RE: A Modest Proposal

["Steve Avenell" <savenell@keenersinc.com>]

Hey ya'all

Well, I have been reading and thinking about the auction.  Yes, that guy was
a real dork, but it seams that there is always some one who is a dork in one
way or another.  Last year it was.... well you all know.  I don't think that
that dorks are the fundamental problem you guys are having.  I think that
the real problems is one of philosophy.

What exactly is the purpose of an auction?  It is an exercise in the raw
forces of supply and demand.  The goal of an auction is to get the highest
price possible for what ever you are trying to sell.  If someone wants that
$2 plant more than they want their $10, they will get the plant and we will
get the $10. We get our money and the person who wants that plant the most
gets it, even if their wants are unreasonable. The only real way to lower
prices at an auction it to increase supply (buy more plants) or reduce
demand (have less people)

I think that any kind of limit, special rules or anti-dork clauses will get
too hard to enforce and piss people off.  If our goal is to get the plants
to the people who want them the most or to get the maximum return on our
investment in plants then we should put up with the dorks and stick with the
auction format as it is.  If our goal truly is to get plants in the hands of
people, then perhaps we need to consider a whole different format entirety.
A straight plant sale for example, or perhaps some sort of strange plant
swap meet where people pay $10 to get in we give them $10 worth of plants
then they go and trade them with other people.  Something entirely
different.

Steve