— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

The world is at risk of major corporations becoming too powerful, along with the potential dystopian implications. And yet we willingly enable them to grow by giving them our business.

Just like our carbon footprint is largely a conscious choice, so is our monopoly footprint – how much we choose to let those mega-corporations get bigger still.

What is your monopoly footprint?

Did you shop at Coles and not the local buthcer?
Did you eat at McDonalds and not an independent hamburger joint?
Big 4 banks?
Amazon?
Uber and not a taxi?

Note: this post only exists to claim the first use of that phrase 😉

Start a gym that costs more than most, billed monthly.

Keep a track of people’s visits (combine with facial recognition or something to stop cheaters).

If you visit on 70 different days during the year, the whole next year is free.

People will think that is not much more than once a week, which is easy if they were planning three times a week.

People will assume they will reach the goal, so in their mind the monthly fee is half what it is.

Yet few will actually achieve it.

On the plus side – you get to order in advance, get stuff cheaper and quicker, and feel cool about it

On the negative side – people can literally take your money and run, claiming ineptitude. See The Coolest Cooler.

Has there been a study done on this? Good results versus bad? I sense it is, on aggregate, quite a bad deal.

There has been a study, by Kickstarter. It says that 9% of the time you won’t get what you paid for.

Sounds about right.

And I’m guessing the average supposed advantage you get from being a backer is 10-50%

And I’m guessing that many projects, when they sell to the public, end up selling it cheaper than they expected.

Conclusion: for entertainment value only. You might get lucky, but on average your risk equals your reward.

This is a terrible idea, for safety reasons, and is not intended to be serious

But when I get an idea, I need to share…

One of the most impoverished statuses in society is the solo-Mum. Primarily because child-care is exorbitant, child-raising takes time and dollars, and jobs that fit are hard to get. Also, some exes are wankers and don’t pay up.

What if you could work with your kids along for the ride? Literally?

Here’s the concept:

• Stereo-typical solo-Mum has a crappy car = equals cheaper ride
• Kids are in the back
• So only one passenger is allowed
• Opens up a new market of passengers one step up from hitchhiking
• Or… is hip with hipsters with a charitable and social conscience?

Yeah, it took forever, the kids were crying… but it was cheap as chips and I helped out a battler.

Another business idea, for a hotel.

In a location that gets lots of non-international tourists who stay at least 3 nights, for example the Gold Coast in Australia.

Have a mattress showroom attached to the lobby. Test drive beds in the lobby, and choose the ones you wish to trial in your hotel room.

Hotel staff switch out the beds each day.

When you leave you get an offer to buy your favourite bed, guaranteed discounted and delivered to where you live.

The beds are not visibly branded, so you are not influenced by brand, and you cannot research prices elsewhere 🙂

Note, this has been tried on a single option basis before, with success:

https://jensen-beds.com/try-out-jensen-mattress-hotel/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jordilippemcgraw/2018/05/25/savoir-mattress-hotel-inspiration/#2fa05bbe53d4

https://giftshop.thehotelwindsor.com.au/product/windsor-mattress/

The idea is for a supermarket that offers what Woolies and Coles do not. It is aimed at shoppers who want choice, not necessarily the lowest price. It is all about what is best for the customer, and work out profits later. And ups the stakes in responsibility.

• The Big Two regularly ditch brands that were otherwise doing alright. Those brands still exist and would love a new home
• Ethical shoppers prefer full transparency and information
• A minimum of two choices per product type, with preference to brands not stocked by Woolies and Coles
• Full ranges – for example every Heinz sauce, not just some
• All fresh food provided by on-premises, 3rd-party butchers, bakers, greengrocers – with two of each for competition? Or not, undecided on this one.
• If fruit and veg are in-store, have a wider range that usual, more heirloom / farmers market products
• Possibly a farmers market on Sundays. A few vendors in store, or many in the car park. Leftover produce could be sold in store in the following week
• No automated checkouts. Full service
• No insurance or gift cards or magazines – nothing that doesn’t belong in a supermarket
• By restricting product types, more space for groceries
• A help desk! Ask questions about products combined with product testing, ask if something could become a stock item
• Clearly marked zones for product type
• Comparable products always alongside each other, not above and below competing for eye height
• Round up for charity option at checkout – signage says you request it, staff won’t ask otherwise
• Assistance buzzers at several locations on each aisle, primarily to help elderly people
• Nothing ever on special??? Just an idea, probably won’t work

Think of it as a curated supermarket. When you look at the 3 brands of tea on the shelf you can clearly see the country they are from without looking at the packaging, and whether it is ethically sourced. And the shelf signage can display any other types of  interesting information:

• minimal packaging
• stocked by Coles 2008-2013
• 88 staff in Victoria
• only 4 ingredients
• no artificial colours
• no preservatives
• imported from Italy as there is no local alternative
• rated top pick by Choice magazine
• typical use-by date range
• fresh food – how long stored for, and how

And so on, not unlike what you see in some groovy bookshops.

If there was a loyalty program, it can be used to crowd-source product ideas. And if a product is not selling well, ask the people who buy it, and ask the people who buy the alternative, and find out what could be done to keep it as a stock item.

Floyds = my Dad’s late-nite burger restaurant name, before Pink Floyd

58 = fifties and eighties / 50s & 80s

“rock ‘n’ roll” probably was most successful in the 50s and 80s. Yet the two versions were very different. They had to be, as the first was the first. It never got to grow and mutate in the early days.

The Bar:

The “Bar”, everything is 50s, like Happy Days. Staff uniforms., pastel etc

On everyone else’s side of the bar, the public side, it is GnR, 80s.

Above the bar is a food menu, but it is a retro facsimile. Even though the names match up, the item above the bar is not the modern equivalent in the bar menu.

Bands, sticky carpet, graffiti toilets, all on our side is that. You can’t make patrons dress up, but decor will inspire, plus the glassies who are dressed up 80s. And trivia host. And DJ. etc

Behind the bar is young Britney Spears in a waitress outfit.

With Art Deco milkshake shakers

Um – a real bar, 24/7 with 24/7 food, St Kilda, drive-in (not drive thru)

Or a story about the real bar, and it turns out the barmaids are robots…

The concept: many office workers go out for lunch and eat alone, staring at their food. Why not entertain them?

Every day between 12:15 – 12:45, and 1:15 – 1:45, there will be something to watch while you eat, on a stage.

Examples:

• Monday is Fashion Day, with catwalk models
• Tuesday is Business Day, with presentations from companies, like you get at conferences
• Wednesday is Live Music Day
• Thursday is Lucky Dip Day – often product demos, or a Ted Talk on the big screen
• Friday is Stand Up Comedy Day

Food is for sale, food court style, so it can be served quickly.
OR, you can bring your own (to start with, anyway)

The future plan is to charge entry, say $10, for which you get a food/beverage voucher worth $10. That keeps freeloaders away.

Finding a suitable venue might be hard – maybe a failed food court?
Seating is for people on their own, facing the stage. Like a university lecture room, but roomier

Bonus: the venue can be used for business conference breakfasts ($10 breakfast and coffee), and evening Meetups (food AND alcohol).

Performers play for free. Businesses pay to promote their product.