4 ms·

YC founders skipping Covid vaccine queue and instructing others to do it

52 points by daenney 6y ago

1-6 6y ago
Wow, daring to post this info on the very message board for YC.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
londons_explore 6y ago
A queue is an all-pay time auction. It isn't inherently fair. It's simply a way to force everyone to waste their time evenly. We as a society need to invent a better way to decide allocation of resources that doesn't just waste everyone's time.
- rozab 6y ago
  I don't know about you but I am not currently standing in a literal queue for a vaccine... How is time being wasted?
  - londons_explore 6y ago
    My beef is only with literal queues. Virtual queues have their own issues, but are nowhere near as bad.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  I’m not sure this kind of fairness applies in a pandemic that apparently is serious enough to warrant curtailing peoples basic freedoms.
- csense 6y ago
  Thought experiment: What if they auctioned off like 20% of the vaccine supply? You go to a website, enter how much you're willing to pay, when cleared funds are received your bid will be entered in the next weekly allocation, if it's above the winning threshold you pay that much and get told when and where to show up. First couple weeks it'd mostly be the 1% paying $10,000 for their shots. If you're old or have medical conditions and COVID will probably kill you, you might be willing to pay $1000-$3000 to skip the queue and get the shot super early. People who've slipped through the cracks would get another option. If you have XYZ disease where COVID would be bad news but your condition somehow didn't get on the official list of conditions for jumping the queue, you can still mortgage your house or max out your credit card to get the dose. Ethically people would say it's terrible, but I'd say it's ethically okay to let a rich guy go first and then use his money to pay for 1000 poor people's shots later. Some people will find ways to get around the queue anyway (lying, leftovers or black market doses), it's better to give them a legitimate way to skip the queue that you can still somewhat regulate and extract the value for some beneficial purpose.
  - harambae 6y ago
    What you're describing is just analogous to the way college admissions works (with it well understood that at some price your moderately dumb offspring will be admitted, as long as they can still read). Of course no ones life is on the line there, so that's the difference. People would almost certainly object to lower risk of dying being available for purchase, although it's already the case elsewhere.
- doggodaddo78 6y ago
  If the military had been in-charge of vaccine logistics, and issued vaccines based on the predetermined groupings rather than self-reporting and then a lottery within those groupings, that would've made the most sense, been more efficient, and fairer. Standing in long lines or rushing to a website ad-hoc for appointments is animalistic shit like it's a train station in India.
mensetmanusman 6y ago
Know investment bankers in LA, healthy early 40s, used the ‘code’ to skip.
doggodaddo78 6y ago
Failure of moral leadership if true. I'm 1c and still waiting. Suppose it's true (IANAL): It should or could be a crime, and talking about it on a private forum could amount to conspiracy to commit a crime. Furthermore, such a forum would be subject to discovery. Also dumb: if you're going to do anything that could be used against you or be interpreted as a crime, don't make a record of it! And, of course, in that thread, there's some "outraged" crybully SJW "WoC" trying to make hay up in there.

52 points by daenney 6y ago

1-6 6y ago

Wow, daring to post this info on the very message board for YC.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

londons_explore 6y ago

A queue is an all-pay time auction. It isn't inherently fair. It's simply a way to force everyone to waste their time evenly. We as a society need to invent a better way to decide allocation of resources that doesn't just waste everyone's time.

rozab 6y ago
I don't know about you but I am not currently standing in a literal queue for a vaccine... How is time being wasted?
- londons_explore 6y ago
  My beef is only with literal queues. Virtual queues have their own issues, but are nowhere near as bad.
tinus_hn 6y ago
I’m not sure this kind of fairness applies in a pandemic that apparently is serious enough to warrant curtailing peoples basic freedoms.
csense 6y ago
Thought experiment: What if they auctioned off like 20% of the vaccine supply? You go to a website, enter how much you're willing to pay, when cleared funds are received your bid will be entered in the next weekly allocation, if it's above the winning threshold you pay that much and get told when and where to show up. First couple weeks it'd mostly be the 1% paying $10,000 for their shots. If you're old or have medical conditions and COVID will probably kill you, you might be willing to pay $1000-$3000 to skip the queue and get the shot super early. People who've slipped through the cracks would get another option. If you have XYZ disease where COVID would be bad news but your condition somehow didn't get on the official list of conditions for jumping the queue, you can still mortgage your house or max out your credit card to get the dose. Ethically people would say it's terrible, but I'd say it's ethically okay to let a rich guy go first and then use his money to pay for 1000 poor people's shots later. Some people will find ways to get around the queue anyway (lying, leftovers or black market doses), it's better to give them a legitimate way to skip the queue that you can still somewhat regulate and extract the value for some beneficial purpose.
- harambae 6y ago
  What you're describing is just analogous to the way college admissions works (with it well understood that at some price your moderately dumb offspring will be admitted, as long as they can still read). Of course no ones life is on the line there, so that's the difference. People would almost certainly object to lower risk of dying being available for purchase, although it's already the case elsewhere.
doggodaddo78 6y ago
If the military had been in-charge of vaccine logistics, and issued vaccines based on the predetermined groupings rather than self-reporting and then a lottery within those groupings, that would've made the most sense, been more efficient, and fairer. Standing in long lines or rushing to a website ad-hoc for appointments is animalistic shit like it's a train station in India.

mensetmanusman 6y ago

Know investment bankers in LA, healthy early 40s, used the ‘code’ to skip.

doggodaddo78 6y ago

Failure of moral leadership if true. I'm 1c and still waiting. Suppose it's true (IANAL): It should or could be a crime, and talking about it on a private forum could amount to conspiracy to commit a crime. Furthermore, such a forum would be subject to discovery. Also dumb: if you're going to do anything that could be used against you or be interpreted as a crime, don't make a record of it! And, of course, in that thread, there's some "outraged" crybully SJW "WoC" trying to make hay up in there.