I don’t need to tell you the cost of living is going up. But can I hit you with a few specifics?

Healthcare is getting more expensive; employer-sponsored plans will cost workers 6% more next year. Household staples are getting more expensive, thanks to high fuel costs and “innovations” like dishwasher pods — more on that below.

Houses themselves are way more expensive than they were the last time mortgages were as expensive as they are right now.

And cars are more expensive, with a third of borrowers underwater and more buyers rolling negative equity into their next ride. It’s way more expensive to fix cars too, and that’s where we’ll start today’s newsletter. — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor

The cost of getting your car fixed has jumped 50% since the start of the pandemic.

That’s partly due to a shortage of people who know how. Every year, techs who either retire or leave the profession outnumber the newcomers by about 37,000, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

And the day-to-day work of auto techs is looking more like IT and less like wielding a wrench.

Charlie Salino has seen these changes firsthand. He runs an independent Brooklyn garage that used to belong to his father. He’s 35 years old, relatively young for an automotive technician. Finding others like him — eager techs new to the workforce — has been a challenge.

Salino gave a few reasons for this. Chief among them is career development. Early on in their careers, techs are limited to grunt work.

“They don't really feel like they've grown in their skills because they're stuck doing the same things over and over again: balancing tires, doing brakes, oil changes,” Salino said. “They're not doing the heavy burden stuff.”

There is a way to secure those exciting, “heavy burden” jobs though — better tools. Many times, auto techs bring their own tools to the shop, but those tools can get very expensive. The price of toolboxes, for example, can easily cruise into five-figure territory. That stings considering it usually takes a decade for mechanics to attain a top salary, Salino said.

Another issue: Modern car problems often come back to software, which many mechanics aren’t able to work on. 

I can relate! But Walter isn’t a human journalist, it’s an AI reporter that has published thousands of stories so far this year for an upstart publication called Alaska News.

Herz got in touch with Walter’s owner/editor to arrange an interview, and he found the bot as evasive as any human subject. When Herz asked about an AI apocalypse, Walter joked that taking over the world would involve too many meetings.

The last time I stayed at an Airbnb, my friends and I spent our final morning stripping beds, doing dishes and taking out the garbage to avoid incurring fees. A housekeeper came knocking an hour before checkout time to take care of tasks not covered by the chore list, a service I assume was rolled into the cost of our stay. Not the best end to a cabin weekend.

No more, according to new policies Airbnb announced this week. Starting next month, hosts on the platform won’t be allowed to ask guests for tasks requiring “significant effort or time or would typically be performed by a cleaner,” though they can still set house rules and charge for cleaning services. Some hosts are outraged.