He said he was sending 70 Million emails a day with a target of $500 profit per Million. That is a cool $35,000 A DAY. I personally don't like spam any more than you do but it certainly looks like Ralsky isn't an idiot by any means. I'm sure he has bent more than a few laws in the mean time but at $35k a day he is only pulling in about $12M a year. I'm sure there are more than a few people out there willing to bend a few laws to make over $12M in a year.
I think something that is getting missed in this is that the government specs something, and when they spec it they don't mean buy it off the shelf (if they did they would just purchase it from a scheduled seller, not bid it out). Most of these $10,000 hammer, $7,000 toilet seat stories you hear are from NASA & aerospace bids. There is a reason these things cost ridiculous amounts of money. They are being made one at a time and they meet very stringent specifications.
This is quite a piece of work this guy has put together. Here are a few other things to fuel the discussion some. Netflix doesn't pay for their movies, they are on profit sharing with the major studios. Presumably one of the following is the way the movie studios get paid.
1. Per DVD shipment. (i.e. netflix has 100,000 copies of a movie, and those copies result in 225,000 shipments in month 1, 165,000 shipments in month 2, etc. & the movies studio gets $1 per shipment or something of the like)
2. Per Day a DVD is out on "rental" (i.e. Same 100k copies, they spend about 2.75M days out on "rental" in month 1 & 2 and the studios get $0.25 per day)
3. Some combination of the previous 2
Now lets also look at their physical costs per shipment. Outbound Postage $0.34 (These numbers could be off by as much as $0.10 since netflix is a national account of the USPS) Inbound postage $0.37 (most mailers could not receive a discount on High-Volume Business Reply Mailer, but again they are a national account so they might get a break) Envelopes run about $.16 in large volume. I'm not even going to look at labor, loss, theft, damage, marketing, warehousing, and other expenses.
If you add up what I did go into it is $0.87 per shipment, lets subtract out for postage discounts and call it $0.75 Now you pay $20/mo for their service. If you rent 10 movies a month they pay $7.50 in real costs, plus all their overhead, PLUS what the movie studio makes. Which probably leaves a little bit of profit.
other rentailers are charging about $4 per rental, and they of course have time limits and aren't as convenient (most people would agree) as Netflix. So if you are seeing 5 or more movies a month you are ahead of the game, but if you are watching more than 10 movies you are costing Netflix money.
When you look at it like that you realize why customers in the "profit" zone of 5-10 rentals per month get equal and reasonable treatment, customers that are overly profitable get special offers not to cancel, and customers who cost them money get motivated to slow down their rentals or cancel.
My Point. They are in business to make money, and they are doing what they can to modify their customers habits to those ends.
Yes but this is proof of concept. Imagine how much more it could carry if only the mylar came in the specified color pattern, and didn't need paint (which tends to be VERY heavy). This was also a cheep hobby blimp, I can't imagine they used ultralite parts. YOu could of course always resort to Hydrogen (I wouldn't recomend it) and gain additional capacity that way. Also, if it was shapped more like a typical blimp you see at a sporting event, it would be much easier to navigate, but then the math re the red and blue haves would be a tad more difficult. All in all I'd say he accomplished something.
who don't mind writing a $500 check every once in a while
Yes $500 is nothing, but if everyone starts to fight.
$500 a day, $500 5 times a day,...
We are talking about serious amounts of cash, even to a company the size of Sears. Not to mention it probably cost them another $500 per appearance in attorney's time. I do agree though that the spammers that are untraceable will be the hardest to stop.
My $0.02
Slashdot Mirror
He said he was sending 70 Million emails a day with a target of $500 profit per Million. That is a cool $35,000 A DAY. I personally don't like spam any more than you do but it certainly looks like Ralsky isn't an idiot by any means. I'm sure he has bent more than a few laws in the mean time but at $35k a day he is only pulling in about $12M a year. I'm sure there are more than a few people out there willing to bend a few laws to make over $12M in a year.
I think something that is getting missed in this is that the government specs something, and when they spec it they don't mean buy it off the shelf (if they did they would just purchase it from a scheduled seller, not bid it out). Most of these $10,000 hammer, $7,000 toilet seat stories you hear are from NASA & aerospace bids. There is a reason these things cost ridiculous amounts of money. They are being made one at a time and they meet very stringent specifications.
P
How about
porn.slashdot.org
Can't forget that!!
Hmm Kinda makes me wonder if they'll license there software.
P
This is quite a piece of work this guy has put together. Here are a few other things to fuel the discussion some. Netflix doesn't pay for their movies, they are on profit sharing with the major studios. Presumably one of the following is the way the movie studios get paid.
1. Per DVD shipment. (i.e. netflix has 100,000 copies of a movie, and those copies result in 225,000 shipments in month 1, 165,000 shipments in month 2, etc. & the movies studio gets $1 per shipment or something of the like)
2. Per Day a DVD is out on "rental" (i.e. Same 100k copies, they spend about 2.75M days out on "rental" in month 1 & 2 and the studios get $0.25 per day)
3. Some combination of the previous 2
Now lets also look at their physical costs per shipment. Outbound Postage $0.34 (These numbers could be off by as much as $0.10 since netflix is a national account of the USPS) Inbound postage $0.37 (most mailers could not receive a discount on High-Volume Business Reply Mailer, but again they are a national account so they might get a break) Envelopes run about $.16 in large volume. I'm not even going to look at labor, loss, theft, damage, marketing, warehousing, and other expenses.
If you add up what I did go into it is $0.87 per shipment, lets subtract out for postage discounts and call it $0.75 Now you pay $20/mo for their service. If you rent 10 movies a month they pay $7.50 in real costs, plus all their overhead, PLUS what the movie studio makes. Which probably leaves a little bit of profit.
other rentailers are charging about $4 per rental, and they of course have time limits and aren't as convenient (most people would agree) as Netflix. So if you are seeing 5 or more movies a month you are ahead of the game, but if you are watching more than 10 movies you are costing Netflix money.
When you look at it like that you realize why customers in the "profit" zone of 5-10 rentals per month get equal and reasonable treatment, customers that are overly profitable get special offers not to cancel, and customers who cost them money get motivated to slow down their rentals or cancel.
My Point. They are in business to make money, and they are doing what they can to modify their customers habits to those ends.
P
This post prompts me to ask a few questions.
/. be willing to pay for a membership to such an organization?
1. Is there an organization who lobbies for individuals in the computer industry? (something like the NRA but for technology, not guns)
2. Why not?
3. Would all of you on
4. How much would a membership be? What does membership to the NRA cost?
I don't have the answers, but I think the questions need asking!!
Yes but this is proof of concept. Imagine how much more it could carry if only the mylar came in the specified color pattern, and didn't need paint (which tends to be VERY heavy). This was also a cheep hobby blimp, I can't imagine they used ultralite parts. YOu could of course always resort to Hydrogen (I wouldn't recomend it) and gain additional capacity that way. Also, if it was shapped more like a typical blimp you see at a sporting event, it would be much easier to navigate, but then the math re the red and blue haves would be a tad more difficult. All in all I'd say he accomplished something.
Just my $0.02
CPU time is not
Try leaving your computer on for a full month, see if your electricity bill goes up.
To Me $$$s are physical enough. I might be splitting hairs but I'm willing to do so to get back at spammers!!
who don't mind writing a $500 check every once in a while ...
Yes $500 is nothing, but if everyone starts to fight.
$500 a day, $500 5 times a day,
We are talking about serious amounts of cash, even to a company the size of Sears. Not to mention it probably cost them another $500 per appearance in attorney's time. I do agree though that the spammers that are untraceable will be the hardest to stop. My $0.02