Thought I Was Smooth

[Jacob74]

^ Yep, the Shkreli method. I like to believe that someone can change and grow, for his sake I hope that his legally sponsored vacation has helped him learn not to be a predatory scumbag.

 

[telescopes]

^ Yep, the Shkreli method. I like to believe that someone can change and grow, for his sake I hope that his legally sponsored vacation has helped him learn not to be a predatory scumbag.

What a great example.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

You are correct ... and incorrect at the same time.

Let’s do a thought experiment...

1. Pipestud has a rare Barling for sale
2. Sablebrush52 wants it
3. You want it
4. Hoosier want it

You all get into an auction and the highest bidder wins it. That is a perfect example of the buyer determining the price

Another example ... cosmic has aged his Virginias in his cellar for many years. He wants to sell it at a premium because of the effort and time. Mso thinks it is worth and buys it. Another good behavior.

Now think ... SmokingPipes has 5000 Peterson pipes for sale, at an average price of 100$. Brobs writes a bot to scrape SmokingPipes site and buy all of them. Then he sells at 500$ a piece. There was no scarcity in Peterson pipes at all - That is price gouging. Morally unjustifiable.

Finally let’s say, a robber raids the SmokingPipes warehouse and steals all 500 Peterson pipes, and sells them at 50$ each. That is also morally unjustifiable.

The idea of scalping pipes is so far fetched it really doesn't apply here.
No one is ever going to pay $500 for a Peterson pipe.

What would be a problem is if everyone here got together in a secret cabal and bribes all the executives from the top 10 Stummel factories (the closest thing to a bottleneck in global pipe supply) and forces every pipe manufacturer in the world to only buy Stummels through us.
Once you have control of Global Supply that's a different story, but Pipes are such a non-essential (and we have a huge supply of used pipes) that you'd have to keep buying everything for a decade before anyone would be willing to buy a new pipe again.


We have problems with computer parts because producing those is the most technically challenging thing in human history, increasing supply takes billions of dollars and many years of construction, and everyone alive today wants one, and everyone in the supply chain is quite willing to circumvent the consumer market to make extra profit selling stock secretly on the side (further constricting consumer supply).

 

[Aomalley27]

The idea of scalping pipes is so far fetched it really doesn't apply here.
No one is ever going to pay $500 for a Peterson pipe.

What would be a problem is if everyone here got together in a secret cabal and bribes all the executives from the top 10 Stummel factories (the closest thing to a bottleneck in global pipe supply) and forces every pipe manufacturer in the world to only buy Stummels through us.
Once you have control of Global Supply that's a different story, but Pipes are such a non-essential (and we have a huge supply of used pipes) that you'd have to keep buying everything for a decade before anyone would be willing to buy a new pipe again.


We have problems with computer parts because producing those is the most technically challenging thing in human history, increasing supply takes billions of dollars and many years of construction, and everyone alive today wants one, and everyone in the supply chain is quite willing to circumvent the consumer market to make extra profit selling stock secretly on the side (further constricting consumer supply).

Depends on the Pete. I’ve paid more than $500 for a sterling silver windcap. Seen plenty of obscure Pete’s go for big $$$ (original Amber stems, Mark Twain’s, etc). Plenty of folks forked out $200+ on some of those Smoking Pipes 20th Anniversary, (they also sold out within 24 hrs) the initial allotment of POY 2020 sold out within three days.
Now if you’re referring to the typical offering?(Like the Avocado St Patrick’s pipes... yuck) I’d concur, but several releases have been immensely popular.

 

[craig61a]

I think this has been pretty much beaten to death, and there’s people who are each side of the argument.

I’m almost certain that for each drop there are several shipping containers full of Esoterica. It goes through distribution and out to the vendors.

Once it’s in the hands of an individual, it’s their property to do with as they wish.

I used to frequent a surplus rifle forum. Back when surplus rifles were relatively cheap, and boatloads of them were coming into the country, a lot of people on the board would discuss modifying them. Invariably some other member would jump in their shit, bemoaning how it was a piece of history, it was being destroyed, anybody who do such a thing was an asshole, what about the person who gets it after you, yadda yadda yadda...

My perception is that this board is here to share information, or at least that’s one aspect of it. Bitching about how deals go down in the sales threads, trying to enforce your ideals on others, intimating that somebody isn’t really member of the community isn’t part of the gig.

There are people I know locally who were members here who no longer come here because of all the bickering, ungentlemanly conduct, discourteousness, arrogance, etc.

Frankly I don’t care if somebody sells an 8 oz. bag of Stonehaven for $1000. It’s none of my business. And if I was unwilling to pay whatever somebody was asking I’d just move on. I don’t understand why there’s a need for some to shoot their mouth off with every perceived slight.

Done ranting...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Done with thread.