231–240 of 267 posts
Considering the number of times they used the word Harbinger, you would have thought they'd learn to spell it correctly, or at least consistently.
In https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations "Harbinger Households" are called Laggards in scholarly circles. So to use the word "Harbinger" which for most people will have greater negative connotations by virtue of the common phrase "harbinger of doom" in most English speaking people's lexicon, would suggest an element of psychological profiling is being carried out in plain site on ycombinator, althoug…
The article is using the term companies use, because: customers buying their products are harbingers of doom for the product (unless they got causation wrong on the coupon use for heavily discoubted possibly discontinued goods...) The last half of you comment seems completely unrelated to the article?
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Clarks had an absolute killer product on their hands around 2007 or so. Full leather sports sandals, with strong but easy-to-operate magnetic clasp, and no seams on inner surfaces. Joy to wear. Practically immune to chafing and blisters. Exceptionally good for walking (or cycling!) for even long periods of time. Discontinued since ~2009 or so. While they've brought back some of their other pretty good sandals, the pe…
Do you have a picture of them?
The difference between the old ones that those pictured above are that the old ones were (I think this is the right word) almost suede leather. Really easy on skin. And the sandals in the image show seams on the inside, whereas the ones I had two pairs of had their seams on the insides of the strap structure. But on the bright side, the magnetic clasp looks familiar; the new clasp is bulkier and can't be easily opened with a toe from your other foot.
And no, it's not these either: https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/255580935375_/Clarks... - but they do demonstrate how to construct sandals with the seams off of skin contact, so this might give you an idea what the things looked like.
So no, sadly I can only provide reasonable excuses.
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The shoes thing is so true. Especially runners, or any kind of athletic shoe really, where they feel the need to update not just the styling but the whole construction of the shoes every year. So when you need a replacement you basically have to start from scratch every time, because there's no guarantee even buying the new shoe in the same line will be a remotely similar experience.
Came here to say this about cycling shoes. That is, the specific kinds with cleat mounting points at the bottom so you can clip in. These shoes are particularly durable and will last through absurd amounts of use and sweat and rain and mud with just some sink-washing, but eventually break down and need replacing. For me it's about every 4-5 years with them getting worn most days of spring/summer/fall. Shopping for th…
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You're rarely going to find good basics in cheap shops because they have to differentiate on 'design'. The same goes for t-shirts, if you want a plain t-shirt you first have to avoid anywhere with surplus graphics, pockets, buttons, whatever. If you look further you can find high-quality denim and t-shirts in a variety of cuts. Even bespoke. But they differentiate on quality and things that matter to enthusiasts, so…
How did you find these brands? I still struggle to find any of them. I'm at the point where I would even try an online tailor if there was a good one with a decent color variety.
Take a look at Duluth Trading Co. for a similar trend, if a bit more upmarket.
Found this link to the paper, since OP's SciHub link has rotted: https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/130136/The%20... This is an interesting finding no matter what, but I think part of the splash comes from the idea that some people might be harbingers _independent of the rest of their identity_. Since it's not obvious that liking crystal pepsi and watermelon oreos are related, we can speculate that the pe…
Alternative: people that like to experiment are the first jumping on new products, and people that like routines aren't - that would be enough to bias the experimenters into the harbinger group, and it would be useful to check if there's an overlap when measuring for household that were early adopter of successful products
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Shoes are this way for a lot of people, in that some of us can keep a pair of shoes long enough that the next fashion cycle has happened and you can't find anything like that again. I got to the point where if I really liked a pair of shoes, I'd buy a second pair and throw them in the closet for nine months, and cross my fingers that I like the shoes in the second refresh more than I liked the ones in the first one.…
I have shoes for a lifetime bought ahead, and if I die early there will be a glut of size 42 shoes on the dutch market of this brand and type and that in turn will immediately cause that market to collapse :)
At least for the trails I can so far reliably get shoes that fit, although even there there's none to be had in town, they have to be ordered.
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Companies will give out coupons for products that don't sell so well. In my experience working retail, this just isn't the case, in general - unless it has changed in the last decade. Coupons have a couple of purposes: Loyalty and foot traffic, much like sales, and often on things they make a decent profit on. You wind up seeing Tide laundry soap, Gillette razor blades, and so on. CVS gives coupons on CVS brand items…
Coupons also allow price segmentation - they can sell that Tide soap for $20 to those who will pay it (and not bother with the coupon) and then offer almost perpetual coupons to those who know (and will bother), selling it for two prices simultaneously. Things that aren't selling get discounted or clearanced, which can be fun when they overlap - you get the original coupons designed to promote the product, and the pr…
If she really likes a place that guarantees it will either close or change so she no longer favors it.
I think it's that she's looking at value as well as the food, she's very good at finding places that aren't charging enough for good food.
I was hoping to see some red meat in the article in terms of who these harbinger households are, what kinds of products they are buying or politicians they support, so that I could either judge them for their poor taste or empathize with their misunderstood genius. Alas, the article seems to lack those kinds of details, except for the examples of Diet Crystal Pepsi and Colgate Kitchen Entrees. Both of those products…
Crystal pepsi was delicious. Clearly you have some parental neglect issues to work through, because most people know this.
I see your point but.. having "Crystal Pepsi" just seems weird from a branding point of view, why not just call it Sprite? Like, what's the expectation of what that would taste like? It's like saying "7-UP root beer", it's just really not clear what flavor I should expect upon drinking it.
I have the same issues with other postmodern mashup fast foods, like, I've seen taco pizza and pizza flavored tacos. Make up your mind, are you a pizza or a taco? Such an abomination is a challenge to all existing categories of being.
