The DFV of Trash
The DFV of Trash
DFV= “Deep F**cking Value”, a financial analyst known for his posts on the /r/wallstreetsbets subreddit. Wiki. I am not a certified professional financial advisor, planner, economist nor a crypto currency guru or day trader. What I do know is that there is deep value in counting trash and it does not take a professional advisor to figure it out.
I’m going to try and keep this at a eighth grade reading level. You don’t even have to count trash, take a look in your own fridge, freezer, and pantry. Take note of the names of the companies that produce the products you consume. For example, Kellogg’s traded on the stock market under the ticker (stock symbol) “K”, makes cereal, pop tarts, eggos, and nutrigrain bars to name a few… PepsiCo traded under the ticker “PEP” also makes Mountain Dew. Chances are if you have one of these products you have others.
Have you ever wondered which company sells the most product and where? Have you ever wanted to invest in a company but could not decide because of a similar competitor making a similar product? We see the competition in advertising every day, Pepsi versus Coca cola, Burger King versus McDonald’s, Budweiser versus Coors, and the list goes on and on.
The answer came to me one day when I was taking down an old single wide trailer that a tree had fallen on. The previous owners were elderly and left most of their possessions behind. Fast forward many years to a community litter pick up and I explain to one of the members about how I count trash by stock symbol on occasion… she then proceeded to show me an app called “Marine Debris Tracker” powered by Morgan Stanley “MS” no less. Here I thought I had somewhat of an original idea, only to find out.. of course, Morgan Stanley powers an app to count trash. I am sure they are doing it for the good of the world and they are not using the data to give them a competitive edge in investment analysis…
There are many people, organizations, and companies counting trash and collecting the data. See the attached litter study and the post from @Litterpirate. “who litters? When do they litter? What do they litter? How much litter lands in a spot each day? What are the most littered areas of the county?” I would also add why. Not just why do they litter, but why does more litter land in one spot over another or why do they litter some items and not others. @litterpirate also says “most litter picking organizations measure how much litter gets picked by weight (they usually boast this number!) Some organizations keep track of where and even measure what gets tossed (although a lot of times data is kept private).” He stresses “they’ve been doing it this way for 50+ years” and that access to the data can help decrease littering as well as help law enforcement write more tickets. Will more tickets and stricter enforcement solve the problem? What will the data say? @litterpirate started a year long project in January of 2021, “picking up and documenting each piece of litter from the same 500ft roadside every four weeks (and soon every two weeks, then each week, then each day).
Here is the info (not data) from some of our litter picks.
What does the information tell us? Lets take it piece by piece… the older “legacy” items show us how long trash has been accumulating at a certain spot. We can also gauge the age of some pieces by how many times they have been run over by a lawn mower. So, does a small amount of legacy trash and a large amount of modern trash indicate the problem is getting worse over time? I don’t think so. I believe the problem is the same now as it was before, but now there are more people and thus, more trash. As population of a certain area grows it equates to more people in more places, with more single use items. We can also get a good indication of whether a particular piece of trash blew out of a vehicle or was thrown/dropped. “Cooler dumps” are what I find near recreation and work sites…someone’s day in the outdoors was over and they dumped the contents of their cooler…unopened beverages and all. How utterly wasteful. “Blown out or flew out” litter tends to very lightweight…mainly paper items, mail, Styrofoam, packing materials, grocery bags. “Thrown” from vehicle items tend to be heavy like dip spit bottles and alcohol. By the way, there is a lot of drinking and driving. Yep, booze…it’s by far the largest item by weight and size I find on main roads, backroads, and inside the game lands of eastern North Carolina. I am convinced some people drive around with their tailgate open on purpose in order to get rid of their trash. How many times have you seen full trash bags and boxes on the side of the road? I love finding them because they normally contain the offender’s mail and home address…take David the Wilco manger who dumped his trash in the Stones Creek Game Land. Illegally dumping or “losing” one’s entire trash bag puts them at risk. Inside that bag are probably financial statements, place of work documents, medications, vehicle information, diet and health data. Would you want a stranger to find that? Would you want David to dump it in your yard? Probably not.
Back to the value of trash. Once again, I am not a professional financial advisor. Let’s say its 1989 and you are choosing between two similar companies; Coke at $1.79 a share, and Pepsi at $6.58 a share. What do the trash count numbers show? Choose wisely (1989 Indiana Jones). Based on the count Pepsi is the winner. Today that share would be worth $145.22, and Coke $54.35. You just counted trash to make an investment…now do you see why Morgan Stanley is eager to help? Let’s take it one step deeper. Why not invest in both companies? Or take the example from Coke, traded as KO and COKE. KO makes the soda, COKE is the bottling and manufacturing arm. COKE bottles many other products and is currently $286.46 a share. Investing in COKE also opens you up to the manufacturing process, I.E. metal, plastics, shipping, corn syrup, and the list goes on and on.
Thus, the value of trash is increasingly obvious. Pay attention to where your trash goes. Volunteer to pick up the litter and trash in your community and along the roads and waterways you frequent, take notice of what’s there, right in front of you, and how that information can lead to opportunity not only to clean our environment but educate ourselves and others on a solution. If you found this information helpful, please help us out by donating to our OPERATION PACK OUT gofundme: https://gofund.me/67e64e4d
