Sunday Night, The Non-Energy Page, T+37 -- February 26, 2017

Out of the closet, making the social rounds this weekend: I am Transfinancial. I am a rich person born in a poor person's body. Help stop the hate by sending me money to resolve my Financial Identity Disorder (FID). The pain is real, folks!

Minimum-pay kiosks: kiosks may or may not be paid $15 / hour but whatever they are paid, they won't go on strike asking for an increase in hourly wages. Wendy's plans self-ordering kiosks at 1,000 locations. Data points:

• high-volume restaurants will get priority for the kiosks
• kiosks appeal to younger customers
• kiosks will cut labor costs
• return on investment (ROI): expected in less than two years
• kiosks have already been tested at several central Ohio locations where they were first tested 

Ahead of the curve: Wendy's kiosks --

• $15,000 apiece
• prior to kiosks, Wendy's had figured out how to cut 31 hours / week labor costs / restaurant
• 31 hours = almost one FTE

Family Christian Stores: to close all 240 stores; located in 36 states; follows declining sales in the wake of a bankruptcy two years ago.

NASCAR: I'm not going to go into it now, but suffice it to say, the Daytona 500 today  -- with its new format -- was great. I loved it. I only missed part of the first two "races" -- because of granddaughter commitments -- but saw the entire third "race." Truly one of the better races I've seen. Too bad a huge wreck at the 124th lap took out a lot of racers. 

I was able to watch the race with a semi-professional racer. He never made it to NASCAR but he was a contender some decades ago. I learned a lot from him. I hope to see the replay again tomorrow. The last six laps were incredibly exciting. A real thriller. Kurt Busch won, but perhaps most exciting, Tony Stewart who never won the Daytona 500 got to victory lane this year as an owner. Pretty cool. The stands were full; sold out.