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Jonathan's Card

jonathanstark.com

31–40 of 232 posts

Re: Jonathan's Card

#31

I'm kind of playing devil's advocate here and kind of not: How can you justify spending $n to buy coffee for someone with a smartphone instead of donating $n to someone with fewer resources and greater needs?

The same way you justify spending $n on any luxury product you don't really need.

Re: Jonathan's Card

#32

This is a really cool experiment. Coffee seems like the perfect use case since it's awkward to exploit, in that you're not going to buy $100 worth of coffee, just because the card has $100 on it. But what about other physical goods, like Barnes & Nobles, HEB, Home Depot?

Well, you could buy a $100 starbucks card, which would break things. Someone already spent $30: http://twitter.com/#!/jonathanscard/status/10029778012327526...

That was me. One latte plus $25 worth of food for two homeless guys outside. Turns out they didn't want any of it. I think I might've insulted them by bringing them food that they hadn't asked for. :/

Re: Jonathan's Card

#34
post #16

As somebody else mentioned, it's unfortunate that one bad person could ruin it for everybody else. Is it possible to restrict the card only to coffee (to prevent huge catering orders)?

It's possible someone could abuse it. It will be interesting experimental data to see if this happens, how often it happens, and how much it happens.

Re: Jonathan's Card

#35
post #31

I'm kind of playing devil's advocate here and kind of not: How can you justify spending $n to buy coffee for someone with a smartphone instead of donating $n to someone with fewer resources and greater needs?

The same way you justify spending $n on any luxury product you don't really need.

just loaded $50 on the card, bought 10+ coffees for tech caffeine addicts, got a sweet tweet because I am looking for a tech co-founder for my funded cleantech startup. thinking outside of the box for recruiting... just saying. Oh, and if anyone is interested in joining wa.tt email me, james@wa.tt

Re: Jonathan's Card

#36

It would be cool if you could see who paid for your coffee and also who had spent the money, and let them communicate.

Dave, just did that. Looking for a co-founder for my cleantech startup who likes coffee... very important... Jonathan gave me a sweet shoutout.

Re: Jonathan's Card

#38
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same way you justify spending $n on any luxury product you don't really need.

just loaded $50 on the card, bought 10+ coffees for tech caffeine addicts, got a sweet tweet because I am looking for a tech co-founder for my funded cleantech startup. thinking outside of the box for recruiting... just saying. Oh, and if anyone is interested in joining wa.tt email me, james@wa.tt

You're doing it wrong.

Re: Jonathan's Card

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just loaded $50 on the card, bought 10+ coffees for tech caffeine addicts, got a sweet tweet because I am looking for a tech co-founder for my funded cleantech startup. thinking outside of the box for recruiting... just saying. Oh, and if anyone is interested in joining wa.tt email me, james@wa.tt

You're doing it wrong.

Doing what wrong and how would you do it better?

Re: Jonathan's Card

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you could buy a $100 starbucks card, which would break things. Someone already spent $30: http://twitter.com/#!/jonathanscard/status/10029778012327526...

That was me. One latte plus $25 worth of food for two homeless guys outside. Turns out they didn't want any of it. I think I might've insulted them by bringing them food that they hadn't asked for. :/

This is a pretty great counterpoint to people who see something like this and immediately think of those who want to 'game the game'. Not that the exception proves the rule, but altruism does (in my opinion) beget altruism, good on you Sam.
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