy he purchases, and read

• 13:20Speaker 07

  the clauses very carefully, and probably have a friend or advocate read it as well. I'm sure pre-existing conditions are overlooked, but I can say routinely denied claims due to this exclusion. And don't assume the insurance company wouldn't find it. They demand access to your records as a condition of the claim. Best of luck to Anonymous. Advancements are being made every day."

• 13:41Speaker 03

  You know, that post we had has gotten so much response because it was such a touching story. And yes, and everybody who has responded to that has, at some point in their post, has said the same thing here, that medicine is advancing so fast that treatment of Parkinson's may not be quick enough for somebody who's like my relative who has it and is older, it's not going to help them. But science is moving fast enough that in a young person's lifetime, it will make a difference. You bring up a really valid point, that unless

• 14:26Speaker 03

  it is a massive company that is self-insuring their long-term disability plan, there will be a waiting period before the plan will pay in. You said one to three years here. I appreciate your post very much.

• 14:42Speaker 07

  And Blaine in Kansas says, "Hi Clark, love your show. It's helped me tremendously throughout my twenties and has brought a ton of value to my work as an advisor. You don't stink most of the time, but you were talking about backdoor Roths. This can absolutely be a great tool, but there are a couple of things you have to be aware of before converting non-deductible IRA money to your Roth IRA. First, you need to be sure you don't have any other pre-tax IRA money lying around. A lot of people have some sort of traditional IRA from the past, or money rolled over from a 401k. If you have this, then your backdoor Roth gets taxed prorata, meaning that you would pay tax proportionate to the amount of money you have in pre-tax IRAs, no matter where they're at. For example, if you tried

• 15:25Speaker 07

  to do an $8,600 backdoor Roth, but you had $100,000 sitting in a traditional IRA, 92% of that backdoor conversion would be taxable. Second, you have to file a Form 8606, meaning if you don't file this the year you do the backdoor Roth, you could get double taxed on the money, since it's after-tax money in the first place. And you accidentally pay tax when you convert it to the Roth. Moral of the story, make sure your advisor and your tax preparer are aware of the backdoor Roth, so you don't quietly make a tax mistake."

• 15:58Speaker 03

  Thank you very much. And Blaine, the backdoor Roth is obviously a complicated vehicle, and it shouldn't be this way at all. If we have public policy, good public policy, encouraging people to save for retirement, why do we say arbitrarily, "You make this much money, so we're not going to let you save money for retirement in a Roth IRA?" I mean, just plain dumb that the rule is like that. So then, to get around it, doing the non-deductible IRA, and then moving that money into a Roth IRA, comes with, as you

• 16:38Speaker 03

  just so perfectly stated, all the hoops you have to jump through in order to have it not cause a terrible tax problem for you. And again, simplicity pays. We want Americans to save more money. Yes? And then, we give the mixed message of, "Well, you know, we say that, but then we're going to make it really rough on you if you do it, and you don't know all these rules." Wow. Anyway, thank you for saying this, because backdoor

• 17:17Speaker 03

  Roth is not a walk in the park. You may need expert help, just as stated here, and get it before you get a surprise nasty gram later from the IRS. Coming up ahead, we are moving into peak TV buying season, with bargain after bargain after bargain coming over the next month. How do you know which brand to buy? Hint, not what the salesperson at a commission-based TV seller is telling you you should buy. What TVs do people keep the longest?

• 18:02Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 18:18Speaker 05

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• 19:17Speaker 02

  They're running a Cover 2 defense, but you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go-to restaurants. Or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats. Order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

• 19:48Speaker 03

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• 20:18Speaker 02

  The secret society of semi-home made? Listen up. Sam's Club has pre-made dishes for a Thanksgiving feast that's ready in two hours, all while tasting suspiciously homemade. Come join

• 20:30Speaker 03

  Something I've always gotten a kick about people at electronics stores, salespeople at electronics stores, that if you're buying TV or any kind of fun owned stuff, they start talking about, don't you want to protect your investment? Okay, let's get real here. A TV is not an investment. It is spending money, many times big money. And what's the salesperson trying to sell you? The piece of trash extended warranty plan on the TV. And they start telling you horror stories.

• 21:13Speaker 03

  Well, you know, I had somebody the other day who was just out of warranty and had spent blah, blah, blah dollars on the TV and then bought the warranty and the TV died and they're out all this money and they're in here buying another one. Okay, don't listen to that malarkey about the extended warranty. Buy TVs that seem to stand the test of time. So CNET, just in time for Black Friday month, came up with a shocker. What brand TV do people keep the longest, based on their research and survey data?

• 21:58Speaker 03

  You're never going to guess this. Vizio. Vizio that the salespeople at the electronics stores tell you, oh, that's a trash brand. Oh, you must had a rough year that all you can buy is a Vizio. The reality is, Vizios are the ones that stay in people's homes the longest. I never saw that coming. Because Vizio, although they've got different models of different specs, is not a brand that you would think of as, well, this is the one that I'm going to love having because they're not known as like cutting edge.

• 22:43Speaker 03

  What else, what lasts second the longest in people's homes? Sony TVs. Sony is a brand that people have loved Sony's as far back as I can remember. Now, in terms of any TV brand that reviewers say, this one's the greatest, it's got this new blah, blah, blah technology and look at that picture you're going to get. And you know, I've always been a skeptic about the whole picture thing. Because since most of what we're watching is streaming, by the time you're getting the picture, it's degraded enough that it doesn't matter that in the store, the TV looked unbelievable.

• 23:27Speaker 03

  I mean, think about, you walk into, I mean, my mothership is warehouse clubs. You walk into a Costco, a Sam's, a BJ's wholesale, and right where you walk in, they're going to have the 100 inch TVs now. You know, it's weird, by the way, warehouse club buildings are so big that it's the only place you could go to, you're going to see a 100 inch TV and it's going to look small. But anyway, they've got all these different brands and all these TVs showing unbelievable pictures. The cheapest TV, the picture looks great because it's all closed circuit. It's not actual real life experience.

• 24:12Speaker 03

  So spending all that extra money because, well, it's going to be better, it's not necessarily true in real life experience. So there's just one survey from one tech site, but I just thought it was such a curveball because I've always said, I buy rock gut cheap TVs. And I do that because even the cheapest TV is really going to be good. And going back to warehouse clubs, what's different from them versus going to Best Buy or Walmart or most any electronics store to buy a TV?

• 24:57Speaker 03

  If you buy at the warehouse clubs, usually the minimum warranty they're going to offer you on a TV is three years and many times five years. They're not in the business of trying to sell you the add on plan. The TVs come with long-term warranties instead of the standard industry one year. Krista?

• 25:22Speaker 07

  All right. Rick in Arizona says, hi Clark, I was a longtime DirecTV user when I cut the cord. But now I subscribe to Paramount Plus, Netflix, Peacock, Apple, HBO Max, and a few of the smaller ones. All have shows we want to watch and I feel like I'm back up to DirecTV pricing.

• 25:40Speaker 03

  You are.

• 25:41Speaker 07

  And they, and they have most of these as add-ons. I'm thinking about reconnecting the cord, dropping all the individual services and making life a bit simpler. I know what you're thinking, I should get outdoors more and watch less TV. Other than that, what advice would you give this TV addict?

• 25:59Speaker 03

  Okay, Rick, I will tell you, what we do in our house is rotation. I don't watch TV except to watch football, but my wife loves watching various series. So we rotate the streaming services and she binge watches. So she will subscribe to something, watch whatever she wants to. She watches them almost like she's watching a movie series with a regular TV show. She'll watch a whole season, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, goes to the next season, bam, bam, bam. So if you're a TV addict and there's a show you love, just binge watch it.

• 26:43Speaker 03

  There's usually not that many series on a particular streaming service that you're just dying to watch. So you watch the ones you want and then you unsubscribe from it. I promise if you become intentional and only stream to something as you have something that they've got the full season there and you can watch that season. And then when you're done watching it, you disconnect it. Usually you'll only be with the streamer for one to two months at a time.

• 27:18Speaker 07

  All right.

• 27:19Speaker 03

  What do you think of that? Am I overthinking the TV?

• 27:22Speaker 07

  I don't, honestly, I do that too, because there are shows I want to watch and I'll, I'll subscription hop to different ones. I do keep Netflix all the time, though.

• 27:30Speaker 03

  So you know what my family makes fun of me about?

• 27:33Speaker 07

  What?

• 27:33Speaker 03

  The only stuff I watch, other than football, is I watch free videos on YouTube, which has become the number one streaming service.

• 27:43Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah, by far. Okay, Brian in Alabama says, I used to get my debit card hacked repeatedly. I ended up finding out that it was happening at gas station pumps. I'd heard your advice to go inside and pay for fuel because the indoor machine was less likely to be tampered with. Since then, I've always walked inside. I've never had a problem since. So recently I visited a Buc-E's and I went to pay for gas and the person at the counter informed me that I had to pay at the pump and it was no longer available to pay for fuel inside. You could buy snacks and everything else, but fuel was only available by running the card at the pump. I feel like this puts their customers in danger of having their cards hacked.

• 28:21Speaker 03

  Right.

• 28:22Speaker 07

  Thank you, Clark. You're awesome.

• 28:24Speaker 03

  So Brian, that's pretty much customer no service from Buc-E's, but they're not the only one that I'm aware of that won't let you go inside anymore, which has been my advice since we started having the card skimming problem at pay at the pump 12, 15 years ago. And it's been, it's crazy the problem still exists. So I don't know if you will consider doing this, but the best answer now is not having to go inside. It's loading your debit card on your phone through Apple Pay or Google Wallet. And if you do that, the way the numbers transmitted at pay at the pump is something

• 29:07Speaker 03

  that becomes gibberish for a criminal with a skimmer. They got nothing useful and your debit card will be more protected than it is right now going in and paying at the register inside a gas station.

• 29:24Speaker 07

  Dan in Ohio says, hi Clark and team, love the show. I know how much Clark likes his convenience stores. I would say loves. I was wondering, what's his favorite? And does he agree Meyer is the best convenience store? To me, Meyer is a grocery store. Keep up the great work, everyone.

• 29:42Speaker 07

  Thank you, Dan.

• 29:43Speaker 03

  Thank you, Dan. Okay, so yes, I am obsessed with convenience stores. It was one of the earliest things you laughed at me about when we started traveling for the show.

• 29:55Speaker 07

  Oh, my gosh.

• 29:56Speaker 03

  Almost 30 years ago, when, when I was in syndicated radio. And we'd go somewhere and I'd say, oh, we got to go to that one. I've not been to that chain yet.

• 30:05Speaker 07

  That's a generation four of that, of that, you know, racetrack. Like you know, you don't just know the stores.

• 30:12Speaker 03

  Racetrack's like, they use four digit numbers, like 5500, whatever.

• 30:16Speaker 07

  You did do that.

• 30:17Speaker 03

  QuickTrip does the G3, G4, whatever.

• 30:21Speaker 07

  Voila, everyone.

• 30:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I, I am obsessed with it and I just, I want a convenience store to be a miniature resort.

• 30:32Speaker 07

  You love it. I remember one of like early days, one had like some kind of industrial carpet that you were pointing out to me that like they put in this carpet.

• 30:42Speaker 03

  It was a Sheids, yes. I don't, Sheids doesn't do carpet anymore, I don't think is a standard thing. But Sheids, Wawa, QuickTrip, two, there's two.

• 30:54Speaker 07

  We would drive by a Wawa, you'd go, Wawa, like every time.

• 31:01Speaker 03

  So know why my son is obsessed with the Hoagies at Wawa. And so I feel so badly for people on the I-5 corridor, the five, from the Canadian border, all the way to the Mexican border, the I-5 corridor, they don't have the joy of these phenomenal convenience stores. I think I'm just going for gasoline. No, I mean, there's things about them.

• 31:35Speaker 07

  But what's your favorite one? Dan wants to know. If you had to pick a favorite.

• 31:40Speaker 03

  Well, it's not really a convenience store, but it would be Buc-Ee's.

• 31:45Speaker 07

  Buc-Ee's. Okay. And what about Meyer?

• 31:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, I've only been a couple of times, so I don't have enough firsthand knowledge to comment. But the business is continuing to grow around the country with convenience stores becoming a bigger and bigger part of where people buy gasoline and the warehouse clubs as well. But gas is almost besides the point. It's all about getting people to go inside and buy stuff inside. And the fresh food is a differentiator because it's no longer hot dogs on a roller that were put on the roller three days ago. It's actual, real, fresh food.

• 32:30Speaker 07

  You know, I wish I had saved the voicemail. I wonder if it's in my archive anywhere. It's probably not. I think it was a prior cell phone carrier. The first time I went to a Buc-Ee's, which was like, I think, over a year ago, and I told you, I'm going to Buc-Ee's, I'm finally near one, and you left me this voicemail. You were like, Krista, you've been to the Taj Mahal. You've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

• 32:51Speaker 03

  You have literally been.

• 32:52Speaker 07

  I have been to the Taj Mahal. You've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You've been to Thailand, but now you're about to go to the ultimate destination, Buc-Ee's.

• 33:01Speaker 03

  And my wife won't go. Lane won't go. The crowds to her.

• 33:08Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 33:09Speaker 03

  Are oppressive.

• 33:09Speaker 07

  A little much.

• 33:11Speaker 03

  But my grandkids, when they went on a trip to Disney, what were they talking about when they got home?

• 33:18Speaker 07

  Buc-Ee's.

• 33:19Speaker 03

  Buc-Ee's.

• 33:20Speaker 07

  They're definitely related.

• 33:22Speaker 03

  They were more excited about going to Buc-Ee's, driving to Walt Disney World and coming back from Walt Disney World than being at Walt Disney World.

• 33:32Speaker 07

  I bet your daughter and son-in-law were happy about that for spending all that money to go to Disney.

• 33:37Speaker 03

  And my older grandson loves wearing his Buc-Ee's, one of the shoes that are like rubbery that you.

• 33:46Speaker 07

  Like Crocs?

• 33:47Speaker 03

  Crocs. Their imitation of Crocs.

• 33:49Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 33:50Speaker 03

  That are Buc-Ee's version. I mean, they are just, those are what he wants to wear.

• 33:55Speaker 07

  It's in the blood.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  Buc-Ee's is on there. And if you, again, are from west of the Continental Divide, and you don't know what this Buc-Ee's thing is, my middle child went to, for her birthday, she and friends, she lives in Southern California, she and friends flew all the way across the country to go to the beach in Florida. And what is one of the couples continue to talk about that were on that trip months ago? All they talk about is their trip to Buc-Ee's in Daytona Beach, Florida, or St. Augustine, Florida. They just keep talking about Buc-Ee's. Really.

• 34:40Speaker 07

  All right, we have a winner, everyone.

• 34:42Speaker 03

  What can I say? I make the mundane exciting and the exciting mundane. Just who I am. That's how we're going to end this Friday, is I am a sum of contradictions, and you've only heard some of them over the years. And my obsession with convenience stores, it's one of them. Anyway, have an absolutely wonderful weekend, and make it a family event. Go to some convenience store. Why is this one better than another one? Are their bathrooms clean? By the way.

• 35:25Speaker 07

  Oh.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  That's my ultimate test.

• 35:28Speaker 07

  Hmm.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  Of a top-tier convenience store. Is the bathroom disgusting, or is it clean? You can tell a place is only being well-managed.

• 35:42Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah.

• 35:43Speaker 03

  If the bathroom is clean. That is my rule. And that was not my rule originally. Do you remember way, way back in the Wayback Machine, when I told the story about the Wall Street analyst who would, when he'd go to visit a company headquarters, when he'd get there, he'd always ask to go to the bathroom? And if he went to the bathroom and it was filthy.

• 36:04Speaker 07

  Oh.

• 36:05Speaker 03

  He came back to the desk, said, oh, I've been called away. You can cancel my appointment with the CFO. If they had a bathroom that you wouldn't want to use, he was like, if they can't even keep the bathroom clean at headquarters, how well-run could this company be?

• 36:23Speaker 07

  That's so true. A restaurant, think about a restaurant, for sure.

• 36:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. You go in, you're like, what's happening in the kitchen if the bathroom is like this?

• 36:31Speaker 07

  Right. There's no soap in the bathroom. Like, what are the kitchen staff using?

• 36:35Speaker 03

  Right. This is wisdom, ending our week on the podcast.

• 36:41Speaker 07

  Very simple consumer tip, yeah.

• 36:43Speaker 03

  Bathroom's dirty, you're done there.

• 36:46Speaker 07

  Yep. You're on a date, you go into the person's bathroom, it's disgusting, get out of there.

• 36:52Speaker 03

  Did you really just say that? That's funny.

• 36:56Speaker 07

  I know. I was thinking it.

• 36:58Speaker 03

  All right. Well, on that note, on that wisdom from Krista, we are done with our podcast for the week, but not done serving you all weekend long at Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com. And we are just hours away now from the kickoff of Black Friday month, and we are going to be all over it for you at ClarkDeals.com, letting you know what's a deal, and we're not going to waste your time with stuff that are fake deals, non-deal deals. We're going to help you save money for your shopping adventures you're doing for Christmas.

• 37:39Speaker 03

  And remember, come up with a list of who's been naughty or nice, and come up with a budget of how much you're going to spend for your Christmas wish lists, because you don't want to spend yourself into oblivion for Christmas, period. And see you Monday.

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• 38:19Speaker 02

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