Although the fun of the hunt is long gone and we no longer see spectacular boxes anymore, I am still buying thrm because they remain worth the $.
Although my last box didnt have any Murad (hint, hint), it did contain some thermal underware that my niece loved, a nice charging cable that I needed and a dash camera, plus a couple other things. It was worth it!
@tinamarie1974@werehatrack
I got the murad spf and I wore it Thursday and then met my brother for happy hour and all I could taste was really bad sunscreen. It was bad. I’ve never had that happen with any other product like that before. I don’t know if I just happened to get a huge glob that I didn’t see on my lip but I was also drinking out of a beer bottle so super weird. I’m gonna try it one more time and if it happens again I’m done with it. It was like tasting rancid beer/food at every sip. I had to soak a napkin in my water and completely wipe my lips, around my lips and get a new beer bc it was that bad. But if it ends up happening again, you can have it.
I’m certain that’s the reason it ended up on meh lol
@MarkDaSpark those male protection boxes are terrible for the environment. They attract indiscriminately and result in zapping a large amount of the useful and beneficial local fauna. Just plant a few citronella plants and scatter a mix of NO SOLICITING and LIVE LAUGH LOVE signs, your yard will be much better off.
They started with great stuff, then fantastic white elephant gifts. Then they went to old meh items that didn’t sale and only showed up during meh-a-thons. The last one was below meh, and I had to buy meh-a-thon stuff to get it affordably.
@kittykat9180 They used to be really great when they were just $5. I received several New (in dented boxes) Coffee Makers and Food Processors. Got a Belgian Waffle maker and other useful appliances too. I’ve stopped buying them after 5 consecutive ZONKS that were totally useless to me and not even worth donating.
@sammydog01 I was so jealous of those! Although I shouldn’t be, my son makes enough noise without a set and I’m pretty sure I am better off for him not having them. But he’s actually got decent rhythm so it could be his thing.
@djslack If you have a switch taiko no tatsujin is really fun and you can control the volume. Spring for the drum. This one is definitely not worth the shipping cost, sorry.
I’ve had some very solid scores over the years…in fact, I’m currently liquidating that 50-piece tray of server memory a few of us got like three years ago. Probably will net around 7 grand from that! (see, it’s not HOARDING, it’s an investment strategy!!)
Not to mention several quality Cuisinart stainless pots/pans sets, food processors, cutlery and other appliances. A couple robot vacs and a shark that I’m still using too. Oh, and several of Joes creations!!
Plenty of crap too, ofc. Enough trackrs to tile a kitchen…ditto on KN95 masks… the occasional box of nearly unidentifiable broken plastic or glass pieces.
Enough IRK bags to build a couple proper parachutes I’m sure.
It’s always been fun no matter what and honestly, up until this last one, there was never regret…it was…pitiful. Just two small things and the bag, lol.
(Full disclosure…I…uhhh…kinda hold the unofficial title of the most IRKs obtained by a fair margin.)
Point being…I guess…is ya gotta play the game to win?
I’m gonna go with fine enough. There have been some real high points (Pallet of TVs being the pinnacle), and I especially enjoyed the Marlboro clock that became the Trolboro Cheer Up Sucker clock. The e-bike project I couldn’t take on that let me meet and have a nice talk with @werehatrack. Appliances, robot vacuums, and more. But there has also been some regret along the way, too. But being inked, I don’t have the regret that the people who paid money do.
So wait. I need to change my answer. Not many places do this to begin with, but the one crazy enough to gift a lifetime supply of anything to the few people dumb committed enough to get a tattoo? No matter what comes in the boxes, it’s been a great experience with all you fuckers.
@djslack
You got a Marlboro clock? Do you still have a pic of it? Smoked Marlboro for half my life still have a shit ton of points that I need to cash in but they don’t have anything cool like a Marlboro clock.
I could never get one even though I was routinely loading meh at the top of the hour. Once things relaxed so I was able to get one it seemed all I got were cosmetics. Being a dude I didn’t care for costume jewelry, makeup or other cosmetic/cosmetic adjacent things. Always been a lower case meh to me.
I had a few that had broken or severe ding and dent items, but it wasn’t bad and I was able to fix them. Later I got a set of knives I put in my apartment kitchen and they always had a bunch of odd stuff. I will say I’ve gotten far more than enough European power adpaters, TrackRs and gold gel undereye masks.
Then I had one IRK get stolen by the Amazon delivery driver who was delivering the next package that day (He grabbed it as he left my house)
Since then the IRKs have been sub-meh, and I’m just not feeling it anymore. The latest one was particularly sparse AND underwhelming.
@mattyBS take our Collective advice don’t buy anymore. If you wanna throw your money away, go buy a lottery ticket or even send it to me I’ll send you a few 3-D printed trinkets.
I’ve only bought a few. The included bag is useless, too wide and thin to hold groceries. So it’s just junk. My dog ate one. I should have stopped the year they sent me about 14 micro USB cables with car chargers. And 24 Trakrs. But I tried once more. Instant regret. Never again.
The bags hold a ton. I use them for my grocery shopping all the time. I’m talking the irk bags, not the old fukubukaro bags. So idk why you’ve had issues.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I have yet to purchase one. I’ve attempted on several occasions but to no avail. I’m not sure when Meh’s day started but it’s 7:13AM CDT (on a Saturday) and they’re sold out; aside from earmarked IRKs. I would love to instantly regret my purchase; provided I could make my purchase. I somehow regret this comment. I guess that’s something.
@Arhelger I’m willing to help. If you want instant regret, you could send me $30 and I’ll send you a “surprise” guaranteed to evoke emotions of regret and disappointment. BTW I’ve been a Wooter since day one and an Meh’er since day one too; I have never been able to get an IRK. I never wanted to admit it, until now. Today is liberating! I’m out of the IRK closet and feel prideful about never being able to get an IRK.
I used to get the occasional good one. And once, very early on, someone put one together just for me, when I was in the middle of dealing with cancers 2 and 3 at the same time, with a present for each grandkid. That was really thoughtful of them and the kids adored what they got.
Then of course there was the bubble wrap joke that lasted over several irks where wrapped was some very good stuff and some crap from hell. The best part of that though was the jokes and bubble wrap discussions over several irk reveal threads.
I was offered the pallet of TV’s (likely because I had posted about buying two mac laptops broken in different ways for a total of $50 and managed to make one working one after only 3 tries with only 2 screws left over LOL) but I had to turn it down as I had no place to put it (I was living with someone else working for them and there wasn’t room in the house or in the car port (I was very sad).
These kinds of things, even if you weren’t a “winner”, added to the enjoyment of the irks (fuko. fuku era mostly but not exclusively), the reveals, and the fun and built community in ways that doesn’t happen now. To me that was part of the irks too that is missing.
I am, these days, mostly getting crap that is even hard to donate. I offer it for free and no one bites as well for most of it. I have gotten a few good things - a knife set for example. I didn’t need it but the fact that I got it to begin with was an appreciated surprise. It made a really nice birthday gift to a friend of mine.
I wish we’d, occasionally at least, have some of what went on before. Part of irks used to be more than meh getting rid of unsold junk, broken returns, etc, and to be fair having some “winners” too of people who got nice stuff even if they can’t use it.
@Kidsandliz “Part of irks used to be more than meh getting rid of unsold junk” - well, I think IRK’s have always been about getting rid of unsold junk. It’s just that the unsold junk of the early “land grab” phase was a lot more interesting than the unsold junk of today.
Part of that is the bigger-picture market shift which has led to fewer and fewer domestic American entrepreneurs deciding to try and strike it rich by selling some wholly inscrutable nonsense that ends up festering in a warehouse somewhere. Trickier to get loans now, trickier to small-scale (or even arguably mid-scale) sell on the 'Zon or the 'Bay now, and Aliexpress/Temu filling the deep-rooted biological need of the Everyday American Consumer for wholly inscrutable nonsense acquisition and cutting out the American middleman and their American warehouses in the process.
But another part of it is that Meh is larger now and also has different outlets. For example, a single pallet of TVs actually is sort of unsellable junk on a deal-a-day site, where expenses are kept low by being able to focus on a single headache at a time - a single thing located in a single geographic area of the warehouse that has a single boxing routine and all leaves, preferably, on a single pickup; very little need for in-the-moment frontal-lobe activities.
But if the factory packaging for the individual sets is damaged or non-existent (I can’t remember what the specifics were there), it becomes a big costly headache to properly package and ship. Even if the factory packaging is label-ready, you still sort of have to put them at a price point where it becomes hard to morally justify a “arrived damaged? Aw, tough tits, have a coupon I guess” philosophy to returns. And it’s just a single pallet, so you can’t really do much with margin-pricing - if you try to price it low enough to where you can say “yours might arrive cracked in half, if so enjoy your two half-TVs ¯_(ツ)_/¯” then you’re losing money just on the expense of keeping the lights on and climate control running in the office for that day. Factor in the atmosphere of a new startup that still has the “new car smell” lingering and making everyone nice and giddy, and it becomes understandable to just clear them all out for $5 to some lucky sucker, dust off your hands, and let someone else figure out what to do with them while you bask in the thoroughly addictive afterglow of fostering positive customer relations (or, you know, deal with all the usual daily craziness that comes with being a startup in the land grab phase. And what’s causing that weird new car smell anyway, it can’t possibly be a healthy thing to breathe, Dave from accounting has been running around wearing nothing but a handkerchief and folded-newspaper hat screaming “I’m the driver of this here Chevy Nova” in a cowboy voice for three days now).
These days, that pallet of TVs could sit around on MorningSave for as long as it takes for people to slowly purchase them once or twice every couple weeks. (You’re also probably not getting offered a single pallet of TVs at a crazy price, because the circumstances that lead to someone begging Meh to take a pallet of TVs off their hands have shifted, for better or for worse - in retail terms, TVs are practically direct-to-consumer now, all passing through one of maybe a dozen large national chains, who are able to more-accurately temper their stock levels because it’s fundamentally easier to predict on aggregate than on local, and even if they end up with overstock, they’re far less likely to be overwhelmed by it, because they already have networks in place to handle it.)
Anyway, at the end of the day, the stuff that shows up at Meh HQ is less interesting now than it was ten years ago for several reasons (some of them internal, some of them external), and the stuff that shows up at Meh HQ that can’t be or just plain isn’t sold is therefore more-less interesting, and the stuff that ends up going into IRKs is even-more-less interesting, to the point where a rational unbiased observer might even deem it “extremely-less-interesting”.
@Kidsandliz Back when they were $ 5 you didn’t have to think twice about plunking down the money for things you didn’t need. Lately you had to pay 3 or more times the $ 5 for things you didn’t need plus buy multiple things you didn’t need to get it for that price.
@ZPB The TV’s were actually mostly broken in one way or another and so taking parts from one to fix another one needed to happen.
It is the jokes with the stuff given out, the personalization that sometimes happened, ttoerh stuff that sometimes went on… For example meh picking up on the bubble wrap comments (just like now normally nothing was bubble wrapped and stuff got broken due to that) and then tightly bubble wrapping that person’s next irk; other people seeing they had something bubble wrapped and hoping it was something good…or one person got an xbox and someone else got the empty box for it so raising hopes on purpose and then dashing them, a couple of times giving out an irk that wasn’t purchased to someone who was having a really difficult time at that point in time, or making theirs full of potentially useful things depending on what was going on… Once meh bought a zillion used t-shirts and stuff in each fuku/fuko. After the fact they posted some photos of the huge bin of photos with, if I recall correctly, a staff member dumping them out and another one lying on the pile… Comments from jonT and the people who immediately followed him in those threads added to the humor and built community.
It is stuff like this in the pre-irk era that I miss. It added to the fun and to the community. Now it appears that what goes on is assembly line get rid of stuff, orders that were put in close to each other (for example inksters) all get the same, or almost the same, things. There are no real deliberate surprises aimed a certain people for whatever reason.
And yes it was also always about meh getting rid of remainders, returns, and saving money junking things you aren’t supposed to put in the trash. BUT what was added that is mostly missing now is the added things meh did in conjunction with this.
I realize the parent company is far larger now, these days meh is only a tiny part of their business and for the most part the company has “moved beyond us”. We are a remnant from the past and we are lucky they have kept us around.
@Kidsandliz@ZPB I was the one who got the new X box and a couple of personalized ones-everything bubble wrapped after I mentioned the quantity of bubble wrap I got with the x box, one with nothing but balls after I mentioned that the stuff I got in one I needed like a third testicle and a horse pinada after I mentioned something about beating a dead horse.
Those were the good old fun day. Pics of fun ones attached.
@Kidsandliz But sometimes you get coffee We just can’t talk about that It’s secret… heh. Or maybe Not-So-Secret I should stop talking now Also, you use more words than me. And that’s a feat
Of the many purchased back when they were $5, I’ve gotten more winners than losers. Enjoyed the challenge it was to snag em back then too. Once they all started to suck and were overpriced with stupid pricing gimmicks I stopped buying. Also canceled membership not long ago…wasn’t worth continuing to pay for every month when I don’t make nearly as many purchase as I once did.
@Koolhandjoe@MrGoodGuy@sammydog01 my favorite irk ever was also curated by Joe. I have a few things from him that are going to be adorning the studio side of the less murdery shed.
PSA: To everyone lamenting the deterioration of quality IRKs over the years. My suggestion would be you get involved in the next meh exchange.
You have significantly higher odds of getting worthwhile stuff curated to you specifically. $30 invested in sending something to someone else will generally net you at least $30 worth of fun stuff that will be more likely usable than the current IRKs are. Plus you get to learn a little bit more about your fellow mehtizens.
@chienfou@emaw_az@SirChris93
I have been running it for the last few years. We usually do it around Valentine’s Day. Look for sign up to open in early to mid January.
I was thinking about doing another one this year but with a different theme. I was thinking about doing a hometown exchange box and exchanging items/foods that specific to where you live. I was just waiting for the holiday and Mehs bday to be over before I post anything to see what kind of interest there is.
My suggestion would be you get involved in the next meh exchange.
Heh I’ve been there!
I’ve sent probably more that 40 boxes containing coffee to the Secret-Not-So-Secret coffee club. I love to roast and the biggest problem is finding boxes to ship it in I just have to remind myself every time I send coffee that it’s not an IRK or an exchange Coffee and a few fun bits… heh. But save the weird stuff for later I wouldn’t be opposed to a mid-summers exchange I know they are a lot of work to put together so I’m not peer pressuring you into anything. (Or am I?) You’ll have more coffee on the way before the end or summer. You (Star) are member #0001. So, you’re kind of like royalty
The first one I ever got was a couple years ago. I got a set of the three-piece luggage hard-sided. It was pretty nice. I gave it to my stepson who was woefully in need of luggage. The funniest bit was that someone had returned it and their return slip was included with it
I’ve gotten some good stuff. Like a calaphalon knife set, toaster oven (oldest has that). But I’ve also got lots of weird sized clothing (4x men’s undies, xs leggings and jackets) and a ton of gold eye masks, trackers, phone cases, screen protectors for items I don’t own and/or are really outdated.
Luckily with 3 adult kids we usually find someone that can use the stuff.
I’m inked, so I don’t have room to complain. I’ve gotten a few broken items (air fryer that didn’t heat, busted scanner) and a ton of the small useless repeat stuff-- Trackrs, rings for the back of your phone, eye masks/pads… But we’re in the process of setting up our daughter in her first adult place, and she has a Cuisinart coffee maker, a nice Calphalon knife set with block, and a stackable/nesting set of Calphalon pots and pans. Thanks, meh!
I dont think I’ve had a good IRK since 2022/23. I’ve had some fun junk and some great stuff. Over-all I’m net positive. Cuisinart stand mixer probably the best I’ve received. Best gag gift was the box of Man of Steel birthday gift bags that I donated to a local thrift store. Display model of a $200 Bluetooth speaker that only worked as a display. The box of probably >100 trackrs. But honestly, we need a PASTA DROP!
I got a IRK back when they were Only $5, they only happen during Meh-thorns…
@mycya4me always happens on my birthday.
@mycya4me Not anymore
@mycya4me @SirChris93
Were always much more fun, but least you don’t need to be glued to your phone all day anymore.
@mycya4me @Star2236 lol right? And sucks the meh-rathons are actually meh too they used to be fun I’d make a lot of purchases but now it’s no more ;-;
Meh
@tinamarie1974 Agree.
@werehatrack sigh, it was a joke because “meh”, meh.com.
Although the fun of the hunt is long gone and we no longer see spectacular boxes anymore, I am still buying thrm because they remain worth the $.
Although my last box didnt have any Murad (hint, hint), it did contain some thermal underware that my niece loved, a nice charging cable that I needed and a dash camera, plus a couple other things. It was worth it!
@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack
I got the murad spf and I wore it Thursday and then met my brother for happy hour and all I could taste was really bad sunscreen. It was bad. I’ve never had that happen with any other product like that before. I don’t know if I just happened to get a huge glob that I didn’t see on my lip but I was also drinking out of a beer bottle so super weird. I’m gonna try it one more time and if it happens again I’m done with it. It was like tasting rancid beer/food at every sip. I had to soak a napkin in my water and completely wipe my lips, around my lips and get a new beer bc it was that bad. But if it ends up happening again, you can have it.
I’m certain that’s the reason it ended up on meh lol
@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack
Murad changed the formula and that’s why Its here. The new formula is spf 50
Magnificent, then mediocre to totally meh.
I am always happy with mine, even before I was inked. It is all what you make of it.
@cbilyak
Agree.
Last one included a box of male protection … a HUGE one! Thanks, but no thanks!
@MarkDaSpark Look at the bright side… a huge supply of condoms makes a hilarious ice-breaker for your local health department.
@MarkDaSpark those male protection boxes are terrible for the environment. They attract indiscriminately and result in zapping a large amount of the useful and beneficial local fauna. Just plant a few citronella plants and scatter a mix of NO SOLICITING and LIVE LAUGH LOVE signs, your yard will be much better off.
@MarkDaSpark @ZPB
The condoms would probably be great for white elephant (along with a gift card) or something
@MarkDaSpark a big box with smaller boxes or just a big box with a hot-air balloon kit?
Wow --> Ah --> Meh --> Ugh
They started with great stuff, then fantastic white elephant gifts. Then they went to old meh items that didn’t sale and only showed up during meh-a-thons. The last one was below meh, and I had to buy meh-a-thon stuff to get it affordably.
I have never gotten one. I can’t bring myself to spend money on something idk what it is.
@kittykat9180 They used to be really great when they were just $5. I received several New (in dented boxes) Coffee Makers and Food Processors. Got a Belgian Waffle maker and other useful appliances too. I’ve stopped buying them after 5 consecutive ZONKS that were totally useless to me and not even worth donating.
I should go put that children’s drum set together, I’m probably short enough to play, right?
@sammydog01 I was so jealous of those! Although I shouldn’t be, my son makes enough noise without a set and I’m pretty sure I am better off for him not having them. But he’s actually got decent rhythm so it could be his thing.
@djslack If you have a switch taiko no tatsujin is really fun and you can control the volume. Spring for the drum. This one is definitely not worth the shipping cost, sorry.
I’ve had some very solid scores over the years…in fact, I’m currently liquidating that 50-piece tray of server memory a few of us got like three years ago. Probably will net around 7 grand from that! (see, it’s not HOARDING, it’s an investment strategy!!)
Not to mention several quality Cuisinart stainless pots/pans sets, food processors, cutlery and other appliances. A couple robot vacs and a shark that I’m still using too. Oh, and several of Joes creations!!
Plenty of crap too, ofc. Enough trackrs to tile a kitchen…ditto on KN95 masks… the occasional box of nearly unidentifiable broken plastic or glass pieces.
Enough IRK bags to build a couple proper parachutes I’m sure.
It’s always been fun no matter what and honestly, up until this last one, there was never regret…it was…pitiful. Just two small things and the bag, lol.
(Full disclosure…I…uhhh…kinda hold the unofficial title of the most IRKs obtained by a fair margin.)
Point being…I guess…is ya gotta play the game to win?
@PHRoG I didn’t think about how the current memory market might help you out… Wow.
/giphy Napoleon Dynamite lucky
I’m gonna go with fine enough. There have been some real high points (Pallet of TVs being the pinnacle), and I especially enjoyed the Marlboro clock that became the Trolboro Cheer Up Sucker clock. The e-bike project I couldn’t take on that let me meet and have a nice talk with @werehatrack. Appliances, robot vacuums, and more. But there has also been some regret along the way, too. But being inked, I don’t have the regret that the people who paid money do.
So wait. I need to change my answer. Not many places do this to begin with, but the one crazy enough to gift a lifetime supply of anything to the few people
dumbcommitted enough to get a tattoo? No matter what comes in the boxes, it’s been a great experience with all you fuckers.@djslack
You got a Marlboro clock? Do you still have a pic of it? Smoked Marlboro for half my life still have a shit ton of points that I need to cash in but they don’t have anything cool like a Marlboro clock.
@Star2236 I did, and I got a thread about it too: https://meh.com/forum/topics/upcycled-and-regifted-our-awesome-gift-from-djslack
POPSOCKETS! COURT DOCKETS! FOLK ROCK HITS! AWESOME!
I could never get one even though I was routinely loading meh at the top of the hour. Once things relaxed so I was able to get one it seemed all I got were cosmetics. Being a dude I didn’t care for costume jewelry, makeup or other cosmetic/cosmetic adjacent things. Always been a lower case meh to me.
I had a few that had broken or severe ding and dent items, but it wasn’t bad and I was able to fix them. Later I got a set of knives I put in my apartment kitchen and they always had a bunch of odd stuff. I will say I’ve gotten far more than enough European power adpaters, TrackRs and gold gel undereye masks.
Then I had one IRK get stolen by the Amazon delivery driver who was delivering the next package that day (He grabbed it as he left my house)
Since then the IRKs have been sub-meh, and I’m just not feeling it anymore. The latest one was particularly sparse AND underwhelming.
So a couple of duds seems to have cured me.
@Aetherwizard I hope that Amazon driver received the appropriate dose of karma beyond stealing a box with gold eye masks and trackr pixels.
Fukobukuro lives! (Maniacal Laughter in Japanese)
I got an air fryer a few years back. It was opened but it looked to have never been used. That is the only IRK I’ve ever bought.
@mattyBS take our Collective advice don’t buy anymore. If you wanna throw your money away, go buy a lottery ticket or even send it to me I’ll send you a few 3-D printed trinkets.
I’ve only bought a few. The included bag is useless, too wide and thin to hold groceries. So it’s just junk. My dog ate one. I should have stopped the year they sent me about 14 micro USB cables with car chargers. And 24 Trakrs. But I tried once more. Instant regret. Never again.
The bags hold a ton. I use them for my grocery shopping all the time. I’m talking the irk bags, not the old fukubukaro bags. So idk why you’ve had issues.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I have yet to purchase one. I’ve attempted on several occasions but to no avail. I’m not sure when Meh’s day started but it’s 7:13AM CDT (on a Saturday) and they’re sold out; aside from earmarked IRKs. I would love to instantly regret my purchase; provided I could make my purchase. I somehow regret this comment. I guess that’s something.
@Arhelger EST…the alpha timezone!
@Arhelger I’m willing to help. If you want instant regret, you could send me $30 and I’ll send you a “surprise” guaranteed to evoke emotions of regret and disappointment. BTW I’ve been a Wooter since day one and an Meh’er since day one too; I have never been able to get an IRK. I never wanted to admit it, until now. Today is liberating! I’m out of the IRK closet and feel prideful about never being able to get an IRK.
I used to get the occasional good one. And once, very early on, someone put one together just for me, when I was in the middle of dealing with cancers 2 and 3 at the same time, with a present for each grandkid. That was really thoughtful of them and the kids adored what they got.
Then of course there was the bubble wrap joke that lasted over several irks where wrapped was some very good stuff and some crap from hell. The best part of that though was the jokes and bubble wrap discussions over several irk reveal threads.
I was offered the pallet of TV’s (likely because I had posted about buying two mac laptops broken in different ways for a total of $50 and managed to make one working one after only 3 tries with only 2 screws left over LOL) but I had to turn it down as I had no place to put it (I was living with someone else working for them and there wasn’t room in the house or in the car port (I was very sad).
These kinds of things, even if you weren’t a “winner”, added to the enjoyment of the irks (fuko. fuku era mostly but not exclusively), the reveals, and the fun and built community in ways that doesn’t happen now. To me that was part of the irks too that is missing.
I am, these days, mostly getting crap that is even hard to donate. I offer it for free and no one bites as well for most of it. I have gotten a few good things - a knife set for example. I didn’t need it but the fact that I got it to begin with was an appreciated surprise. It made a really nice birthday gift to a friend of mine.
I wish we’d, occasionally at least, have some of what went on before. Part of irks used to be more than meh getting rid of unsold junk, broken returns, etc, and to be fair having some “winners” too of people who got nice stuff even if they can’t use it.
@Kidsandliz “Part of irks used to be more than meh getting rid of unsold junk” - well, I think IRK’s have always been about getting rid of unsold junk. It’s just that the unsold junk of the early “land grab” phase was a lot more interesting than the unsold junk of today.
Part of that is the bigger-picture market shift which has led to fewer and fewer domestic American entrepreneurs deciding to try and strike it rich by selling some wholly inscrutable nonsense that ends up festering in a warehouse somewhere. Trickier to get loans now, trickier to small-scale (or even arguably mid-scale) sell on the 'Zon or the 'Bay now, and Aliexpress/Temu filling the deep-rooted biological need of the Everyday American Consumer for wholly inscrutable nonsense acquisition and cutting out the American middleman and their American warehouses in the process.
But another part of it is that Meh is larger now and also has different outlets. For example, a single pallet of TVs actually is sort of unsellable junk on a deal-a-day site, where expenses are kept low by being able to focus on a single headache at a time - a single thing located in a single geographic area of the warehouse that has a single boxing routine and all leaves, preferably, on a single pickup; very little need for in-the-moment frontal-lobe activities.
But if the factory packaging for the individual sets is damaged or non-existent (I can’t remember what the specifics were there), it becomes a big costly headache to properly package and ship. Even if the factory packaging is label-ready, you still sort of have to put them at a price point where it becomes hard to morally justify a “arrived damaged? Aw, tough tits, have a coupon I guess” philosophy to returns. And it’s just a single pallet, so you can’t really do much with margin-pricing - if you try to price it low enough to where you can say “yours might arrive cracked in half, if so enjoy your two half-TVs ¯_(ツ)_/¯” then you’re losing money just on the expense of keeping the lights on and climate control running in the office for that day. Factor in the atmosphere of a new startup that still has the “new car smell” lingering and making everyone nice and giddy, and it becomes understandable to just clear them all out for $5 to some lucky sucker, dust off your hands, and let someone else figure out what to do with them while you bask in the thoroughly addictive afterglow of fostering positive customer relations (or, you know, deal with all the usual daily craziness that comes with being a startup in the land grab phase. And what’s causing that weird new car smell anyway, it can’t possibly be a healthy thing to breathe, Dave from accounting has been running around wearing nothing but a handkerchief and folded-newspaper hat screaming “I’m the driver of this here Chevy Nova” in a cowboy voice for three days now).
These days, that pallet of TVs could sit around on MorningSave for as long as it takes for people to slowly purchase them once or twice every couple weeks. (You’re also probably not getting offered a single pallet of TVs at a crazy price, because the circumstances that lead to someone begging Meh to take a pallet of TVs off their hands have shifted, for better or for worse - in retail terms, TVs are practically direct-to-consumer now, all passing through one of maybe a dozen large national chains, who are able to more-accurately temper their stock levels because it’s fundamentally easier to predict on aggregate than on local, and even if they end up with overstock, they’re far less likely to be overwhelmed by it, because they already have networks in place to handle it.)
Anyway, at the end of the day, the stuff that shows up at Meh HQ is less interesting now than it was ten years ago for several reasons (some of them internal, some of them external), and the stuff that shows up at Meh HQ that can’t be or just plain isn’t sold is therefore more-less interesting, and the stuff that ends up going into IRKs is even-more-less interesting, to the point where a rational unbiased observer might even deem it “extremely-less-interesting”.
Also, congrats on fending off #2 and #3!
@Kidsandliz Back when they were $ 5 you didn’t have to think twice about plunking down the money for things you didn’t need. Lately you had to pay 3 or more times the $ 5 for things you didn’t need plus buy multiple things you didn’t need to get it for that price.
For $ 30 it is a easy pass for me.
@ZPB The TV’s were actually mostly broken in one way or another and so taking parts from one to fix another one needed to happen.
It is the jokes with the stuff given out, the personalization that sometimes happened, ttoerh stuff that sometimes went on… For example meh picking up on the bubble wrap comments (just like now normally nothing was bubble wrapped and stuff got broken due to that) and then tightly bubble wrapping that person’s next irk; other people seeing they had something bubble wrapped and hoping it was something good…or one person got an xbox and someone else got the empty box for it so raising hopes on purpose and then dashing them, a couple of times giving out an irk that wasn’t purchased to someone who was having a really difficult time at that point in time, or making theirs full of potentially useful things depending on what was going on… Once meh bought a zillion used t-shirts and stuff in each fuku/fuko. After the fact they posted some photos of the huge bin of photos with, if I recall correctly, a staff member dumping them out and another one lying on the pile… Comments from jonT and the people who immediately followed him in those threads added to the humor and built community.
It is stuff like this in the pre-irk era that I miss. It added to the fun and to the community. Now it appears that what goes on is assembly line get rid of stuff, orders that were put in close to each other (for example inksters) all get the same, or almost the same, things. There are no real deliberate surprises aimed a certain people for whatever reason.
And yes it was also always about meh getting rid of remainders, returns, and saving money junking things you aren’t supposed to put in the trash. BUT what was added that is mostly missing now is the added things meh did in conjunction with this.
I realize the parent company is far larger now, these days meh is only a tiny part of their business and for the most part the company has “moved beyond us”. We are a remnant from the past and we are lucky they have kept us around.
@Kidsandliz @ZPB I was the one who got the new X box and a couple of personalized ones-everything bubble wrapped after I mentioned the quantity of bubble wrap I got with the x box, one with nothing but balls after I mentioned that the stuff I got in one I needed like a third testicle and a horse pinada after I mentioned something about beating a dead horse.
Those were the good old fun day. Pics of fun ones attached.
@Kidsandliz But sometimes you get coffee
We just can’t talk about that 
It’s secret… heh. Or maybe Not-So-Secret 
I should stop talking now 
Also, you use more words than me. And that’s a feat 
Of the many purchased back when they were $5, I’ve gotten more winners than losers. Enjoyed the challenge it was to snag em back then too. Once they all started to suck and were overpriced with stupid pricing gimmicks I stopped buying. Also canceled membership not long ago…wasn’t worth continuing to pay for every month when I don’t make nearly as many purchase as I once did.
Gonna go with awesome.
@sammydog01 Anyone know whatever happened to @Koolhandjoe?? Even his member page is gone.
@Koolhandjoe @MrGoodGuy An Instagram post popped up in my feed a couple of weeks ago but I try to not stalk.
@Koolhandjoe @MrGoodGuy @sammydog01 my favorite irk ever was also curated by Joe. I have a few things from him that are going to be adorning the studio side of the less murdery shed.
PSA: To everyone lamenting the deterioration of quality IRKs over the years. My suggestion would be you get involved in the next meh exchange.
You have significantly higher odds of getting worthwhile stuff curated to you specifically. $30 invested in sending something to someone else will generally net you at least $30 worth of fun stuff that will be more likely usable than the current IRKs are. Plus you get to learn a little bit more about your fellow mehtizens.
@chienfou what is this? How do you participate?
@chienfou how do you participiate?
@emaw_az @SirChris93
See this link for some of the details.
Google search “meh exchange” for more info.
@emaw_az @SirChris93
@emaw_az @SirChris93
And this is the link for the (2026) reveal
@chienfou @emaw_az @SirChris93
I have been running it for the last few years. We usually do it around Valentine’s Day. Look for sign up to open in early to mid January.
I was thinking about doing another one this year but with a different theme. I was thinking about doing a hometown exchange box and exchanging items/foods that specific to where you live. I was just waiting for the holiday and Mehs bday to be over before I post anything to see what kind of interest there is.
@chienfou @star2236
Heh I’ve been there!
I’ve sent probably more that 40 boxes containing coffee to the Secret-Not-So-Secret coffee club. I love to roast and the biggest problem is finding boxes to ship it in
I just have to remind myself every time I send coffee that it’s not an IRK or an exchange 
Coffee and a few fun bits… heh. But save the weird stuff for later 
I wouldn’t be opposed to a mid-summers exchange 
I know they are a lot of work to put together so I’m not peer pressuring you into anything. (Or am I?) You’ll have more coffee on the way before the end or summer. You (Star) are member #0001. So, you’re kind of like royalty 
@capnjb @chienfou
I’ll be sure to tell everyone from now on I’m reality.
@capnjb @Star2236
So you are “really royalty”…
Love it. Way to own it!
@chienfou @emaw_az @SirChris93 @Star2236
That’s a great idea and as a Maryland guy, someone will be getting some Old Bay
Non-existent (and completely satisfying!)
The first one I ever got was a couple years ago. I got a set of the three-piece luggage hard-sided. It was pretty nice. I gave it to my stepson who was woefully in need of luggage. The funniest bit was that someone had returned it and their return slip was included with it
I’ve gotten some good stuff. Like a calaphalon knife set, toaster oven (oldest has that). But I’ve also got lots of weird sized clothing (4x men’s undies, xs leggings and jackets) and a ton of gold eye masks, trackers, phone cases, screen protectors for items I don’t own and/or are really outdated.
Luckily with 3 adult kids we usually find someone that can use the stuff.
I’m inked, so I don’t have room to complain. I’ve gotten a few broken items (air fryer that didn’t heat, busted scanner) and a ton of the small useless repeat stuff-- Trackrs, rings for the back of your phone, eye masks/pads… But we’re in the process of setting up our daughter in her first adult place, and she has a Cuisinart coffee maker, a nice Calphalon knife set with block, and a stackable/nesting set of Calphalon pots and pans. Thanks, meh!
@tondaanderson
It’s always nice when meh can furnish your place.
I dont think I’ve had a good IRK since 2022/23. I’ve had some fun junk and some great stuff. Over-all I’m net positive. Cuisinart stand mixer probably the best I’ve received. Best gag gift was the box of Man of Steel birthday gift bags that I donated to a local thrift store. Display model of a $200 Bluetooth speaker that only worked as a display. The box of probably >100 trackrs. But honestly, we need a PASTA DROP!
@chaos13
Wow in surprised you’re the first person to mention pasta drop. Pasta drop was the shit. I definitely miss that.