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Markets in everything
Yes, everything, drive your friend (or enemy) crazy with obscure postcards:
You are bidding on a rare chance to traumatize a treasured friend or relative with baffling, mind-numbing, mystery correspondence from abroad.
Here is the arrangement:
I will be spending the Christmas holiday in Poland in a tiny village that has one church with no bell because angry Germans stole it. Aside from vodka, there is not a lot for me to do.
During the course of my holiday I will send three postcards to one person of your choosing.
These postcards will be rant-ravingly insane, yet they will be peppered with unmistakable personal details about the addressee. Details you will provide me.
The postcards will not be coherently signed, leaving your mark confused, guessing wildly, crying out in anguish.
"How do I know this person? And how does he know I had a ferret named Goliath?"
Your beloved friend or relative will try in vain to figure out who it is. Best of all, it can't possibly be you because you'll have the perfect alibi: you're not in Poland. You're home, wherever that is, doing whatever it is you do when not driving your friends loopy with international prankery.
Your target will rack their brains in the shower. At dinner. During long drives. At work. On the golf course.
"Who did I tell about the time I got fired by a note on my chair?" they'll ponder, "And where the hell is Szczeczinek?"
But wait, there's more.
To add to the sheer confusion and genuine discomfort, one missive will be on an original promotional postcard announcing the 1995 television premiere of Central Park West on CBS.
Another will be a postcard celebrating Atlanta's disastrous hosting of the 1996 summer Olympic games.
Your mark will be at a complete loss, desperate for answers, debating contacting people he or she hasn't talked to in years.
"I know this will sound weird," they'll say, "but by any chance were you in Eastern Europe ranting about cantaloupe... twelve years ago... right before some show with Mariel Hemingway debuted?"
When you decide to end the torment is completely up to you. If you can, I recommend owning up on 1 April 2008 - giving you nearly half a year of joy and a George Clooney-esque level of prankage. If you can't hold it in that long, I totally understand.
Here is the ebay link, so far there are 35 bids, and thanks to George Whitfield for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 19, 2007 at 06:37 AM in Travels | Permalink
Comments
Wow, it's already up to almost $200. There is clearly a lot of demand here. Maybe the seller should consider doubling or tripling his or her output.
Posted by: at Dec 19, 2007 8:27:02 AM
It's a perverse sort of market though because there must quite quickly come a point at which the level of publicity this service receives renders it non-viable. I already can't use in on any of my friends who read MR, for example.
Posted by: Seamus McCauley at Dec 19, 2007 8:52:36 AM
"And where the hell is Szczeczinek?"
Pretty near Szczeczin, I suspect.
Posted by: Sandy at Dec 19, 2007 8:57:20 AM
"And where the hell is Szczeczinek?"
By the time the postcards arrive, it will take an internet-averse recipient not to find that out.
"Pretty near Szczeczin, I suspect."
Trains need two and a half hours for that distance. Not too near by european standards.
Posted by: Arne B at Dec 19, 2007 9:57:26 AM
Very amusing idea.
Posted by: Milan at Dec 19, 2007 10:09:43 AM
this seems like a great gift for certain people, so i understand the current bids.
Posted by: dj superflat at Dec 19, 2007 1:06:42 PM
Slightly off-topic, but is the global impression of the 1996 Olympics really "disasterous"? I mean, aside from the bombing and the horrible mascot the impression I always get is that it was 'adequate' if not 'good'.
Posted by: Todd at Dec 19, 2007 1:20:13 PM
Great prank...but I'd be a little wary about giving out my friends' addresses to a stranger.
Posted by: Biomed Tim at Dec 19, 2007 2:54:39 PM
Let's get rid of the supernormal profits by introducing some competition fellow-MR readers!
But then again, perhaps he can "patent" the idea? I wonder, how far does IP protection run these days?
Posted by: Raul at Dec 19, 2007 4:42:18 PM
Heh. I loved this from the Q&A section of the ebay listing:
Q: No offense intended, but is this really worth nearly $200 (bidding at $185 right now)? Are you THAT good? (Clearly you're good, but still, 200 clams is a lot of scratch...)A: Milton Friedman would say "it's worth what it's worth." Paris Hilton would say "who's Milton Friedman?"
Posted by: Brian Courts at Dec 19, 2007 8:06:03 PM
Brian Sack is hilarious. He created an eBay sensation once before with his famous leather pants, which generated a tsunami of bids:
http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000286.html
Posted by: Marilyn Terrell at Dec 20, 2007 6:36:23 PM
Not the same Brian Sack by any chance, is it?
http://www.federalreserve.gov/research/staff/sackbrianp.htm
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