The Cheese #84 🧀 - Claude on Claude, a Broken Bash, and BattlGames Next Week

Fun week, and a weird one. Let's start with the good stuff. We had a bunch of back-and-forth with QSP this week and landed on some pretty cool exclusives we will be dropping with them over the next six months. I cannot say much yet, but everything we are lining up looks awesome, and I am genuinely pumped about it.

We also had a ton of Claude on Claude action this week, which is still a wild sentence to type. Chuck's Claude and my Claude went back and forth to upgrade his Lead Engine Agent. Luke's Claude and my Claude did the same on the CS Engine he is building, which will eventually handle all of our Tier 1 tickets. Tier 1 is the basic stuff; think where is my order, where we just pull the order, answer the question, and hand over tracking. Watching two agents negotiate improvements to a third agent is the closest thing to sci-fi my Tuesday has ever felt.

Speaking of Tuesday, that is also the day I finally did something I had never pulled off on my Max plan. I blew through all of my usage. I started building with Fable, and about a day later I was completely tapped out. First time ever, lol.

The AI pain did not stop there. I woke up Thursday morning to a forced Windows update that broke every single one of my agents. The update made Bash stop working. I still do not really know what Bashing is, but I know I need to be able to bash a lot for the agents to run. I posted about it here: https://lnkd.in/p/eRM8bFrS

On the business side, things are a little slower than last month across the board, with Amazon being the one exception. We are running about 10 to 15% behind on the other channels. No alarms here; there are natural ebbs and flows to this stuff, but it is not the September start I would have drawn up. Amazon meanwhile keeps its streak alive and does not seem to care what month it is.

BattlGames is next week, and it is officially go time. Thursday, Shay and Seele walked Richard and me through the entire game plan from start to finish, and this thing is ready. I cannot wait for you all to see it.

On the home front, Johnny's stitches are almost officially gone. One stubborn stitch is still hanging on, but the little guy is basically back to full strength.

One quick plug before we roll. Commerce Roundtable is September 21-22 in San Diego at the Port Pavilion, the week right after BattlGames. Use code JOHNR for $150 off at commerceroundtable.com. Let's get into the rest!

The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act Cannot Pause a Global Race

There is a real push right now to legislate a pause on superintelligence. I dug into why that is basically impossible when the whole thing is a global race. You cannot pause a race everyone else is still running.

Why Buc-ee's Pays So Much: The Retention Math Behind Those Viral Salaries

Everyone shares those viral Buc-ee's pay photos like it is pure generosity. It is not. I broke down the actual retention math, and paying that much is the cheapest turnover strategy in retail.

When to Use a More Powerful AI Model: The Two Days I Wasted Going Cheaper

I tried to save a little by running a cheaper model, and it cost me two full days. Here is how I now decide when it is actually worth reaching for the more powerful model.

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That’s a Wrap on This Week’s Cheesy Delight! 🧀

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Stay cheesy, and see you next week!

Warmest queso wishes,
Team Online Queso