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Yo!
My wife’s design assistant texted me a picture of novelty furniture that she thought I’d like. Being a design assistant requires one to understand the taste, aesthetics, and general vibe of others, and she had me. I would like a lamp that is basically illuminated bread (yes, bread!).
I clicked through the link and imagined where in my adorable office the bread lamp would live. The price seemed commensurate with the joy it would bring me and others, but then I saw it. A few words that made me feel some kind of way: only 3 left. I felt a ping followed by the thought that “I better swoop on this before they’re…”— Then, I suddenly realized the feeling of scarcity was setting off an alarm inside me. I quickly exited my browser and had the following inner monologue.
Is this real? Or are they trying to trick me? I know supply chain issues exist, but there’s no way to actually know if there are only three left. Is this real scarcity or has it been artificially created to sell more lamps?
Either way, those words made me feel something and made me realize what I’ve known about selling all along. Scarcity and urgency definitely trigger something in me, for better or worse; they compel me to consume.
In the end, I didn’t buy the bread lamps. I didn’t want to feel like a sucker that got tricked by an internet sales tactic. My life is just fine without those lamps, but I’ll let you know if anything changes.
I’m sure you have experienced something like this before. How does scarcity or urgency compel you to consume? Don’t be shy; hit reply.
Your friend,
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1. 🖐 I’ve Been Investing in the Stock Market for a Year—Here Are My Top 5 Takeaways (Well + Good) 2. 🙈 Why is the Financial Times Trying to Hide the Wealth Porn? (Intelligencer) 3. 🦙 Eight Things I Wish I’d Known in My Twenties Before I Blew My Life Savings on an Alpaca Farm (New Yorker) 4. 🚀 The Rise of the Shaman Bro (and his eventual demise) (Asleep Thinking) I have been saying for years that tech bros were just the 2.0 version of the finance bro. Now meet the fully evolved 3.0 version: the shaman bro. 5. 🤓 A bookkeeping thing - What Is Lumpy Cash Flow? And How to Smooth It Out (HYG Original) 6. 🙇♀️ First she documented the alt-right. Now she’s coming for crypto. (Washington Post) “Most of my disdain is reserved for the big players who are marketing this to a mainstream audience as though it’s an investment, often promising to be a ticket out of a really tough financial spot for people who don’t have many options. It’s very predatory.” 7. 🤦♂️ Artists Are Getting Fed Up with Labels' TikTok Demands (Rolling Stone) Rolling Stone Trevor Daniel claims his label won’t let him release music until there’s enough buzz around the track. It’s an emerging label practice that’s happening to Halsey, Florence Welch and others too. 8. 🌍 About 200 years ago, the world started getting rich. Why? (Vox) “Our book leads to the conclusion that there is no silver bullet explanation for why the world became rich. Colonization likely played some role, and it likely played a much greater role in keeping large parts of the formerly colonized world poor. But there are many key features of the onset of growth that cannot really be accounted for by colonization. Most importantly, explaining how the world became rich requires an explanation for why the rate of technological change rose so rapidly. Colonization may have played an indirect role in this process, but there are many other causes we highlight that were much more direct and relevant.”
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