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Markets in everything
Linda started her online business, the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm, as a joke. It was 1994 and she wanted to teach herself how to design a website. Since she lived on the prairie in southwest Kansas, where rolling tumbleweeds are sometimes the only dynamic feature of an endless flat horizon, she invented a farm that sold tumbleweeds, listing prices at $15 for a small one, $20 for a medium and $25 for large.
Hollywood has also come calling. Katz’s tumbleweeds have appeared in films like Johnny Depp’s “Neverland.” And she has supplied tumbleweeds to the big purple dinosaur kid’s show, “Barney.”
Katz says people usually use her tumbleweeds to recreate the look and feel of the old west for theme parties. But some customers tell her they buy tumbleweeds to remind them of the home on the prairie they left long ago.
She is now making about $40,000 a year.
The pointer is from David Welton. Here are David's writings on Padua.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 27, 2007 at 01:38 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
Ahh... nothing quite like assisting in the spread of an invasive species. The joys of free trade.
Posted by: rluser at Nov 27, 2007 3:28:26 PM
The long tail strikes again.
Posted by: happyjuggler0 at Nov 27, 2007 4:00:35 PM
I wonder if there's a market for authentic Canadian tumbleweeds...
Posted by: Robert S. Porter at Nov 27, 2007 4:32:10 PM
If there is a market for Canadian Tumbleweeds I have access the 103 acre piece of ground where the noxious and invasive species breeds. My next film project is going to be called "Toxic (tumbleweed) Avenger...starring Helmut Bohner - Aggressive Winemaker.
It will be entirely financed through my new online film finance and speculation engine...coming soon....coming soon
Posted by: david at Nov 27, 2007 5:29:33 PM
"the look and feel of the old west"? "authentic Canadian tumbleweeds"?
Not that old or that authentic: Salsola of Ukrainian origin was first reported in South Dakota in 1877.
Posted by: rkillings at Nov 27, 2007 9:26:22 PM
You'd think with all her success she would have upgraded the look of her website since 1994.
Posted by: Nicolae Carpathia at Nov 28, 2007 8:12:03 AM
Not that old or that authentic: Salsola of Ukrainian origin was first reported in South Dakota in 1877.
Thank you Wikipedia.
I come from Europe, am I not an authentic Canadian either?
Posted by: Robert S. Porter at Nov 28, 2007 1:30:22 PM
So is the effect of getting national exposure like this going to hurt her business or harm it? I imagine that anyone who sees the article and wants a tumbleweed for some reason right now would go to her site and buy one.
However anyone who has a field full of tumbleweeds would be able to duplicate her business easily. I can't imagine that if anyone is looking for a tumbleweed in the future will remember her company name specifically, they would probably just google tumbleweed and go to the first site that came up.
I can't imagine that giving this interview was good for her long term business prospects unless it increases the demand for tumbleweeds more than it increases the number of people willing to supply tumbleweeds.
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Posted by: 数据恢复 at Nov 30, 2007 2:24:37 AM
Like the saying goes, "not everything you see on the television is true," but if on the internet then it has to be true; Right? I guess it's like how ebay got started, one guy wanted to by a pez for his collection, and now that one guy makes millions a year and has one of the top websites in the world. Are the prices that Katz has listed competitive or does she even have any competition? The prices seem close together, but with no market competitors and an endless supply of tumbleweed, I guess for her it doesn't make much of a difference.
Posted by: Stephen at Dec 7, 2007 8:33:03 PM
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