The Random Crap Thread 2: It Hits the Fan.

[GasBandit]

Soooo... so much for Patreon being a thing.

Everybody's mad as hell they've decided to change their fee structure in a way that fucks over everybody that relies on small-scale donations, but benefits those whose patrons drop big bucks.

https://www.pretty-terrible.com/funny-money-patreon-style/

What it does, is it changes its old variable transaction fee to a "standard" 2.9% plus $0.35. Which is great if your patrons are chipping in $10-20 bucks a month, but a knife in the gut if most of your patrons are ponying up $1-2.

Seems there are a lot more people using Patreon who rely on lots of people pledging a little.

X

 

[Yoshimickster]

First Youtube with their algorithm, then Tumblr with that bullshit "Good stuff first" button, and now Patreon with that bull shit.

 

[blotsfan]

Its not that corporate greed surprises me, this just seems like its a bad idea by patreon. It seems like there are way more people who just get $1 from a few hundred/thousand people, so you'd lose enough of them that you're making less money.

 

[strawman]

Patroon clearly doesn’t want to support small donations anymore.

They had to in the beginning to gain both creators and patrons, but now they’re past that need and no longer have to cater to them.

 

[HCGLNS]

 

[GasBandit]

Yeah, like Steinman said. Frankly I am kinda surprised it took them this long. I know most transaction companies (credit cards, etc) charge a minimum amount per transaction, so merchants (or in this case, Patreon) probably loses money on $1 transactions. You can only absorb that for so long, and they probably did so to build their brand for a while. Now fiscal reality sets in. We'll see if the business model survives the transition.

 

[blotsfan]

It's not like they weren't taking a cut of $1 donations though. Seems like raising that rate would've been a better idea

 

[PatrThom]

It’s the $0.35 minimum that kills it.
They could’ve achieved the same goal by raising the minimum donation to $10 or something. That would’ve chased off an equivalent number of supporters.

—Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

It's not like they weren't taking a cut of $1 donations though. Seems like raising that rate would've been a better idea

That's pretty much what they've done. They've changed from taking a 10 cent cut of $1 pledges to taking a 38 cent cut.[DOUBLEPOST=1512701889,1512701744][/DOUBLEPOST]

It’s the $0.35 minimum that kills it.
They could’ve achieved the same goal by raising the minimum donation to $10 or something. That would’ve chased off an equivalent number of supporters.

—Patrick

What they should have done is taken a tip from console manufacturers of two generations ago, and made it so that you pledge with "Patreobucks," which have a 1 to 1 value ratio to USD, then make you buy PatreoBucks in multiples of 10 (with perhaps a discount for buying 100+ at a time).

That'd alleviate their transaction fee problem, and at the same time incentivize higher/more frequent patronizing.

 

[PatrThom]

That's pretty much what they've done. They've changed from taking a 10 cent cut of $1 pledges to taking a 38 cent cut.

That’s almost equivalent to the amount of taxes in the USA, i.e. the difference between gross and net.

—Patrick

 

[Hailey Knight]

My wife told me a fun thing. USPS has been struggling to keep their arrangement with Amazon Prime's two-day shipping guarantee, so they're scanning stuff in bulk, delivered or not. And then what happens to the stuff? Sometimes the packages are delivered later ... and sometimes they aren't. And Amazon is catching on, which makes me curious if they're going to start pushing their already existing delivery system or shift the weight to UPS.

 

[Dei]

My wife told me a fun thing. USPS has been struggling to keep their arrangement with Amazon Prime's two-day shipping guarantee, so they're scanning stuff in bulk, delivered or not. And then what happens to the stuff? Sometimes the packages are delivered later ... and sometimes they aren't. And Amazon is catching on, which makes me curious if they're going to start pushing their already existing delivery system or shift the weight to UPS.

Most of the time my stuff just gets delayed. I haven't been lied to yet, but ffs have I had a lot of late packages.

 

[strawman]

That's pretty much what they've done. They've changed from taking a 10 cent cut of $1 pledges to taking a 38 cent cut.[DOUBLEPOST=1512701889,1512701744][/DOUBLEPOST]
What they should have done is taken a tip from console manufacturers of two generations ago, and made it so that you pledge with "Patreobucks," which have a 1 to 1 value ratio to USD, then make you buy PatreoBucks in multiples of 10 (with perhaps a discount for buying 100+ at a time).

That'd alleviate their transaction fee problem, and at the same time incentivize higher/more frequent patronizing.

I suspect they'd run into banking laws if they did that. Right now they are considered a payment service, but if they have to manage accounts, balances, etc, then it's a much worse regulatory mess.

 

[Gared]

Not entirely related, but we had a horrible branch of the postal service when we were living up in Puyallup. Mail was constantly late, packages weren't delivered on time (if they were delivered at all), and one time a temp worker apparently decided they didn't want to do any work at all, so they picked up every single piece of mail for my entire complex and put notes in all of them that they were too full and the mail had been taken back to the post office. Every single person (including property management) had to go to the post office and pick up their mail and have the service turned back on. It happened at least four times while we were there, and the regular employees at the post office would just apologize and hand over the mail.

 

[Celt Z]

We had our local post office in Queens pull crap like that. The first time was when they lost a package my mother sent. The second time, Mr. Z dropped off all of our wedding thank you notes, and not a single person received them. Which, I might add, I didn't find out until 5 months after the fact and was furious. As far as I could tell, they just dumped them in the trash somewhere.

 

[GasBandit]

Government work.

An oxymoron for the ages.

 

[HCGLNS]

My favourite oxymoron is left-over bacon.

 

[GasBandit]

I suspect they'd run into banking laws if they did that. Right now they are considered a payment service, but if they have to manage accounts, balances, etc, then it's a much worse regulatory mess.

Amazon product

 

[HCGLNS]

Why do cats like tuna fish? Was there a point in their evolution when cats actively hunted tuna fish?

 

[strawman]

Why do cats like tuna fish?

They're kinda stupid that way.

 

[Gruebeard]

Today and yesterday I looked in the mirror in the middle of the day and my hair was frightful.

I'm getting old...

Oh, my hair in the mirror is frightful
But something something delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow

. . . I got lazy.

 

[PatrThom]

Why do cats like tuna fish? Was there a point in their evolution when cats actively hunted tuna fish?

Orange Lantern material, there.

—Patrick

 

[jwhouk]

Government work.

An oxymoron for the ages.

Now you know why I'm getting out.

 

[fade]

Whoa. I just realized that "Santa Claus" and "testicles" have the same number of syllables and roughly rhyme.

This changes ..... well, very little. But it makes for lots of childish parody caroling.

 

[PatrThom]

Whoa. I just realized that "Santa Claus" and "testicles" have the same number of syllables and roughly rhyme.

This changes ..... well, very little. But it makes for lots of childish parody caroling.

*tentacles

—Patrick

 

[fade]

*tentacles

—Patrick

You do your thing, I'll do mine.

 

[PatrThom]

You do your thing, I'll do mine.

Only because it fits the meter better, and because it would be funnier for them to be coming to town.

—Patrick

 

[HCGLNS]

So driving behind a guy tonight who was in a pick up truck with 49 bales of hay in the back.

So naturally they flick cigarettes out the window.

 

[DarkAudit]

If Japanese TV has taught me anything, it's for goodness sake, make friends with the office ladies, and STAY on their good side. Even more than secretaries, they see and hear EVERYTHING.

 

[strawman]

If Japanese TV has taught me anything, it's for goodness sake, make friends with the office ladies, and STAY on their good side. Even more than secretaries, they see and hear EVERYTHING.

That would be a good answer to this question.

 

[DarkAudit]

That would be a good answer to this question.

That guy just sounds like an ass. Work is work. Christmas is Christmas.

 

[Celt Z]

If Japanese TV has taught me anything, it's for goodness sake, make friends with the office ladies, and STAY on their good side. Even more than secretaries, they see and hear EVERYTHING.

Have been secretary, can confirm.

 

[Denbrought]

If Japanese TV has taught me anything, it's for goodness sake, make friends with the office ladies, and STAY on their good side. Even more than secretaries, they see and hear EVERYTHING.

Befriending and staying on the good side of the admins/secretaries at my IT job is a big part of how I survived it. They were about the only people (outside deans) that had any pull with all the PhDs and could corral them (or defuse their temper tantrums).

 

[Cheesy1]

One of my friends posted a link on Facebook of photoshops of Peter Dinklage on a scooter. Decided to make her one of my own.

 

[Dave]

Well, I'm back home again. It was a long & busy week but now I get to relax and...psych! I get to start packing. We move this weekend.