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by svachalek 3357 days ago
The typical way to do it is to more or less hold an auction, increasing the offer until enough people take it. Either way the people with the lowest thresholds end up getting bumped. These are the people with the least urgency and/or most need so I don't really see what's unfair about it.
1 comments
Qworg 3357 days ago
Hold a reverse auction instead - start high and lower it until you get just enough takers.
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thaumasiotes 3357 days ago
That's a terrible idea. It would be a PR disaster each and every time you tried to do it.
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ghaff 3357 days ago
I can just imagine holding some weird auction that 95% of people are unfamiliar with in a crowded boarding area full of annoyed passengers :-) That will end well.
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RyanCavanaugh 3357 days ago
I've been in boarding areas where this happened. The offer started at $400 and ended up at $1,000 by the time they got enough people to accept. No one was outraged (and I was quite happy to get 2x$1,000 in vouchers in exchange for a minor inconvenience).
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ghaff 3357 days ago
That's not a reverse auction.

A reverse action is offering $2K. More people than we need. OK, how about $1500? Still too many. $1000? OK, right number.

"Wait! You offered us $2K and now you're only going to give us $1K. Lying POSs."

At least that's what I think people are referring to as a reverse auction in this context. I'm not sure if that's a totally accurate description or not.

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thaumasiotes 3357 days ago
Do you really think "The offer started at $400 and ended up at $1,000" matches the description "start high and lower it"?
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mistermann 3357 days ago
Why would you start high, that's going to maximize your cost not minimize.
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koenigdavidmj 3357 days ago
Because people are selfish and might volunteer to get 800 for themselves rather than let some other guy get 1200 (even if 1200 is the legal maximum).
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FabHK 3356 days ago
No, if you start low, people might basically implicitly "conspire" to keep their hands down, and when the first "breaks" the cartel at some high price, all hands will shoot up.

Better to reverse auction until only 4 hands are left. It should end up cheaper (and fairer, incidentally, as it will closer to true preferences)

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