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I hate to keep bringing it up, but looking at history and looking at what the next year is likely to bring aren't any of you still living in China afraid your lives will be claimed by mob violence? that poo poo erupts quick
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 07:47 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 14:00 |
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like I am genuinely expecting some of you are going to go out like vilerat
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 07:48 |
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Invisible Handjob posted:like I am genuinely expecting some of you are going to go out like vilerat I'd watch a Michael Bay movie about Haier
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 07:52 |
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Andorra posted:I'd watch a Michael Bay movie about Haier
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 08:02 |
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The Plunger coming 2018 to a theater near you
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 08:03 |
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nah I really expect some of you guys to die though
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 08:03 |
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I have a feeling that two of those target demographics will probably not have ample representation. ------------ I was thinking about the bike fiasco, and it is confusing me. Where do these companies get money? The bikes are often used in morning, at lunch, and going home after work/school. There are so many of them that there's no way they are all getting used for long periods. When I went riding with that girl, she used the bike for several hours and the total was like 7 RMB or something. That could account for the sheer numbers of bikes being put out, because otherwise there is no way they can turn a profit. It's like buying a billion shares of a garbage penny stock. Let's say the average bike makes about 30 RMB per day. I feel like that's being quite generous with the low rates they charge. You'll need 1000 bikes to pull in 30k RMB per day, which isn't that much when you think of the cost of bikes, parts, trucks, team to repair, the app, the office, the warehouses, the shipping, etc., etc. So then might need 10k bikes, littering every street in the city with these stupid things, and clogging sidewalks and exits (this is becoming normal now). Do they scrap the entire bike when people trash them, or just use parts? How much do the repair people make? How much is the CEO paying himself? The truck drivers for deliver and pick-up these things? The app team? It all goes down the line of costs and costs. What about all of the broken bikes that are not reported as broken, so they sit there not making any money? What about all of the bikes that are in piles together, bushes, on someone's balcony, etc.? There's no way a team of people can keep track of finding every single one of these things that show up on a population map. So only a certain percentage of these rubber shitheaps are making money. That doesn't even count in the rainy days when usage goes way down as locals are terrified of rain. How many thousands and thousands of these bikes will it take to break even? It has to be a constant repair/replace scheme, and there must be a lot of people who work doing that on a daily basis. It's just money to spend on this project. I am not an accountant, so I cannot comment, but when I think of all this together, if the government isn't throwing billions of RMB at them to stay afloat, how in the frick do they not close business after a few months? I feel like it would take a few unruly teenagers and apathetic users to ruin enough of these bikes over a period of time that they would break the system and be too costly to make up the difference. Also, a pair of wire cutters is, AFAIK, all it takes to cut off the plastic bits withe GPS and, hey, free bike. Just pay the fee and say you're finished using it, and then carry up to your room and make it yours. Invisible Handjob posted:I hate to keep bringing it up, but I have no idea what I would do, but down here people are more relaxed than other parts of China. I could walk to the HK border from where I am (better to skateboard, as it's also a weapon and the dirty fighters here all recognize that). My boss could just drive me the SZ/HK airport while I use my phone to buy an Air Asia flight to wherever with a hat pulled low and an air mask on my face. I do expect some good foreigner bashing stories from Beijing though. Street Shitters will be in full force up there.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 08:16 |
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Andorra posted:I'd watch a Michael Bay movie about Haier Please, David Lynch.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 08:44 |
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Haier posted:
Those bikes probably cost a couple of hundred rmb at most. Bike repairs are really cheap here, like anything costs less than 10 rmb, and these are standardised and mass produced so would be even cheaper than usual. Trucks to move them around are also really cheap, when we moved house we got a full sized truck and 4 guys for about 4 or 5 hours and it cost 300rmb. They should pay for themselves pretty quickly
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 09:16 |
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Outrail posted:Please, David Lynch. While a Lynchian interpretation of Haier's plungings would be intriguing, I think you're missing the reference to the actual movie that Michael Bay made about Benghazi, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 09:19 |
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Haier posted:Basically, I associate Pidgin with a lousy quality of life. Yes, I know people in the better areas and rich houses can also speak Pidgin (or have that uncle that can), but I wasn't there to experience those people. I was around the the other Pidgin speakers. Born and raised as a haole in Waianae, and have lived all over Oahu. Totally don't have the same reaction to pidgin as you. And you better not be implying im some fancy bitch from Hawaii Kai.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 09:22 |
Only david lynch could accurately capture the dream-like horror of the peanut story.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 09:25 |
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Haier posted:I have no idea what I would do, not going to be 'would do', it's 'will do'. good you have formulated a plan though I also expect beijing to be the epicenter of mob justice
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 09:32 |
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Evil Agita posted:Born and raised as a haole in Waianae, and have lived all over Oahu. Totally don't have the same reaction to pidgin as you. Does any of this matter? No.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 10:22 |
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Haha, I think I get why you fit in better in China than you do in hawaii. Oh well, carry on.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 10:27 |
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Invisible Handjob posted:I hate to keep bringing it up, but Dude, we already said that last year or whatever that poo poo with the chinese stocks went down. Then TGA didn't even respond to my question about his exit plans and now look at his posts. Just a few months more and he's out.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 10:34 |
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Evil Agita posted:Haha, I think I get why you fit in better in China than you do in hawaii. JaucheCharly posted:Dude, we already said that last year or whatever that poo poo with the chinese stocks went down. Then TGA didn't even respond to my question about his exit plans and now look at his posts. Just a few months more and he's out.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 11:42 |
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https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/01/18/china-orders-local-meteorological-bureaus-stop-issuing-smog-alerts/quote:China’s Meteorological Administration notified local bureaus Tuesday to “immediately stop issuing smog alerts”, according to a photo of a notice posted on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo.' "We were disagreeing on what smog is according to our machines which gave us both the same readings, so why not just ignore those numbers and everyone has a harmonious Spring Festival and rest of the year?" The average citizen already thinks smog is "fog," so this will just make it better. I don't know which team is considered "wrong" in this matter, but we all know that the reports will be edited to look "better."
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 12:05 |
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So what is to force people to actually pay for the bike rides? If they treat the bikes like such garbage why don't they also just get on one of the 80 bikes piled on the side of the road and ride without paying?
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 13:01 |
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I wonder how many people just remove the GPS and take the bikes? or maybe it just isn't worth the effort of having to take care of a bike rather than just throw it in a big pile with all the others? Also, what are the odds that a foreigner could do the same thing without being confronted by a patriotic (insecure and angry) Chinese?
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 13:29 |
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Why steal a bike when you can just grab one from your local pile?
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 13:33 |
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These bike piles really help to explain China's GDP numbers.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 13:41 |
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:These bike piles really help to explain China's GDP numbers. Gross Domestic Pedal numbers?
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 13:55 |
Gross Digit Peanutbrittling?
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 14:13 |
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oohhboy posted:Why steal a bike when you can just grab one from your local pile? I totally don't understand this whole bike thing. What if the bike you rent is at the bottom of the pile? Why not just have free bikes everywhere since they are apparently too lovely to steal or scrap? so many questions...
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 14:34 |
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I thought nothing in china was too lovely to steal gor scrap.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 14:57 |
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Haier posted:Did he ever post those photos about something? I don't recall seeing them. Somewhere in India, they build shrines for him. "God of False Promises"
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 15:10 |
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Bum the Sad posted:So what is to force people to actually pay for the bike rides? If they treat the bikes like such garbage why don't they also just get on one of the 80 bikes piled on the side of the road and ride without paying? nickmeister posted:I wonder how many people just remove the GPS and take the bikes? or maybe it just isn't worth the effort of having to take care of a bike rather than just throw it in a big pile with all the others? ladron posted:I totally don't understand this whole bike thing. What if the bike you rent is at the bottom of the pile? Why not just have free bikes everywhere since they are apparently too lovely to steal or scrap? To rent a bike with the majority of companies: 1. Desire to rent a bike and walk to the nearest one you see. 2. Download their super special app and make an account and/or login with your e-payment system. >2.5. If you can't find a bike to rent, the app will have a population map and you can walk to the nearest one from their company. 3. Scan the QR code on the back of the bike. 4. The app will tell you if it's working and ready to go, or broken and can't be rented. 5. Hit the "OK" button in the app, and you can now slide this open to use the bike: 7.Ride the bike to wherever you're going. Don't worry about taking it down the stairs or getting it roughed up. 8. Get off and open up the app and go through the reverse process with the app and bike. 9. Your session will not be finished in the app until you lock the spoke-lock-thing on the back tire. The locking piece looks to be made of plastic, not metal (or maybe plastic covered metal). 10. Once you lock the tire and tell the app you're done, you'll be be charged your tiny amount of money for use. 11. The app may keep a GPS record from your phone and bike GPS, so you can see the distance traveled and supposed calories burned in that time. Regarding Number 9, I think if you hop off for a moment and someone gets on and rides away, you may not be able to end your session, and you might get charged for their travel. You may also be able to follow their path on your phone. From what I have seen on these lovely bikes is that the back-tire lock and the bike's GPS are all one little connected box. Take that off and the bike should be yours completely. The thing is that most people here are too lazy to park them standing up, let alone going through the process to properly steal one. If you can get one back to your apartment, it's as good as yours. That's what all these people did at my building, except instead of cutting off the GPS lock box, they left them on the common area near the elevators and were too lazy to take them down again and so a pile of them on each floor built up. I am not even sure if the bikes actually have GPS. The app might just list the coordinates of the spot the last user checked out from, assuming the bike is still there. EDIT: I am talking about the lovely companies that have bikes just parked anywhere. There are other companies that require you to park them at their locking station and are cared-for and like an actual legitimate bike-sharing program. I am not talking about those. Coincidentally, the ones of those in my area have all disappeared since the poo poo free-for-all bikes have been dumped off by the hundreds. These are the good ones: These type are the ones all over the place: http://www.timeoutshanghai.com/features/Blog-Around_Town/40348/How-to-use-Ofo,-the-latest-bike-sharing-app-in-town.html Haier fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Jan 18, 2017 |
# ? Jan 18, 2017 15:20 |
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I just searched and found some more info about the bikes scourge: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-30/uber-s-bruising-battle-in-china-is-being-refought-with-bicycles quote:In China’s internet warzone, there’s a road map for success: find a rich backer, get lots of money, burn it to buy market share. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2062595/more-500-rented-bikes-many-vandalised-left-dumped-piles-near quote:Many of the bicycles dumped in piles near the city’s Xiashan Park had been vandalised, the Southern Metropolis News reported. A volunteer fixing the bikes.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 15:45 |
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quote:The guards demanded that a senior company official contact them before any bikes were removed, the newspaper reported. They're getting bribe money! Being a Chinese security guard must be the sweetest job. Do nothing but collect bribes.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 18:42 |
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mobikes aren't going to last too long once every thief starts carrying a security torx bit set
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 19:44 |
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big time bisexual posted:mobikes aren't going to last too long once every thief starts carrying a security torx bit set Why do that when you could rip the control box off existing bikes, create your own app, print your own stickers and become a parasite on the existing companies.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 20:14 |
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Outrail posted:Why do that when you could rip the control box off existing bikes, create your own app, print your own stickers and become a parasite on the existing companies. that requires effort and not cutting every corner
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 20:33 |
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The real money to make is to get investors to fund a new start up that hires people to chase down the bikes where you then charge the bike rental company a fee for every bike you drop off. Then just gather random bikes and dump them at spots and charge whatever number you want and when they don't pay, take the bikes and dump them on the next guy. When everyone stops paying, take all the bikes to the scrapyard, embezzle all the investor money and then buy a nice house in canada.
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 20:57 |
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I was about to post the likely answer to the bike funding question but The Plunger plunged first. As usual it's venture capitalists being fed a fanciful story in exchange for endless heaps of money to burn. That's the nature of the unicorn hunt. Many trendy tech companies operate this way, absorbing enormous losses that far outstrip their revenue. They have no hope of profitability outside of the lovely tales they sell to investors. They use their enormous VC funding to undercut existing companies at a loss and put out tons of marketing to grow their userbase extremely fast. When many people are using their service, they become a real proven company and they can project that the profit per user will transform from an uncomfortably large negative number into a quite nicely positive one within a few years. All it will take is using One Weird Trick The Government Hates, science fiction technology, and a lot more VC funding. Trust me. It's different this time because we hav app
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# ? Jan 18, 2017 22:25 |
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Spatial posted:I was about to post the likely answer to the bike funding question but The Plunger plunged first. Pretty much the first two questions I would be asking would be. . . 1. How many bikes are you planning on operating in the first 3 years? 2. What is the hourly/daily rate? Right at that point 1 second of mental math is going to tell you that this is not a feasible business model, and that bikes are going to be degrading and falling apart before they've even paid themselves off. Add to that the fact that there are maintenance and administrative costs, and there is no way in hell this could possibly turn a profit. I'm wondering if there was a part of the pitch where the founders said, "as you know Chinese consumers will always play by the rules and take good care of these bikes, as Chinese people are so considerate. . . not investing in this once in a lifetime offer would be akin to saying the Chinese people can not be trusted to use these bikes!" <investor wires 2 million RMB despite knowing exactly what is going to happen, but does not want to lose face>
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# ? Jan 19, 2017 01:20 |
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haier how many times has this happened to you?
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# ? Jan 19, 2017 02:24 |
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Haier posted:Hilarious bike history lesson Yo my favorite part of this (and it really says a lot about Chinese people) is that the primary motivation for using a bicycle is when you "feel too lazy for walking", as opposed to getting somewhere more quickly/saving time That really just explains so loving much.
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# ? Jan 19, 2017 02:31 |
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big time bisexual posted:haier how many times has this happened to you? this is why you go swimming on the 1st date
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# ? Jan 19, 2017 02:34 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 14:00 |
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LentThem posted:Yo my favorite part of this (and it really says a lot about Chinese people) is that the primary motivation for using a bicycle is when you "feel too lazy for walking", as opposed to getting somewhere more quickly/saving time I can already tell that there will be higher traffic death rates this year as these bikes spread. These companies are getting many people riding bikes again who maybe haven't rode one since middle school, but they are trying to combine their poor skills with phone usage and general spacing out. Like ebikers and from watching others, they assume that there are no rules to road and they are the only thing on the sidewalks or in the streets. Spatial posted:I was about to post the likely answer to the bike funding question but The Plunger plunged first. big time bisexual posted:haier how many times has this happened to you?
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# ? Jan 19, 2017 04:36 |