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Many purchases are recurring consumables. Food, clothing, medicine, office supplies, car parts- none of it lasts forever. What does it cost to be reminded that

Many purchases are recurring consumables. Food, clothing, medicine, office supplies, car parts- none of it lasts forever. What does it cost to be reminded that you can buy more? Also, completely unrelatedly, if you saw some armchair internet rando claim they'd debunked a major and long-standing business strategy of market sector leader, how seriously would you take them?

bladewolf47 6y ago
Not sure if it fits with what the poster you replied to was saying but I find it a bit curious when I buy say a guitar on Amazon and my recommendations (emails or ads in other sites) over the next few days are still guitars. I do not remember seeing one of those promotions which follow a purchase being about accessories or add-ons.
- metafunctor 6y ago
  I dunno, I’ve bought several guitars in a row…
  - scruple 6y ago
    Well I've had it happen with toilet seats. In 40 years on this planet I've only ever needed to purchase that one. I'd imagine if I needed to get more than one that I would get them all at the same time.
    - cperciva 6y ago
      There's probably a nontrivial number of people who renovate houses one bathroom at a time.
      - scruple 6y ago
        I'm sure there are. I'm also sure, having been around house flippers (my brother flipped for a while, my MIL flipped for a while) and reno (my parents, my MIL, and my wife when we were dating) a few times in my life, that they don't buy them through Amazon/online.
    - bopbeepboop 6y ago
      Its a math mistake on Amazons part. They’ve conflated “most purchases of a toilet seat are made by someone who buys another” and “most people who buy one toilet seat buy a second”. There’s a small, but high volume group of toilet seat purchases — eg, office buildings or apartment maintenance.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      That's the sort of thing you buy a new one because one broke and now it shows up how tatty (worn, old, messy) the other one(s) in your house are. Or someone asks where you got it ... "oh, I can't remember but Google ads showed me the same one of available at $diy_store", or whatever.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - codemusings 6y ago
    Preach.
- snowwrestler 6y ago
  No automated recommendation system is going to be perfect; it’s either going to over-recommend or under-recommend. From the way the Amazon system works, we can infer that they have decided that missing to the over-recommend side is a better business strategy than missing under. And it kind of makes sense if you think about it... really, what are the consequences of seeing these silly over-recommendations? Did you stop buying from Amazon? I bet the vast majority of people shrug or laugh, but don’t change habits. Also, big one-time purchases tend to be rare, so optimizing a recommendation system around those is probably suboptimal compared to optimizing it around frequent consumable purchases.
  - bladewolf47 6y ago
    I can see what you are saying, the downside is pretty much nil. And it seems like people do buy more guitars than just one. I'm currently just entering this phase where I just now stopped regretting the purchase because I couldn't play any music out of it initially. :)
  - another-dave 6y ago
    > I bet the vast majority of people shrug or laugh, but don’t change habits. Or you tell all your friends about it and end up having a conversation about guitars/dishwashers or whatever. It may not be intentional on their part, but spin off conversations can be a nice by-product for them. Feels like it helps it stick in the mind, a bit like writing a witty TV ad.
- SyzygistSix 6y ago
  I think guitars are like bicycles where the optimal number to have is n+1 where n = the number you currently own.
  - vbsteven 6y ago
    Unless you are married or in a committed relationship, then it becomes n-1 where n = the number at which your significant other leaves you.
II2II 6y ago
> What does it cost to be reminded that you can buy more? At a certain point in my life, one where I sought fewer material comforts (and had less media exposure), I used to claim that advertising won't convince me to buy anything but it may convince me not to. There is a very fine line between persuasion and overstepping ethical boundaries.
- pas 6y ago
  Sure, but for most people that line is not so fine.
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
I had a 2-4-1 offer on chainsaws sent to me. Business is subject to fads and stupidies, we have proof that open officez are a net negative, yet businesses continue. We have proof that getting people to change passwords every month is bad for security, but its still policy in many places. We have proof that using basalt or stainless rebar in RCC is more cost effective in the long run, but bs still continues.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  Maybe enough people who buy chainsaws are running tree trimming crews?
- Gustomaximus 6y ago
  I live on a farm and want multiple chainsaws. I've 3 currently and wouldn't mind a couple more. For urban life multiple doesn't make sense. For professional/rural it really does.

bladewolf47 6y ago

Not sure if it fits with what the poster you replied to was saying but I find it a bit curious when I buy say a guitar on Amazon and my recommendations (emails or ads in other sites) over the next few days are still guitars. I do not remember seeing one of those promotions which follow a purchase being about accessories or add-ons.

metafunctor 6y ago
I dunno, I’ve bought several guitars in a row…
- scruple 6y ago
  Well I've had it happen with toilet seats. In 40 years on this planet I've only ever needed to purchase that one. I'd imagine if I needed to get more than one that I would get them all at the same time.
  - cperciva 6y ago
    There's probably a nontrivial number of people who renovate houses one bathroom at a time.
    - scruple 6y ago
      I'm sure there are. I'm also sure, having been around house flippers (my brother flipped for a while, my MIL flipped for a while) and reno (my parents, my MIL, and my wife when we were dating) a few times in my life, that they don't buy them through Amazon/online.
  - bopbeepboop 6y ago
    Its a math mistake on Amazons part. They’ve conflated “most purchases of a toilet seat are made by someone who buys another” and “most people who buy one toilet seat buy a second”. There’s a small, but high volume group of toilet seat purchases — eg, office buildings or apartment maintenance.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    That's the sort of thing you buy a new one because one broke and now it shows up how tatty (worn, old, messy) the other one(s) in your house are. Or someone asks where you got it ... "oh, I can't remember but Google ads showed me the same one of available at $diy_store", or whatever.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- codemusings 6y ago
  Preach.
snowwrestler 6y ago
No automated recommendation system is going to be perfect; it’s either going to over-recommend or under-recommend. From the way the Amazon system works, we can infer that they have decided that missing to the over-recommend side is a better business strategy than missing under. And it kind of makes sense if you think about it... really, what are the consequences of seeing these silly over-recommendations? Did you stop buying from Amazon? I bet the vast majority of people shrug or laugh, but don’t change habits. Also, big one-time purchases tend to be rare, so optimizing a recommendation system around those is probably suboptimal compared to optimizing it around frequent consumable purchases.
- bladewolf47 6y ago
  I can see what you are saying, the downside is pretty much nil. And it seems like people do buy more guitars than just one. I'm currently just entering this phase where I just now stopped regretting the purchase because I couldn't play any music out of it initially. :)
- another-dave 6y ago
  > I bet the vast majority of people shrug or laugh, but don’t change habits. Or you tell all your friends about it and end up having a conversation about guitars/dishwashers or whatever. It may not be intentional on their part, but spin off conversations can be a nice by-product for them. Feels like it helps it stick in the mind, a bit like writing a witty TV ad.
SyzygistSix 6y ago
I think guitars are like bicycles where the optimal number to have is n+1 where n = the number you currently own.
- vbsteven 6y ago
  Unless you are married or in a committed relationship, then it becomes n-1 where n = the number at which your significant other leaves you.

II2II 6y ago

> What does it cost to be reminded that you can buy more? At a certain point in my life, one where I sought fewer material comforts (and had less media exposure), I used to claim that advertising won't convince me to buy anything but it may convince me not to. There is a very fine line between persuasion and overstepping ethical boundaries.

pas 6y ago
Sure, but for most people that line is not so fine.

ClumsyPilot 6y ago

I had a 2-4-1 offer on chainsaws sent to me. Business is subject to fads and stupidies, we have proof that open officez are a net negative, yet businesses continue. We have proof that getting people to change passwords every month is bad for security, but its still policy in many places. We have proof that using basalt or stainless rebar in RCC is more cost effective in the long run, but bs still continues.

nitrogen 6y ago
Maybe enough people who buy chainsaws are running tree trimming crews?
Gustomaximus 6y ago
I live on a farm and want multiple chainsaws. I've 3 currently and wouldn't mind a couple more. For urban life multiple doesn't make sense. For professional/rural it really does.