The Ordinary Effect

Guido Piraino

Welcome to The Ordinary Effect—the podcast that shines a light on life’s most overlooked moments. Each episode explores something you’ve likely seen, felt, or wondered about—but never really unpacked. Whether it’s a tiny social habit, a quiet cultural shift, or just that odd thing people do on elevators, host Guido Piraino digs beneath the surface to reveal the deeper meaning behind the mundane. It’s smart. It’s human. It’s what happens when you start paying attention.The stuff we all notice—but rarely talk about. Subscribe and join the conversation—new episodes every week.

  1. NOV 18

    Why Young Drivers Pay $13K for Car Insurance: The Truth They Won’t Tell You

    🚗 When $13,000 Meets a Honda Civic This episode of The Ordinary Effect starts with a shocking headline: young male drivers paying over $13,000 a year to insure a basic car. Guido breaks down what the article claims—and whether the numbers actually add up. 📊 The Percentages That Shape Your Premium Insurance companies argue that higher premiums reflect higher risk. Guido unpacks the statistics around speeding tickets, collisions, and what being “more likely” really means… and asks the essential question: Does a 17% higher risk justify a 900% markup? 🧮 Risk Pooling or Profit Padding? We explore how insurers calculate “expected loss value” and why most young drivers end up paying 10–15 times morethan they will ever cost the system. Is this smart economics—or legalized punishment for being young? 🏫 The Classroom Analogy You’ll Never Forget Guido draws a brilliant parallel between insurance pricing and a familiar childhood experience—when the entire class was punished for the actions of just a few. Once you hear it, you’ll never see insurance the same way again. ⚖️ Legalized Cartel Pricing? The episode builds to a powerful conclusion: insurance costs aren’t just misaligned—they may be designed that way. Guido calls out lawmakers and challenges how we think about fairness, risk, and financial responsibility. 🎧 Listen now to learn what the industry doesn’t want you to notice—because once you do, it’s impossible to unsee. Support the show

    13 min
  2. NOV 12

    What Selling Winter Tires Taught Me About Human Nature

    ❄️ Winter Arrives Early A simple ad for winter rims turns into a full-blown social experiment. Guido Piraino unpacks 500 marketplace messages, explores why people don’t read anymore, and shares a funny yet revealing lesson about human nature, responsibility, and the modern rush to avoid doing the work ourselves.  Host Guido Piraino opens the episode reflecting on the sudden early snowfall—nearly 20 cm in November—and how it sparks a familiar panic: the annual scramble for winter tires. 🛞 The Marketplace Experiment What begins as a simple ad for 15-inch winter rims turns into a fascinating social study. Guido shares the unbelievable flood of messages—hundreds in two days—and reveals what the responses say about modern buyer behavior, attention spans, and basic reading comprehension. 💬 “Are These Still Available?” Guido dives into the psychology behind the most common question online sellers face. Is it caution or just laziness? His witty and relatable breakdown of people’s default responses will have every online seller nodding along. 🚗 The “Will They Fit My Car?” Crowd The episode takes a humorous turn as Guido encounters a steady stream of buyers who overlook the answers already written in plain sight. Through laughter and light sarcasm, he calls out the “do-it-for-me” mentality that has crept into our everyday interactions. 🧠 Lessons in Responsibility As the episode wraps, Guido distills it all into a larger life message—about personal accountability, using the tools we have, and taking responsibility for our own preparedness—whether it’s for winter or for life in general. Support the show

    13 min
  3. NOV 4

    November’s Secret Meaning: What Death Teaches Us About Life, Memory, and the Living

    🕯️ Between Light and Loss This isn’t just another episode about death—it’s about how the living use it. Guido Perino opens a raw, poetic reflection on why November is called the month of the dead and why ancient rituals from Samhain to All Souls’ Day still echo through our modern grief. The month of fading light becomes a mirror for how we remember, connect, and let go. 💐  The Beauty—and Vanity—of Flowers We send flowers to funerals to honor the departed… but do we secretly hope others notice our gesture? Guido challenges one of society’s quiet hypocrisies: the performance of grief. He explores how our attempts to honor the dead often reveal more about the living—and our own discomfort with mortality. 🍲 Food, Comfort, and the Awkward Silence of Mourning Why do we always eat after a funeral? Guido looks at the ancient roots of sharing a meal after death—a ritual that was never meant to be judged by flavor but by presence. Between bites and small talk, he invites listeners to see how food keeps the heartbeat of community alive when words fail. 🖼️ Memories, Mementos, and Missed Chances The photos, the trophies, the stories—Guido explores the sacred space of remembrance tables, but with an unflinching question: why do some people celebrate a life they barely showed up for? It’s a segment that pulls no punches, balancing empathy with honesty about what we owe to the living before they’re gone. 👁️  Seeing the Dead—Within Ourselves Using the famous line from The Sixth Sense, Guido dives into what “seeing the dead” really means. It’s not about ghosts—it’s about confronting our own buried emotions, regrets, and relationships that died long before the people did. Death becomes a metaphor for emotional truth and spiritual healing. 🌄  The Ordinary Effect of Death November becomes more than a month—it’s a meditation. Guido closes with a hauntingly beautiful reflection on how death, remembrance, and gratitude weave together to remind us that life, in all its impermanence, is still worth holding close. 🎧  Listen Now Prepare for an episode that isn’t afraid of the dark. The Ordinary Effect turns the discomfort of death into a deeply human exploration of meaning, memory, and what it really means to live.

    13 min

About

Welcome to The Ordinary Effect—the podcast that shines a light on life’s most overlooked moments. Each episode explores something you’ve likely seen, felt, or wondered about—but never really unpacked. Whether it’s a tiny social habit, a quiet cultural shift, or just that odd thing people do on elevators, host Guido Piraino digs beneath the surface to reveal the deeper meaning behind the mundane. It’s smart. It’s human. It’s what happens when you start paying attention.The stuff we all notice—but rarely talk about. Subscribe and join the conversation—new episodes every week.