{"id":95,"date":"2011-02-10T16:17:17","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T23:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=95"},"modified":"2011-02-10T16:23:27","modified_gmt":"2011-02-10T23:23:27","slug":"groupon-group-off-enough-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"Groupon, Group Off — Enough Already!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Group<\/p>\n

Apologies for the headline, but blame David Pogue<\/strong>. Whenever I think about the coupon company Groupon<\/a> I have a Karate Kid<\/a> moment (you know, wax on, wax off<\/a>), and Pogue’s\u00a0 column<\/a> today is all about Groupon and the parsimonious groupthink that is compelling millions of Americans to decide, apparently at the whim of an app, that a set of scented candles is just what they’ve always wanted.<\/p>\n

Hey, who doesn’t love a deal, right? And the only thing we deficit-spending Americans love more than a bargain is a bandwagon, and Groupon’s is packed to the running boards with me-too start-ups — LivingSocial<\/a>, BuyWithMe<\/a> and Woot <\/a>to name a few (Pogue has a full list).<\/p>\n

It seems every media outlet with a browser button<\/strong> is now in the deal-for-a-day business. Daily Candy, the entertainment list, has Swirl<\/a>, deals on trendy clothes. Marin Magazine (who I do work for) has SFSpree<\/a>, deals on chic San Francisco things. And, today, my local paper, the anorexic Marin Independent Journal<\/a>, has a\u00a0 front page, above-the-fold deal<\/a> — only $64.50 for a $129 room at the San Anselmo Inn.<\/p>\n

I smell something fishy. Is it a shark? Has it been jumped<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Is this what the all the great power and potential of the Internet has become: The opportunity to turn us into a nation of coupon-clippers<\/strong>? Move over, Grandma, the ‘Net’s caught up to you.<\/p>\n

I don’t argue that for the early movers like Groupon the math is good<\/strong> — 10 bucks here, 20 there times a few million users\u00a0 adds up to real money, so much so that the company’s upcoming IPO<\/a> is valued at $15 billion. Hey Groupon, how about half-off on that?<\/p>\n

Maybe Pogue is right and it’s all a psychology thing<\/strong>. As he says, “is saving $10 such a landmark event? The last time you bought a house, a car or even a night at a hotel, did you haggle for another $10 off? You probably could have gotten it. But you didn’t Somehow, though, in the Groupon context, it feels like a steal.”<\/p>\n

Hmmm. I’m still not convinced.<\/strong> Half-off on botox injections or cuticle cream may entice some of you, but I’ll start clicking the buy-this-deal button when I open the Groupon app and Today’s Deal is 50% off on a new Nikon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apologies for the headline, but blame David Pogue. Whenever I think about the coupon company Groupon I have a Karate Kid moment (you know, wax on, wax off), and Pogue’s\u00a0 column today is all about Groupon and the parsimonious groupthink … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[314,315,317,89,311,312,40,318,316,313],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-buywithme","tag-coupon","tag-daily-candy","tag-david-pogue","tag-groupon","tag-livingsocial","tag-marin-magazine","tag-sf-sprre","tag-swirl","tag-woot"],"yoast_head":"\nGroupon, Group Off - Enough Already! - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=95\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Groupon, Group Off - Enough Already! - Tim Porter's Second Draft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apologies for the headline, but blame David Pogue. 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