Results for “markets in everything”
1896 found

Thwarted markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

A New York City pet store that’s surrounded by bars has banned drunken puppy-buying.

Workers at Le Petite Puppy in Greenwich Village say customers tend to stumble in after happy hour and purchase a dog without thinking. Drunken customers now are forbidden to even hold the puppies, because they can drop them.

Store owner Dana Rich tells WINS-AM that she instructs people who have clearly been drinking to come back the next day.

Employees say they stress how much work it is to own a dog. They say they would rather lose a sale than send a puppy into an unsafe home.

For the pointer I thank Daniel Lippman.

Berlin markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen

Camping vacations may summon nostalgic appeal for many consumers, but the logistics of making them happen can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve seen a company that orchestrates backyard camping events, for example, and it’s also presumably the thinking behind Berlin’s newly opened Hüttenpalast hotel, which offers caravan-style camping in the safety and predictability of an indoor setting.

Launched earlier this month, the Hüttenpalast hotel offers consumers a way to “walk in flip-flops with your towel, even in winter, to the beautiful new showers,” as the company puts it. Set in a former Berlin factory, the hotel includes what it calls an “indoor garden” featuring an assortment of old caravan campers and wooden huts. Consumers can reserve either of these for a taste of retro happiness — pricing starts at EUR 40 per night — with separate facilities for men and women. Alternatively, if they’re less interested in “roughing it,” they can opt for one of the hotel’s six traditional rooms complete with luxury en-suite bathrooms. Either way, an attached cafe offers breakfast, coffee and homemade cakes, while the lunch menu focuses on regional and seasonal products.

The link is here and for the pointer I thank Michael Rosenwald.  For a European hotel, much less one with a theme, that’s pretty cheap.

Markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

Intentionally flawed goods:

Artist Jeremy Hutchison commissioned a series of intentionally incorrect products from factories around the world.

“I asked them to make me one of their products, but to make it with an error,” Hutchison explains. “I specified that this error should render the object dysfunctional. And rather than my choosing the error, I wanted the factory worker who made it to choose what error to make. Whatever this worker chose to do, I would accept and pay for.”

Hutchison received a comb without tines…

Coasean markets in everything (the culture that was Sydney)

by  Tyler Cowen in

From a distance Sydney may seem like one of the world’s most desirable places to call home: a sparkling harbour, enticing beaches and a climate to die for. It’s regularly rated as one of world’s 10 most liveable cities. But, as of Friday, the state government of New South Wales will pay residents A$7,000 (£4,500) to leave it.

It’s part of a new scheme to boost the population and economy of country areas.

Here is more and for the pointer I thank Bruno Hernan.  Of course by global standards Sydney isn’t crowded at all; this also relates to an earlier Megan McArdle post about whether we are willing to let our cities become much more dense.

Markets in everything the culture that is Argentina

by  Tyler Cowen in

Here at the Lujan Zoo near Buenos Aires visitors can ride lions, cuddle bears, stroke tigers and feed cheetahs. Cages are accessible to everyone who paid $50 and signed the paper saying that if you are eaten, the Zoo is not responsible.

Visitors can even pick up the smaller animals and manhandle them at risk to themselves and the creatures. Shockingly there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of safety regulations to protect either humans or animals and Internet blogs are littered with pictures of tourists with the animals.

Even children are allowed to enter the lion’s cage and fondle a range of animals that have the potential to kill or maim them.

The story is here, with photos, and for the pointer I thank Yana.

Richard Bury spam markets in everything “of making books there is no end”

by  Tyler Cowen in

From Slashdot:

“Make it easy to self-publish books and the spammers will be right along too. Amazon’s Kindle marketplace has been deluged by low-quality ‘books’ selling for 99 cents each. ‘[Thousands of ebooks published each month] are built using something known as Private Label Rights, or PLR content, which is information that can be bought very cheaply online then reformatted into a digital book. These ebooks are listed for sale – often at 99 cents – alongside more traditional books on Amazon’s website, forcing readers to plow through many more titles to find what they want. Aspiring spammers can even buy a DVD box set called Autopilot Kindle Cash that claims to teach people how to publish 10 to 20 new Kindle books a day without writing a word.'”

The link is here, hat tip to Michael Rosenwald, his piece on internet advertising is here.

Murder markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

Mr. Kahan estimated that there were perhaps half a dozen murderabilia vendors in the United States who advertise online. They include serialkillersink.com, murderauction.com, and supernaught.com.

Just type in the address and behold: A holiday card signed by Joel David Rifkin, convicted of the murders of nine women in New York City, available for $350. A shirt worn by Richard Ramirez, a k a the Night Stalker, can be yours for as little as $1,400. Paintings by the executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy are especially popular and pricey; a portrait of his alter ego, Pogo the Clown, is currently going for $19,999.

And why would anyone want this stuff?

“Each piece tells a story,” Joe Turner, a British collector who owns a Gacy painting and a lock of Charles Manson’s hair, wrote in an e-mail.

Czech markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

Prague Zoo has started selling what look like ice cream containers but are actually full of elephant dung.

It’s the latest fad among Czech gardeners who are buying out the manure pails to use as fertilizer. The brain behind the project is zoo director Miroslav Bobek, whose surname literally means dung.

Zoo officials estimate they sell around 200 of the 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) containers of dung per weekend, at 70 koruna ($3.90) each. But sales have been so brisk they decided to expand to weekdays.

AP video showed handlers scooping up the manure Thursday and placing it in the white containers to the bemusement of visitors.

The link is here and for the pointer I thank Heath Gordon.

Markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

The 10-employee park has five pieces of machinery, including a pair of Caterpillar D5 track-type bulldozers and three Caterpillar 315CL hydraulic excavators. Dig This sells three-hour packages that consist of a 30-minute safety and operation orientation followed by two hours of maneuvering either a bulldozer or excavator.

Guests can either dig a trench up to 10 ft deep or build an earthen mound; there are also skill tests like picking and moving 2,000-lb tires or scooping basketballs from atop safety cones. 

Packages are priced at $400, which reflects equipment maintenance and insurance costs. Patrons 14 and older can play in the dirt.

“Half of our customers are females, including housewives and grandmothers,” says company spokeswoman Cathy Wiedemer. “Throttling up a powerful engine and moving mounds of earth is very empowering.”

The full story is here and for the pointer I thank Chug.

Pet markets in everything the value of affiliation

by  Tyler Cowen in

One vendor is offering treadmills and treadwheels — essentially oversize hamster wheels — that let dogs exercise indoors, without the indignities of cracked sidewalks or rain.

There are “eco-friendly” pieces of furniture, grooming products and wipes, the wipes made from organically grown bamboo. An Israeli firm hawks dog shampoo containing Dead Sea minerals. Another, Pet Pop of Australia, promotes a vitamin-infused “mountain-spring water” for dogs. The price: $3.30 a bottle, about as much as a gallon of milk.

“We actually saw that there was a gap in the market for beverages for dogs,” says Bonnie Senior, a manager at the company. Then there is Jenn Mohr, who says she combined her love of dogs and love of candles to create Sniff Pet Candles. Made of “100 percent organic natural ingredients,” the aromatherapy candles have names like “Day in the Hamptons” and “Field of Dreams” and “promote your dog’s optimum health and well-being,” her company says.

Ms. Mohr even designed a candle to address the flatulence of Rufus, her Rhodesian ridgeback. Made with floral ylang-ylang, white tea, myrtle and fennel, the “Fart & Away” candle “won’t completely stop them,” Ms. Mohr says. “But it will help.” The price: $28.

…Canine Caviar Foods says it makes “the only alkaline-based dog food in America that was specifically designed to prevent cancer.” The ingredients include canned beaver, duck and venison tripe for dogs and cats, as well as a variety of “free-range, grass fed buffalo” treats for dogs.

The Honest Kitchen is offering dog food with names like “Zeal” and “Verve” and lists the provenance of the ingredients. There is organic, fair-trade quinoa from Bolivia and “wild, line-caught Icelandic haddock.” Its food is “gently dehydrated” to preserve it.

Here is more, and the sector is booming.

Glasgow markets in everything

by  Tyler Cowen in

A parking fine in Glasgow is £30 if paid promptly, £60 otherwise. Our entrepreneurs have other ideas. They’ll sell you a used parking ticket with a specific time on it for a tenner, which you can send to the council to “prove” that you were wrongly fined.

Here is more, pointer via Greg and also Yahel.  The intro to the story is this:

If you park your car or walk through the Osborne St car park near my flat, you are quickly approached by one or more rough looking types asking if there is any time left on your parking ticket. They’re rude and slightly threatening, so most people give up their used ticket. If it’s valid for any significant amount of time (ie. you’ve paid for the whole day or a several hour stretch and there is time remaining) they will stand by the ticket machine and sell your ticket on to the next punter. They’re not the type of people you say no to so they no doubt do a roaring trade.

But that’s not all. If you protest that your parking ticket is about to expire and is therefore useless they’ll demand it anyway. Why? This is where it gets interesting.

When the parking inspectors come past the thugs keep a keen eye on which cars they catch. On a driver returning to their car and discovering that they’ve been fined the thugs move in.