Auto-Meh
6Meh should have a setting.. call it a "feature" for VMP members so that if an item is within a certain price threshold the system will automatically purchase the item for the member.
In a perfect world, the VMP could set the threshold, so instead just give some choices. $5, $10, $15, etc.
No give backs of course.
This gives guaranteed sales at certain thresholds which would good for predicting things for meh. For VMPs it would pretty much guarantee getting Lucky Bags when they show up, and the occasional other surprise as well.
And we'd all have PLENTY of batteries. So meh.
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I like it. How would we solve for deals that need attribute selections? Size, color, capacity? Default everyone to Georgia Red?
@shawn I love purple.
@shawn Make it force order one of each for subscribers /EvilFace
@shawn random? Or set a favorite color and shirt size in your user profile?
@shawn or allow the order to be changed before 9am eastern.. But only to change the color/selection to something else already available?
Georgia Red is always a good default, though I'd think random would be the way to go for color selections. Size and capacity could be determined by the price threshold.. biggest that would fit.
I love purple.
What about Barney Purple?
@PocketBrain I love purple!
Only if there's an option for us to set the threshold for $0 also.
@bluedog I think it would be an optional program.. Not forced on vmps
This would be a really interesting experiment. I would love to know what percentage of VMP users would buy into something like this.
I think it would be another step closer to Skynet.
Well, if this allowed the auto-purchase of Fukus, what happens when more than 1,000 people sign up for it? I would think, to be fair, the Fukus would have to be excluded. Otherwise, this turns into a repeat of the downfall of Woot, with bots auto-purchasing all the BOCs and making the servers crash.
@DJP519 Auto purchasing bots? Is that why? I thought I just had a shatty connection to skynet.
@DJP519 I don't think you could exclude the Fukus because let's be honest, the reason most people would sign up would be to get those things. And auto-meh wouldn't cause any strain, so that wouldn't be an issue.
@SamK But at that point it's just a Fukubukuro subscription service, and if that's the case, why even sell 'em?
@editorkid The experiment is to see how many people would by X number of random items they don't really want just to get the Fuku that might contain something they do want.
@SamK Well, 1,000, because that's how many Fukubukuros are sold.
@editorkid It's a theory... only way to know is to release the Auto-Meh!
I can just imagine the outrage after a meh-rathon where they'll run random refurbished speaker docks for $5.
@narfcake Batteries and speaker docs.. we'd all have LOTS of them to put in stockings.
I think it's a great idea! My only problem is I'd really miss that certain thrill I get when ever I push a "buy" button.
@SamK Including the Fuku in the auto-buy would ruin all of the fun of getting a Fuku. It would eliminate the heart pounding click of the buy button. "Did I get one?" "Should I click it again?" "But if I did that, would I screw up things?" The agonizing waiting for the confirmation would be gone. Isn't this what makes Fuku buying fun?
@barnabee We're just going to hope that the server fixes did away with all that agony.
@barnabee If that's how you have fun, then you wouldn't want to sign up for Auto-Meh! :)
@SamK True, I do like having fun. So, why not have an auto-forum? That way we don't have to spend any time hanging around here and talking about things. Sounds like fun!
@barnabee So you would vote to exclude an option for some because you wouldn't want to use it yourself?
@SamK I think the point is that it would end up ruining the fun for those who had no desire to sign up but now wouldn't have any chance at getting a fuku any other way because they'd immediately sell out.
@Mavyn As meh grows, they're going to sell out immediately anyway. I'm just throwing out some meh ideas here. :)
@SamK I don't go big game hunting, but I do love a good Fuku chase.
If you have enough money that you'd be cool buying that much random shite, I can make a few suggestions on charities that would benefit from your generosity without resulting in the accumulation of as much clutter.
@Mavyn I wish I had more stars to give to this comment.
@Mavyn ah, but you can always donate your meh goods to charity
"Sorry orphans, we have no food today, but these speaker docks just arrived!"
Oliver Twist never said 'Please sir, might I have some meh.'
@Mavyn @hallmike you guys are no fun
@katylava You're not the first to tell me this. Unlikely to be the last, either. ;)
@Mavyn You must not be aware of the "Keyboards For The Homeless" charity.
@Teripie I think they're next door to "Bluetooth On The Street", right?
@Mavyn And don't forget the "Speaker Docks for Homeless I-Phones" place.
@Mavyn I donate to charity and buy crap I don't need. As do most people.
@Thumperchick I do as well. But at least I make the choice to buy it, because I think it's crap I might want, or might be crap someone I know will enjoy. I kind of doubt that you walk into the grocery store and fill your cart with some random items without identifying them first.
@Mavyn I don't eat electronics :) But actually, my grocery store has random boxes of food for needy families. So I do kind of buy food fukus for charity, every week that they have them.
@Thumperchick I'm willing to bet those boxes don't have speaker docks.
I feel like this would ruin the primary experiment of Project Pavlov
I should point out that this wasn't an original thought on my part, just a modification of This
Halp would be overloaded with requests to cancel orders.
But what if...
You added some logic to the script (like the guy from that article), so there was a 1-in-3 (or whatever) chance of the auto-meh actually purchasing it, and then it could save that day's meh-money to purchase a bigger item if it chose not to purchase the current day's item.
And then (here's the genius part!) it didn't tell you which item you bought, and once you'd auto-meh-tically (see what I did there) purchased three items, it sent all three items at once, and you essentially receive your very own randomly generated Fuku bag.
This might be the only way I'll get one of those sweet sweet Fukubukuros.
@canuk Woah, that's an interesting idea. It's almost like a savings account for crappy surprise presents to yourself. And when the box finally comes you would still get to know the elation/frustration of the Fukubukuro.
I'm with Mayvn on this one. Thumbs down.
It is an interesting idea, but it wouldn't work here, I don't think. You would have to exclude the fuku's or any limited number item that sells out here. For the fuku's, it is the hunt and wait. Why make it easy? For the awesome sellers, that would probably go over with us as well as BB employee's buying all the HP touchpads before the public was notified of the fire sale. Besides, there are subscription services out there for people who can't or don't want to choose their own stuff. Join one of those.
I was hoping auto-meh was a feature that would show me the meh face of the day, even if I didn't click the button myself in a timely fashion.
@Alien I like this--after all, that shows a full commitment to the meh lifestyle--too meh to click.
What if the number of auto meh subscribers exceeds the number of items to be sold? Who gets left out?
@parodymandotcom I'm telling you, with my idea I might be on to something here. Just randomize who gets it from the list. Maybe have a subset of items for the day available for auto-meh. The way Southwest airlines has a small amount of fares that are "wanna-get-away"
@canuk Wow, thanks for the heads up! I went over to Southwest.com and signed up to automatically buy any "wanna-get-away" fares under $20, and now I have trips to Minot, North Dakota and Buffalo, New York this December!
Meh could set the prices accordingly to auto sell X units at each price point. Also it could generate more buying at certain price points with the knowledge that X units are sold and not going to sit in the warehouse.
Interesting concept to think about. If I sign up, where would I draw the line? 10 items a month? 30? I would still need to check in to see if I did auto purchase something or if the item is over my threshold to make a buying choice.
I think I would choose to offer VMP's early access to make a buying choice if I was going to do a buying perk. (2 or 3 hours would be really nice for old east coasters with early work schedules, hint hint)
It will never work. Open your own site and try it out.
No. Why? Speaker docks, that's why.
I'm just going to cast my vote against something like this unless its silly and unpredictable like what @canuk was saying.
As it is, everyone who end up getting a low-quantity, high-demand item (Fukubukuro) feels like they earned it. Everyone else either feels like they either missed it or lost out to the more attentive (neurotic?) mehtizens. An auto-buy would make the buyers feel less special and those who missed it feel more cheated.
Auto-buy is a lose-lose.
@JTrilogy what if meh fulfilled the auto-meh orders at 11:59pm with whatever inventory was left. Then meh would always sell out (they'd be so happy!) and if you were subscribed to auto-meh you couldn't buy the item but had to wait for the 11:59 trigger. Then if you really wanted the item, you would hit the forums and try to get people to not buy it so there would be some left at the end of the day, and if you didn't want the item, you'd suddenly become a salesman so it would be sold out before the auto-meh at 11:59.
Some really cool ideas in this thread, I think some version of it has potential.
Auto-buy is one of the unnamed Project ideas from Mediocre, so Mediocre has been thinking of this idea for sometime.
After seeing today's Meh, I take it all back. Meh.