Have you used your skills buying IRKs or BOCs in other situations?
9I have to admit, after about 10 years of honing my skills, I’m pretty good at pouncing on Instant Regret Kits (and fukubukuros before it) and Bags of Crap. I’ve had failures for sure, but trial and error has led me to be really good at securing these items. It takes focus. It takes meticulous planning. It takes anticipation. It takes skill. It’s not easy (Seeing the lament in IRK threads is testament to that). But it leads to an interesting query: Have you ever used your skills in securing an IRK in other situations in life?
And now, Story Time with Bill!
I’m back to playing a bass clarinet after a 20 year break. However, I’ve been using a BC on loan from my girlfriend, who is an awesome high school music teacher. For the past couple of months I’ve had my eye on a particular bass clarinet, but it’s been sold out for months. Here’s a link to the product page:
https://www.kesslerandsons.com/product/k-custom-low-c-bass-clarinet/
Last week I got word that it would be back in stock, but it would be done during our friends’ engagement party. If I didn’t get it during that time, I wouldn’t have it for our spring concert in a couple of weeks. They have been extremely popular instruments and sell out quickly, within 15 minutes. And we’re not talking about $5 IRKs or $10 Bags of Crap. These horns cost nearly $2,200 and he only has about 20 per batch.
So I prepped. I waited. I refreshed the page while trying to be social. The couple and everyone at the party completely understood. 8:30pm came.
A minute later, stock was made available. I pounced. I honed all of my skills in getting limited edition products. I was focused.
The bass clarinet sold out in less than 3 minutes.
But I got one. 
What I’m saying is that IRK purchasing can teach you essential life skills that may help you in other aspects of your life. Keep at it if you’ve never scored one. These training exercises Meh and Woot put on are worth it!
- 12 comments, 13 replies
- Comment
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
Yes. Used for catching escaping cats and children. You have to pounce quickly with minimal warning.
When you’re planning out your Disney World trip, there are several key “exactly 6 months before your trip” type deadlines that match up very closely with this. Dinner reservations, behind-the-scenes tours, fast passes.
@dave True that. My wife is on top of all those things. Has her ear to the ground to know when things open up based on when we’re going.
Also use such skills while in the park to book the next fast pass after using one. I think you can have 3 scheduled, so we do those in the morning, then book something else later (using the app) after we use one.
@dave @medz
That’s what you get for going to DisneyWorld.
My only trip was during opening month. And I only went because the person I went with had scheduled an interview with the DisneyWorld CEO for a research paper.
We got the basic entry/ride package of that era free from Disney as part of the deal. We were most curious as to what they had pulled off.
I quite enjoyed my visit. And the organization, energy, creativity, and thought put by the company into the “park experience” and the “surrounding the park experience” was mind-blasting.
But no desire to return unless I can be promised that the park will be no more than 1/2 full.
And even then I would likely give away the tickets.
With a tip of that and a sincere salute to Walt and his company for many marvelous achievements, these very expensive pre-programmed parks are not so much “for me”.
/giphy DisneyWorld
Of course, if @mediocrebot ran the parks …
Well, hey now!
you’re an all-star
@f00l probably 10 years ago or so, a conference I was attending took all the attendees to Animal Kingdom after hours. The whole place was reserved just for us. Shops and the normal eateries were closed, but most of the rides and attractions were open. (aside from the real animal stuff because it was too dark to see them) They had free beer/wine carts and free snacks and ice cream. No lines for the rides. I think this was just after the Mount Everest ride opened up. If only every trip could be like that. So fun! I got a framed souvenir photo of me standing with Donald Duck. You can tell I’m drunk and soaked from being on a water ride. Good times.
@medz
That is the kind of arrangement I would go for.
Hope it was a blast!
-Local coupon site (50% off restaurants, etc…) that go live at a specific time.
-meh and woot: fukos, TIRKS, BOCs, WTF deals, OMG deals, Twitch stream deals, forum games, etc…
-certain # of comment posted on a facebook post to win a prize
-Southwest airline flight check-in
-probably some event tickets that I’m forgetting…
The key is prep work, practice, persistence, and patience. You have to know how the site works, what you need to have pre-entered, where to click, how to stay logged in, any shortcuts (ex: skipping to checkout page), etc…
I have never been able to score any amazing lightning deals on Amazon…try as I might, I don’t know how to game the system.
@medz Yeah, having all of your payment stuff entered/automated is an often overlooked thing you need to do. Fumbling for a credit card just wastes precious seconds.
@BillLehecka yup. Using browser auto-fill stuff when the site won’t store it helps too
I have no skills. Only won once.
One time, back in college, I secured a “ride home” from a girl just as the bar was closing. You might say I clicked the “I want some” button just at the right time.
Sporting clays. Need just the right lead, timing, proper trigger finger squeeze, and sometimes breathing, and followthrough is critical.
@BillLehecka
Congrats! On a very worthy item!
Have not opened the last such items I “got”. From Woot and other places.
Still in sealed boxes.
And I miss items offered by being busy or asleep.
So I suppose I don’t care that much.
But a bass clarinet!
If I had the skills and the bucks and the desire …
!!!
That’s another story.
That’s quality!
/giphy quality
Congrats! I hope it is a joy to own and use!
/image bass clarinet
@f00l
/giphy slappin da bass
I actually honed my skills on eBay 15 years ago. Sniping in those last second bids to my joy, and I’m sure the frustration of many bidders.
@ruouttaurmind Psssssh it’s all auto-bids now, bruh.
@medz Precious few auctions left. Overwhelmed by commercial enterprise and Buy It Now sales.
I miss the old eBay.
@ruouttaurmind
Gixen.com.
Used them since forever. Since shortly after I learned about sniping anyway.
Free web/cloud sniper service. I pay them $6 a year for double-server and bidding groups and a few other gizmos in addition.
It just works. Awesome service. The coder plays it straight with the bidders.
No ads. No sale of personal info
And set-and-forget. (Which can be good or bad … If you set a snipe on something you don’t really want.)
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
@f00l Thanks for the info. Though for me it’s more about the sport.
In earlier days, when bidders could still see who they were bidding against, and could easily view other bidder’s feedback and item purchase history, I used to research my competition. I would attempt to build a bidding profile based on their previous auction wins. I would get a sense for how much they’re bidding, if they have a favourite final bidding strategy (always add a few cents above an even dollar amount for example, bid in the last 10 seconds, etc).
I would use this information to cut the bidding as close as possible without having to bid another full increment to win. My most victorious moment was winning a $2,000 item in the final one second, and only by a $0.11 margin.
i yelled “F5” at the deli, but they were still out of antipasto salad.
Used today to get the $25 Cheesecake Factory gift card.
I have no computer skills that would help me get an IRK… so, I gave up. I don’t even try anymore.