[Noisebridge-discuss] So disappointing...

Fri Mar 6 06:17:15 UTC 2009

I think you might be on to something with this ... did you know
fountain drink syrups are =much= cheaper than the canned variety?
Almost any drink you can think of comes in a fountain syrup dispenser
box as well.    I know four or five places around the bay area that
sell used, perfectly reconditioned fountain drink station machines for
anywhere between $150-300.  The better ones have built-in fridge
coolers for ice and the water.

Monthly restocking of the syrup and CO2 is handled by companies around
the bay area, and there are plenty in San Francisco.  We used one of
these, rather than a vending machine or stocking cans, at the old
Andover.net office.

Perhaps this kind of "unlimited drinks" access would work well.  Plus
it would be fun to hack the machine, maybe to add support for a simple
'punch in code to activate machine' or something similar.  Or one of
those neat-o old fashioned low tech punch VINGcard's from old hotels.
etc...

-Martin

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 12:08 AM, aestetix aestetix <aestetix at gmail.com> wrote:
> An even lower tech idea:
> Offer an "unlimited drinks" plan to members for an extra $20 on top of
> membership costs. This way, if someone consumes a ton of drinks, people
> bitch at them AND we get their money. I don't really think it's necessary to
> consider payment for every individual drink, when we can just charge for
> them in batch.
>
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Shannon Clark <shannon.clark at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> A low tech idea:
>> Sell punch cards for say $10
>> (price everything perhaps in $1 increments)
>> Then have a punch for people to mark off when they take a drink.
>> The advantages:
>> - money up front/in advance, probably directly to Mitch at meetings
>> - still honor system and easy enough for people to buy each other drinks
>> - a punch probably can be found (or hacked) to make a noticable noise when
>> used
>> Disadvantages:
>> - still probably need to take cash for people who are just stopping by
>> - asks people for a larger purchase ($10 vs $1 ten times)
>> Anyway a low tech idea.
>> Shannon
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> On Mar 5, 2009, at 12:41 AM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Oh!  I like the barcode idea.  And the sound.  We were talking about
>> having some sort of RFID system or something, but since folks have been
>> talking about barcodes already, I think there might be some motivation in
>> that direction.  (I maintain that I'm lazy, but Andy points out that people
>> are notoriously bad at keeping track.)  An advantage of using a bar code
>> reader is we could use codes already on the cans and bottles.
>>
>> I'll see what I can do about making a more visible sign.  I confess even I
>> have trouble reading it sometimes down there.
>>
>> Interesting point about the cash theft.  I guess that thought didn't even
>> cross my mind.  It's pretty appalling to think that someone would steal
>> everyone's money directly, but I guess it could happen.  But at least until
>> we can come up with an excessively technical solution to a simple problem,
>> then I'd like to have plenty of cash on hand.  $50 in 1's is a little
>> excessive though.
>>
>> And when is sticking LEDs on something that can be programmed via the web
>> not fun?  Oh, wait, that would require a...  I'll just avoid that, um,
>> discussion right now.  hmmm... what about twitter?  If Michael Shiloh can
>> come up with a twitter to Morse code python plugin, we could come up with
>> something for LEDs I'm sure.
>>
>> Christie
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Paul Böhm <paul at boehm.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> things that have helped drink payment morale at metalab:
>>>
>>> 1) making prices MORE visible (having the list on the refrigerator
>>> where you have to kneel to read them is not good enough),
>>> 2) having payment make a noise (so if someone gets a drink, you know
>>> you should have heard a noise before they come back to the
>>> table/couch, or you can politely remind them)
>>> 3) putting up a picture of an eye saying smtn along the lines of
>>> "Protip: stealing from friends is not cool.' (see
>>> http://fridge.metalab.at/)
>>> 4) putting up a container and getting a few people to be responsible
>>> for emptying the cash into that container when too much accumulates.
>>> only the treasurer should be able to empty that central container.
>>> reason: though less likely (if people are cool - and we are
>>> excellent), cash theft is worse than people not paying for drinks.
>>> 5) putting LEDs on the fridge that can be programmed via the web
>>> (well, that didn't really help, but it was fun - again see
>>> http://fridge.metalab.at/)
>>>
>>> that said, having the money around isn't a longterm solution we've
>>> noticed. current metalab consensus is to go with prepaid barcode cards
>>> or something along these lines and play a oneup supermario sound
>>> whenever someone pays. the implementation is like 95% done - i don't
>>> know why this never got finished. if someone wants to play with it, i
>>> can summon the code (very pretty web interface with supermario gfx and
>>> stuff - just needs a database backend).
>>>
>>> enki
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:54 PM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > I did an accounting of the monies taken in thus far for the drinks we
>>> > restocked.  As anticipated, the new drink selection is pretty popular.
>>> > Restock was Friday evening, and with what's missing, we should have
>>> > taken in
>>> > well over $100.
>>> >
>>> > We didn't.  We only took in about 3/4 of what we should have, just for
>>> > what's missing, not counting the stuff that was leftover from before
>>> > the
>>> > restock (which is gone too).
>>> >
>>> > Now, I hate haranguing people about this, but I find it really
>>> > depressing
>>> > that with all this attention I've been bringing that this is the best
>>> > we can
>>> > do.  I have to ask:  Is there any reason why people aren't paying?  Are
>>> > the
>>> > prices not clear?  Do you find the prices too high?  Do you think
>>> > there's
>>> > something wrong with the system?
>>> >
>>> > If you have issues, by all means bring them up.  Even if you have just
>>> > heard
>>> > reasons people have given for not paying, it'd be good to get them on
>>> > the
>>> > table so we can get them resolved.  Please don't depend on your friends
>>> > to
>>> > buy for you when they believe they're supporting Noisebridge instead.
>>> >
>>> > Christie
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
>>> > ~ Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi
>>> >
>>> > If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people
>>> > what
>>> > they do not want to hear.
>>> > ~ George Orwell
>>> >
>>> > Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.
>>> > ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>> >
>>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
>> ~ Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi
>>
>> If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what
>> they do not want to hear.
>> ~ George Orwell
>>
>> Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.
>> ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
>>
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