Dynamic Pricing and Retail Rabbit Holes

Give it to me Hey everyone, I'mollyood And I'm Tom Merrittt. Welcome to It's a Th The Weekly podcast reported by you that is all about things that are things. We've never been happier to be here. Indeed, this is our weekly respite from reality. B paying close attention to reality and finding the little parts of it that were like, huh You might not realize it, but that's a thing. It's true. We're always touching grass on your behalf. We are just out there picking out the little things from the sea of nightmare. We are looking only at the trees. We have no interest in the forest shop. We are going leaf by leaf on the trees. The forest can do what it wants. What's new in the shop this week Nothing. Nothing is new in the shop. We need to fix that. It's a thing. me slash shop. Wow I say we just get rid of all of it. Make it all. And then and then we could slowly bring stuff back miss it I'm into that. The only thing that I think you still really need for summer is the sardine shirt The Sardine shirtardine t shirt is key. Yeah. I wear it all the time. It's. What do you thing? I think I say we nuke the store and Everything but the Sardine shirt We just have that one item in there And we don't have baby te. It's so cute. Okay we can have two G something babies. new k, but ye. Also if you've listened to our bonus shows, you've heard Mr. Rich Strofolino talk about Tarps off before. Tarps off startarted in St. Louis. I had not realize that until I dug into it. I had to have a guy from Cleveland tell me about it. But yeah, it started in a Cardinals' game. It was a visiting U group of college sportsmen that were taking off their shirts and then the Cardinals had a rally and won the game and then it became a good luck thing as these things do in baseball, like the rally squirrel before it. And now Tarps off is a regular event at not only St. Louis Cardinals games, all kinds of games all over the place where men take their shirts off for good luck All at once All at once. Yep It's sort it's sort of, well and now it's sorted like it seems like it, I mean, it started as this sort of bulk nakedness If you will now And then now it seems to sort of be spreading. But yeah, like Rich Rich alerted us early. And so we're just preemptively declaring that. the thing of the week. It is none of the things that Tom and I brought, but we just could ignore it because especially with various playoffs I mean, the NBA finals are starting tonight as we are taping this and like the NH of the Stanley Cup has been happening and then there's been, of course, baseball tarps off like this is only going to, this is only going to continue I am probably going to make an editing problem O for Rich by doing this. But I turned on the television the other day u to hear the word Tarpps off As soon as I started the show, it was the Cardinals game and I had to rewind to get the context and I believe I can play The context. Oh, noope, there's no audio there. Why is there no audio on that? well Well, Rich, if you want to edit that in and take this part out, it's the video that I had sent in our group chat But basically it's the announcer for the NBC broadcast of the Cardinals Cubs game saying Tarp' off. It's a thing No way. Yeah. and I don't know why this isn't playing loudly Maybe I just didn't record enough audio on it It's really about the best m I talk li in my mind They're trying to fill in the audio that is missing from this video. But yeah, they use the word it's a thing. so clearly It is, in fact A thing when and we have sent I don't know if we send a cease and desist more of a Credit and persist is what I prefer to send Oh that was that. Also I I hear m because you had to say something so that you could try to play that. Yeah. and I turned that off. so Yeahah, I think we should start doing that actually. I think we should be like, ooh, good one. Maybe we'll use it on our show that's existed since twenty ten. think' the only mature way to approach that. As an example, both of my things today come from Haa happappiness in the DTNS chat During livestream earlier this week, I told Hapa Happiness, I'm going to use these on it's a thing and give you credit. And here I am doing it. I am crediting and persisting. Credit and persist. It's not that hard, friend. It's not, It's not that hard. Have you heard of shaken espresso No, tellell me everything. Shaken espresso is a method of making an espresso in a cocktail shaker with some ice. So it's not just an iced Americano, it's shaken, not stirred, which makes it frothy and refreshing. And in fact, America's Test kitchen has an explanation of the science of why doing this, you know, froths things up and makes it Delicious more than it would be if it had not been shaken. This is kind of delightful actually. Did you know that it According to the article you have and this is just hilarious is that it was not invented by Starbucks. It stems from a popular Italian iced espresso beverage known as, and this is why this is amazing, the Sicerado That's way better. Why not call it the Sicorado? We need to be calling this the Sicorado because that is hilarious. Yeah. Apparently, shaking the mix with ice makes it cold very fast, increases dilution and lightens the texture by turning microbbles into it That takes the harsh edge off of acid like alcohol in a cocktail, but also off of coffee in an espresso didn't even know that that's why we shake cocktails. like Yeah, me neither. What? This is so interesting. And if you've got milk in there, then it stabilizes the foam so it lasts longer in the glass.' Yeahah I'm gonna to shake an espresso later Chicado. Weird ephemism. Yeahah. I'm a Chicado I I say go to your local coffee shop, order a shakerado until they give in. lookook it up and make it for you Do not do not explain just like no, Sorado, you can do it. Youicado Inists on the shakerado.ust Google it. Just look it up real quick. just shakor rado. shake or I'll spell it for you. I give little Italian accent just to help you. Such a good one The shaken espresso AK A, the Chicerado. The Sicerado, Chicorado Sicerado. Okay, I'm gonna stop singing and do my thing So my son saw a scary movie recently, which I heard all about later because he regrets, he had regrets He regrets about seeing it Yeah, we do not like scary movies in our family. We are Okay, I see. Yeah. That's why I went to Snakes on a plane with you and Veronica Belmont, the only person who doesn't like scary movies more than you don't You got to have every every friend's got to have a friend who's like a little bit worse So yeah, I get this text from my son at like midnight, a little after midnight, he's like hated. I hate everything. I hate that movie. I hate it. Then the next morning, he's like, actually you should go read about this movie because it's kind of interesting. movie itself. whichich caused me to discover that you know what is a thing? Backrooms. C you already know about this? Only because of the movie Do I know about it And we covered this on Cord killers this week because there's the whole thing about Hollywood is now immediately like, well, of course I'm the person who told them about backrooms and I'm taking the credit for, you know, and of course YouTube is the new incubator for aours these days because backrooms make a bank. at the box office while Mandalorian and Gro Gp plummeting I want to Should we have that talk? I kind of won't have that talk. I know I'm not on chord killers, but I sort of w want to have that talk because Iry. Well yeah, it's not And I was like, oh, yeah, this is definitely not gonna to make any money because who is this movie for Like, on the one hand, you have Cuty and malicious Disney dialogue. likeike, oh, there is nothing you will have to think about in this movie. We will explain everything to you lost me is the moment when they when them when Mando literally said out loud, this is not even a spoiler The only way that this is going to work is if we fight together. No, no, no kidding. is Sherlock like we hadn't figured that out. If I shoot him, he will fall. You got to hand me this information like I'm a freaking child. And then you have like cute little like myth that appeal to children, but also you're a hyper violent action film that's nonstop and has monster jump scares. And then you are simultaneously kind of like not a Star Wars universe movie, but lots of Star Wars Easter eggs. Who am I supposed to tell to see this film U think someone who saw Star Wars in nineteen seventy seven . And we're getting old and we don't like to go to theater anyore becausecause we like to have theaterre at. Yeah. Backrooms picked a lane and was like, let's just do the scary part And so then, okay, so then I go and I read about backrooms. too come back to our original point, I don't trust people who get from point A to point B conversationally in a straight line, by the way. So like this is the preferred version. This is the bisexual sitting of conversations. To the point totally So backrooms is a scary movie And it was inspired by stuff happening on the internet. An urban legend sparked by a creepy image posted online Every Hollywood executive knows about creepy pasta this week, by the way they totally do. Exactly, which is like you p, you cut and you post the same thing Creepy pasta over and over and over. So they all know about that But what I didn't realize is that this kind of backrooms Um, vibe and these mundane spaces and this kind of weird liminal creepiness and whatever had become such a thing that it was like part of the visual language of severarance M for example, and it's it's been kind of like ing up in more it's in the amazing digital circus, which we've gotten so many notes about, like that So they're saying that online byy the way, amazing Digital Circus is gonna premiere its finale in theaters By the way, it's all part of the thing The backrooms have branched off seemingly inspiring the liminal spaces trend and TikTok's mall room phenomenon And all of that led to this movie that scared the Jesus out of my child at midnight next to me. And then I was like, oh my God, this is a thing And like set a record for Monday sales by a horror film in June, which I know is like, you know, having a four hundred average in the third inning of daytime games in Wiglely field. But but still like This movie is made a hundred million dollars as of today in its first week That is bananas That is absolutely bananas. but also this backroom thing is like Like if you're going to pick something to build on This is This has everything that the Mandalorian and Grogu lacks because it has nuance and a sense of imagination and I mean some legitimate creepiness, but some legitimate creepiness as opposed to just like, oh monsters is jumping out at you from like an appeal to a subculture or generation maybe that isn't being spoken to otherwise and is like, oh, I know that. I appreciate that. That's not my parents' thing. That's my thing So what the backrooms are, and tell me just describe this as you know the concept or whatever, in the creepy pasta, an endless maze of empty rooms that resemble an office or storage space illuminated by harsh fluorescent light and decorated from floor to ceiling in sickly yellow There is no location for the backrooms. It's a kind of purgatory that exists outside of space and time acccess by no clipping through the floor or wall as though reality contains glitchy, unstable corners like a video game. Anyone can fall in and find themselves trapped to escape. It's a metaphor for life. Isn't it though? As are most popular things like this. Right, There's a reason this hit so hard by the way because We're feel in it This is this is great. And I know I on Cord killers we talk about this too, but everybody's like, oh, it's like the Aurs of the seventies, you know, or the nineties, you know, is it Coppola? Is it Link later? I don't know, but and really all that means to me is like, yes, we have finally inducted a new generation into filmmaking and in the past they came from other places, but now they're coming from YouTube and TikTok because guess what? That's where they make stuff Right? Oh my God, that's so true and it's so good. And it's also just like Great and it's a really good answer to this idea that there isn't any new material left and everybody has to keep making sequels and blah blah blah. It's like, no, there are original There are oginal happening online and being posted. Back Groups is a franchise It just was never a motion picture franchise It was a digital native franchise based on an entire trend, right? It's like, yeah, that's the kind of franchise you want. Somet new right orderly Anyway, fast wing fast that. I love that you brought the aspect of Backrooms itself as a phenomenon, not just the movie. Oh yeah, that's what I think is fascinating. Yeah's a big deal. But what I think is so interesting is the lore. the lore and the visual language. likeike when they were mentioned, because seeverance had such a specific look to it that we all viscerally felt And I only just now found out that it had a name and an inspiration. which is the liminal space where creepy stuff lives. behind the real world. feels so on the nose right now cararing myself. That So true. Papa happappiness is other thing this week Have you heard H you heard of roost social I haven't Rooost Social is a social media app that delivers your posts at the speed of the bird you choose Pigeons are sort of the main bird, but there are other birds there. And then when you send your message, like if I were to send a message to you, Molly on roost Social, I would pick my my bird, let's say I chose a duck And whatever speed it would take a duck to fly from Los Angeles to Oakland That's how fast The message would get to you. Are you serious? This is so stupid and awesome. I love it. It's just a bird nerd social app with. You can watch The bird on a map Make its progress as it sends its message to your friend Yeah And of course There's a waitlist. Oh, my God, of course there is because birding is a freaking thing. like right? You know what is a bird thing that I had forgotten about and saw as a comment recently that absolutely delighted me. It was on a video of a condor release, you know, being released into the wild which is like amazing. It was a really cool video And then the top comment which the posters had pinned said, o man, I wish birds were real. No . Oh Beaiful been a thing and now you their own social network. I love it A I'm getting on the waiting list, no shpe in my game. yeah me too. I have not been accepted into Rost social yet. I cannot wait for the day that I have been and I hope You get there too, so I can send you a burb. Me too. A burb U. Wow Cute aggression He Anyway, if you want to check it out, it is roostsocial. 'll the link in the show N notes Exactly. and I'm going to get on the waiting list before we release this episode and y'all ruin it for me. So a thing that all readers know about at this point, maybe not readers, but the kind of book talk, like you Tom knows about it, you know people who are just really into the whatever, that is becoming a shorthand for a list and that's why I feel that you need to know about it. U is the TBR. So if you are like a good reads user, Tom's like, yeah, this is one of those where I was like, this isn't a thing. This is just where everybody uses And then I started saying it in the world. and then I have more than one time seen the the initials TBR refer to just like a list. or a cognitive load. Love this one. Like this is overloading my TBR. The TBR is just the list that you have on Goodreads and probably and other apps and it means to be read And it's just your cue. that you want to read But it is in the book world too, like you talk about it all the time, like, oh no, there's so many things on my TBR. Yeahah, but this is gonna like this is gonna to break my TBR if I have this one thing and like I'm out of order on the TB and whatever. And so we're all talking about it all the time now that it is breaking containment as a larger concept. I adore it and I feel that everyone just needs to be warned that you're going to hear TBR and it most likely still refers to the list of books that you want to read. but it might just also be your like to do list or your mental to do list. Yeah, it might be a more, it might be metaphorical If it doesn't make sense as a booklist, then then it's metaphorical That's cool. That's a good one. We used to promote sword and laser the science fiction and fantasy book podcast I do with Veronica as like a great way to add things to your TBR And then over the years TBR became a problem. TBR became a thing that was too long for everyone. And so we kind of had to stop doing that because people were like, I don't need anything to add to my T. But TBR is already unmanageable And then I found myself starting to be like You know, like, oh, you might want to add this TV show to your TBR even though it would really be a DBW.. So it's not surprising that it just you know, creeps on from there into like, oh man, my TBR, of my mental TBR makes perfect sense. I all even just all my media, which I love. And it's so funny because like you've been doing this podcast for so long Veronica and like reading all these books and knowing all this that it's almost like you've just been sitting in it I've been bathing in it. been bathing I'm the frog. He's already been Tom has already been popularizing TBR as bigger than a reading list And yes, and I'm here to tell you that now the interternet is catching on at long. It is a. I love this.ic camp This is a good one All right, thing of the week is Tarps off. No question. You don't have to take your tarps off P done and done Have a good time Oh, and before we move on from our things, thing of the week is TarPS offft, no question. I am just issuing a warning to those of you who are not yet aware Love Island has Premiered As of as we are taping this last night, so it premiered Wednesday, june second. So there are going to be a lot of things now. that are related to Love Island because for whatever reason This show hits so hard on the internet and has like the most toxic insane fandom ever, and it's on three or four times a week So like, just be prepared I rarely rarely in a situation to do this, but I'm going to tease My thing for next episode. because it has its roots in Love Island Stop it. And I'm going to have to bold it in the bullpin so I don't forget. How are I've been a friend of mine in the UK has been using this in her posts on Instagram, And I looked it up. I'm like, oh, that is definitely a thing. and it has its roots in Love Island So Stay tuned folks I love this. Oh my go, we are so in this sight guys. And so are our listeners feedback at it's the thing. me Ambassador Domo on an extension of the house Purse discussion of the House Purse led me down a retail rabbit hole that led to the Bog bag. What is the bog bag A bog bag is a durable, waterproof and tip proof tote bag made of EVA foam. Highly popular for beach trips, sports sidelines and family outings, theseese bags are famous for not tipping over and for being incredibly easy to hose out when they get dirty or sandy. Originally designed with crocs as inspiration by a New Jersey housewife in two thousand eight, the Bog company had revenue of more than one hundred million do in twenty twenty four On my retail excursion, I found originals at TJ Max much more wannabes at not only TJ Max, but Ross five below and Walmart We actually covered the bog bag way back on episode two hundred and eighty eight So I love that Ambassador Domo is making connection between Also, I have se in fact, in the TikTok that kicked off the idea of the house purse that really seems to be the origin, that's what she was using. She wass using a Bog bag And I have to admit I'm kind of tempted to get that because I've just been using a tote bag, but it's like too floppy Because you really do want your bog bag to be like sturdy like that. It's like taby. And not fall over. Perfect. Also congratulations, by the way. I had not heard this on Wantabes from Ambassador Domo, which I think is on purpose as, it's a wannabe but I wantan it. Like it's trying to mean the thing, but he spelled it Want to bees I just thought it was a missbell It could be In the shopping context, I sort of can you confirm? becausecause in the shopping context I love it as a want to be as opposed to a wanna be Like as in I want it because I'm shopping, anyway, I'm a child Ambassador Domo, we know you're out there. Please confirm. Alice and I want No judgment. I want a bog bag for my house pur because I have been doing the house pur thing for one week. and Oh my God, it works. Changes your life? Because I never know where my freaking iPod my airPods are ever Now you know And now, I know that they're in my house person. I never know where my glasses case is that I switch between these glasses and my sunglasses. And now I know It's at my house purse It is organizing my life. I'm freaking out. Yeah. And now we wantna bug raag. We got a wonderful email from Vilor Trucks on Bearcat. unlike what my grandmother assured me Bearcat has a description and a definition other than, Oh, you know That's what grandm and Pat said Uh, he's he writes too and Mow and re Your discussion of the term Bear cat has engaged my music, history, nerd superpowers. In the nineteen twenties, Bear cat was akin to saying that someone was A lot It was slang that meant that a person, usually a woman, was energetic or hard to handle. By the nineteen fifties, it had taken on a meaning much more akin to what you were alluding to in your discussions fella who gets around But this change in meaning was largely because of an answer song In the nineteen fifties, it wasn't uncommon for popular songs, especially R and B songs to generate a host of answer songs. For example, Eda James' first major hit The Wallflower, AKA Roll withith Me Henry, was an answer song. to the Hank Ballard single, Work with me Annie. Well, in nineteen fifty three, Rufus Thomas recorded an answer song to the bigig Mama Thornton single pound dog which he called Bear cat This release ultimately resulted in a lawsuit though, and Sun Records pretty much stopped releasing answer songs as a result. All of this music history talk brings me to my think check. First of all What This is amazing and I want to go find that song Beare Cat. This is fascinating. But then he goes on, haveave you guys yet heard Andrew Hickey's a history of rock music in five hundred songs podcast? I cannot stop talking about the show excluding, it's a thing. It might be the finest thing on planet Earth right now Sorry for the long email says Vayler, Ind ramble when I talk music history as always, you rull So I want they not like us, is it toottally. I'm like, wait, you're talking about rapf songs. Like that's Janice STFU Answer some gosh. I've had suchack release for like a year or something know Mhm No and then Andrew sent this one and I used it on TNS as well because I maybe didn't pay attention to which show he said it to. So if this sounds familiar to anybody who listens to both, that would be why. My issue with digital price signs is dynamic pricing in general With your Apple example, they're going to jack the price up the first week Ales come in and try and get people to pay more money. thenen maybe some of the apples get cheaper over time But now I'm in a situation where I have to think to, oh, the apples come in on the first Monday of the month. I got to wait until itast Friday to buy them. Who wants to do that You're also gonna get things like kids coming in on Sunday with their parents grocery shopping. Let's make the candy more expensive. Why can't things just coast a fair cost a fair amount It will be like them jacking the normal price of an item twenty percent and then saying it's fifteen percent off all the time I mean, you make a really fair point because capitalism sucks But of stuff just, but if I mean Prices are illusions Prices are already illusions, thatatus. We already have so many illusions. like it's we don't we actually don't know for sure if toys cost the same thing same on Tuesday as they cost on Saturday without a whole bunch of like data analysis and physical visiting in stores posossibly this is already happening I still like the idea of digital pricing or dynamic pricing to prevent waste Yeah, and there was there's something about the disintermediation of humans that makes this more annoying Yeah That's kind of where I ended up on DT andS, which is like I'm Bargaining with a merchant I that's dynamic pricing, right? They're trying to get as much out of me as they can And it is annoying, but it's annoying in a different way, But you also understand it. You're dealing with the merchant If I'm at a garage sale and I'm selling something for five dollars and a person goes, would you take four? That's dynamic pricing, right We don't get as annoyed by that as the sign changing, right And And I think it has to do with the fact that you don't know who's behind it, right? It's faceel.ight It's the invisible hand of probably trying to screw you that upset Which is fair, which is fair. Yeah U Hey, you're the best audience in podcasting, in my opinion, all of you. You show up, you're so fun in the discord, you bring us your own things in our emails at feedback at it's a thing. me and you support us directly Patreon. com slash it's a thing, including those special few. It's a growing number, which is delightful too. great content the shout out level. at patreon.ot com slash. it's a thing And that is why Wed like to do a little something special back for you. and we're nothing, if not a classy show Like classy We're like Uhuh, We're like a hold up your cup with pinkies out. Picky up te time kind to show Which is why this week's shouts are based on tea tasting notes. For example A A R Ethy and grounding with sweet peppery notes that may remind you of a ginger snap cookie AB puppy is just naturally sweet and smooth AJ Venturella, robust, rich, chocolatey, bold Benjamin Frest, soft. Floral honey like sweetness Eric Duncan, sppicy with a zest of freshness SW Texas sweet, floral tangy Gabrielle Cohen Roasted almonds, dark chocolate, stone fruit Merals Jake Wood's complex floral and woody base Kevin Sill, aromatic. Freshing. Laara Abel, masterfully balanced with bits of soothing sage Lee Price, pllum Lichy Creamy almond, lightly smoky finish Mike Akins, nurturing, sweet, spicy, and savory Mike Lurch, deep, rich and earthy. Morris Jones smooth and comforting and Vilor trucks. Orid honey Buttered toast a soft mineral finish Ugh, I mean, how wonderful are all of you patrons. How wonderful Thank you for supporting the show. You too can become a member of if It's a thing and get access to our discord to chat along live with your fellow patrons. pllus an ad free RSS feed, which I know we all love and our undying things And buy the merchant at our shopping page before it all disappears. It's w me slash shop By Sits