📦 Outsource your errands

Plus: A Waymo side hustle, old news (in a fun way), and more. 

You're just 3 referrals away from earning a Hustle Essentials kit. Check out all of our prizes here. Share your link: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=7598767985 Share The Hustle: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=7598767985 Check your referral progress & prizes here 👋  Good morning. Ready your best Betty Boop business ideas. The original cartoon character entered the public domain this month after reaching a 95-year US copyright maximum and is joined by big names from literature, film, and music. What can you create with fictional detective Nancy Drew, William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, and George Gershwin's jazz composition "I've Got Rhythm"? Something really weird, probably. STARTING UP Seaweed looks good on you ❌  The problem: Around 60% of material used by the fashion industry is made from plastic, according to the UN Environment Programme, and synthetic fibers can take hundreds of years to decompose.  💡  The pitch: Keel Labs wants to keep you clothed without the environmental strain. It developed Kelsun, a textile made from one of the planet's most abundant resources: kelp. The natural, biodegradable fiber can be spun into yarn or used for non-woven textiles like felt, and it's naturally flame-resistant and microplastic free. Thankfully, the high-tech process means wearing seaweed isn't as smelly as it sounds.  🚀  The outlook: The startup certainly won't be running out of seaweed. The slimy stuff grows 12-18 inches a day, doesn't require fertilizer, and even sucks CO2 from the atmosphere. Like the seaweed, the startup is expanding quickly, working with brands like Stella McCartney, H&M, and Outerknown to bring alternative fabrics to market.  NEWS FLASH Is a pile of clean laundry staring you down right now? Switchbot, a Chinese company that makes robot vacuums and smart home devices, announced Onero H1, a slim robot that can gather and fold clothes, among other household chores. It'll go on sale in 2026 for under $10k. The pitch decks were strong last year: Startup funding in the US and Canada reached $280B in 2025, the highest figure in four years and up 46% from 2024, per Crunchbase. Unsurprisingly, ~60% of that went to AI companies. Good news in media?! Semafor, the digital news platform founded by former BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith and former Bloomberg Media Group CEO Justin B. Smith, will add more journalists and live events following a $30m raise that values it at $330m. It also achieved profitability, despite struggles across the broader media landscape. Avoid a snail mail snafu: The US Postal Service no longer postmarks all mail the day it's dropped off as some mail may arrive to processing facilities a few days later. If you're mailing something time-sensitive — taxes, applications, ballots, etc. — drop it off early or ask a clerk for a manual postmark.     PROS LOVE THESE HACKS We're all about decreasing the degree to which we hurt our necks while sitting at our desks. That's why AI plays are becoming so essential — to free up more time slots for sunlight and stretching. Take our ebook of 100 ChatGPT hacks you can use across sales, marketing, management, and customer support. 100+ powerful AI prompts When-to-use flowchart Brand style template Content refinement checklist AI adoption checklist A quintuple threat, indeed. We wrapped it up for you. ChatGPT at work bundle   THE BIG IDEA Hate making returns? Hire someone to do it for you    After months of burning through your budget and stressing over finding the perfect presents, the season of giving is officially over.    But its remnants, like that horrendous sweater your mom gave you (and which you pretended to love) and those purchases you thought twice about gifting, are still staring at you like an untouched chore list, just waiting to be returned.     Luckily for those of you who can't be bothered to do it yourself, there are professionals who will do it for you, per The Wall Street Journal.  ReturnQueen — a six-year-old, first-of-its-kind reverse logistics startup — charges a ~$10 flat fee for pickups (up to 12 items per pickup) and takes care of packaging, labeling, and shipping. Customers simply leave returns on their doorstep, then a courier retrieves and delivers them to a ReturnQueen facility to be processed for shipping.  Ungrateful gift recipients are also tapping TaskRabbit, which reported a 62% YoY jump in return-related bookings across November and December, with most taskers charging ~$34 to run errands around this time.  Larger companies like Uber and UPS offer similar services, while smaller ones like College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving are looking to enter the business to handle heavier return items following customer inquiries.   'Tis the season of returns   An estimated 17% of holiday purchases will be returned, and 82% of people will return a holiday gift within a month of receiving it, per the National Retail Federation.    Historically, January and February are the biggest months for returns, during which ReturnQueen expects to see a 15%-20% increase in demand.   But returns aren't just a seasonal issue   Americans are estimated to have returned ~$850B worth of merchandise in 2025, and overall return rates have doubled since 2019.    And while returns can be a nuisance for consumers, for retailers, they can present huge operational costs. A 2023 report found that processing a return can cost retailers 30% of the item's original price, and many returns often end up in landfills.    To handle the growing number of returns, the NRF found that ~75% of retailers are now charging restocking fees — some as high as $45.    Tack the cost of a return service onto those restocking fees, and it might just be worth it to keep pretending to love that sweater until you actually do.   🔗 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED   New year, new you. Right? Put your money where your mouth is with these weird, niche business ideas you can build in 2026. NEWSWORTHY NUMBER How much some people are being paid to close Waymo robotaxi doors when they aren't shut properly, which can leave them stranded on roads or obstructing traffic. Through the Honk app, which The Washington Post called "Uber for towing companies," the autonomous vehicle company is also offering workers $60-$80 to tow robotaxis that die before reaching charging stations. Sound like easy money? If only — when considering fuel costs, the time it takes to locate the car, and the labor of hauling it, some tow operators told The Post that they're being lowballed by Waymo's rates. AROUND THE WEB 📆  On this day: In 1768, Philip Astley, a trick rider who performed various feats on horseback, held what's considered the first modern circus in London. 🗞️  Newsletter:  Subscribe to The AI Report for insights used by teams at Microsoft and OpenAI. ⌛  That's interesting: Breaking news, but it's 40 years ago. 🧽  How to: remove a stain. 🐶  Aww: DIY spa. SHOWER THOUGHT You only realize how loud modern life is when the power goes out. SOURCE Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo. Editing by: Sara "Credit card refunds are my side hustle" Friedman.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Working on something big? We've got a whole library of business-building resources for you. 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