I was wandering around the New York Times and was attracted to a Freakonomics article "How Much Do Protests Matter?" I surprised myself by reading many of the following comments. One comment completely diverted my attention; it mentioned the Carrot Mob.
The about page of the Carrot Mob had a 10-minute video that kept my short attention span attentive. Essentially, they take bids among business for some improvement; in this case, liquor stores in a give area were asked to bid on a percentage of sales they were willing to commit to energy efficiency. The winning bid was 22 percent!
The owner's son said they typically gross $1,000-2,000 per day. He guessed that the partial day sale, I think it was two or three hours, would gross $5,000. It grossed over $9,000 for that short period.
With that money, they made several energy improvements, including new seals on their coolers.
The Carrot Mob idea has caught on in several states and countries. The next Carrot Mob is in Brooklyn, NY on August 23. The Mob will descend on a Deli that bid 21% for whatever. I didn't take much care in reading the rather disjointed announcement. See http://brooklyn.carrotmob.org for your own take on what is going on.
