Stuff On Demand Machines

First it was music, then it was books, soon it will be stuff.

Years ago, when it became easy for someone to replicate music from digital files in their own homes, music stores faced major issues. Now, when ebooks are finally reaching a similar status, bookstores are facing similar issues.

Soon, could it be virtually any retailer out there cringing because consumers will have the ability to just print whatever stuff they need right in their homes?

Entirely possible I suppose.

In the most recent episode of Spark (a CBC radio program that is also a podcast and blog), there was a great discussion and interview about 3D printers. (3D printers basically create a three dimension object by outputting successive layers of material, the same way a printer (AKA 2D printer) outputs ink onto paper.

At first, the technology sounds like magic (ie, like the replicators on Star Trek that can produce virtually anything seemingly out of thin air), but as it is explained so wonderfully on Spark, the materials needed to produce the object are often stored in a paste/liquid format the same way that ink is stored and accessible by the printers we are familiar with. So it doesn't produce items out of thin air - but still, the ability to replicate items using a 3D printer and a digital blueprint is amazing.

The discussion on Spark involved material printers (and walked through the creation of a metal gear that takes about 20 minutes to produce) as well as food printers (discussing the incredibly complex and wonderful designs one might be able to do with a food printer which would be impossible to do using convention cooking methods), but it gave me two interesting ideas.

For the first one, I should pop back to my own experiences using an Espresso Book Machine.  An EBM is a machine that uses print-on-demand (POD) technology to print, bind and trim a book in about 5 minutes. The bookstore at McMaster University where I work has such a machine. (I like to call it "Mippy" - short for McMaster Innovation Press) We're able to receive digital files from publishers or pulled down from a secure network of close to 2 million titles, and produce perfect bound paperbacks virtually indistinguishable from paperbacks produced by real printers.

Me posing in front of the EBM 1.5 at McMaster with books printed on our machine

We bought the machine because we foresee a trend within the book industry that'll further optimize current physical distribution models (particularly as ebooks become more popular) and allow a small local bookstore to print titles upon customer requests. Currently, with a store that has an Espresso Book Machine (and there are almost in North American bookstores - click here for a list of EBM locations worldwide), you can walk in, request a title they don't have, and the bookstore can either order the book through convention methods (which may take anywhere between 3 days to 6 weeks depending on where the publisher's warehouse is located), or, if it is available as POD through the EspressNet catalog, the store might be able to print the book for you within a matter of minutes and you can get it, still warm from the printer.

So now back to the concept of a 3D printer.

I was thinking of a local neighbourhood hardware store, particularly one in a more remote community, where quick and easy access to special ordered products for their customers are problematic. Imagine them owning a 3D printer pre-loaded with various metatic pastes. They could use the machine to produce rare nails, screws and other widgets that they wouldn't normally stock, all built from a catalog of virtually millions of possible items.

Sounds like a possible realistic use for a 3D printer.  But why would anyone go to the hardware store when they could get a 3D printer for their home and just produce it there? Perhaps for the same reasons you go to your local hardware store now rather than a generic super-store that might carry the small parts you need. Expertise, advice, discussion. There's still a wonderful hardware stock on my block that can sell you a bag of nails just like in the old days, rather than a pre-packaged plastic box of them. Less packaging, greater expertise when you're doing work around your home and need to consult with a hardware expert.

With this new technology, soon it will no longer be just booksellers who will be looking at what it is that makes their physical presence desireable in their communities.  Virtually any other retailer that carries stuff will be facing this.

One of Nora's guests talked about shoe stores, for example, particularly when shoes are mass produced yet don't perfectly fit anyone - imagine being able to produce shoes custom fit to you from a machine in your home? Cool idea. But, affording a machine like that doesn't come easy. So what about a local shoe store that can do the same thing? Keep a data file of foot sizes for their customers, link to a digital catalog of the latest shoe designs and be able to produce the exact size, fit and style their customers need right on the spot? Sounds practical to me.

The second idea that struck me regarding 3D printers involved what Nora and her guests discussed in interesting detail. 3D food printing.

Yes, I know, the idea of eating food produced by a machine isn't all that appetizing. But realistically, unless you're on a special rare diet or live on a farm and are eating mostly food you grow and prepare yourself, most of what you're eating is processed well beyond the food's original format.

I'm imagining the use of a 3D food printer in a way that might help people on special restrictive diets, or those who want to move away from consuming animal proteins to do so without the current difficulties involved. I have some friends who are vegans who work really hard and invest a great deal of time and effort into their diets, particularly because a lot of the foods easily available to them. And eating out can become somewhat of a comedy of errors for them.

But imagine a food printer filled with vegan-approved food source pastes and the ability to inject artificial flavours. You could produce from a virtually endless catalog of recipes, different textures, products, etc, all with different flavours and tastes, but guaranteed not to violate the dietary restrictions. Great for use at home, great for restaurants that want to mimic their regular menu with identical "vegan-safe" items.

Imagine the benefit to someone with a peanut or other food allergy?

Interesting possibilities.

And that's what I love about listening to Spark. I never leave without being given something really interesting to think about.

Can We Rrreduce, Rrreuse And Rrrecycle While Rrrolling Up The Rim?

I've long been a fan of Tim Hortons as well as their Rrroll Up The Rim To Win contest, which allows a coffee purchase to be turned into a chance to win some fun prizes.

But, as pointed out interestingly in a blog post I found from 2007 called Rrrollup the Rim - Making Litterers Out of Losers? is that simply adding to litter?  There was also an interesting article on Sympatico's website this morning by Daniela Syrovy and Greg Bolton that caught my eye that talks about the litter cups. As evidenced in the picture accompanying the article (of a cup with the winning piece torn out from it left abandoned in a snow covered street) it's the winners as much as the losers who are littering.

I don't think we should be blaming Tim Hortons for littering. People, as they are often not want to do, need to take responsibility for their own behaviour. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of the complete lack of respect, of the complete lack of responsibility the average person takes for their own behaviour. It's always People need to stop just throwing their crap everywhere and expecting someone else to pick it up, or someone else to take responsibility for it.


However, that being said, given how greedy and selfish our society has become, Tim Hortons could appeal to this narcissistic nature of people rather than try to appeal to whatever it is that causes the folks who do not litter to do the right thing.

Last year on this blog, I suggested a manner by which Tim Hortons could possibly work with someone on developing an app for smart phones that would allow people to use their reusable coffee container and not only get a discount on their coffee, but allow them to play the exciting contest.

Remember that right now, if you take your travel mug to Tim Hortons and order a coffee, you get the discount on your purchase, but then they also give you an empty cup so you don't miss your chance to win. Nice "customer benefit" gesture for Tim Hortons. But not so nice for the extra trash created, which undoes the "good" of the person bringing a reusable cup in the first place.

My suggestion was called Roll Up On Your RIM To Win and I still think it's possible, either for a company like RIM or someone else. (Ideally, the tie-in between the makers of Blackberry and Tim Hortons could be pretty huge -- even if Research in Motion were to create an app for iPhones and Adroids, the "name" of the app/promotion could still be Roll Up on Your RIM, giving Blackberry and other RIM offerings more exposure.....at least the way I look at it. I challenge you to try to find a Canadian out there who is NOT familiar with "RRROLL UP THE RIM."  Talk about a broad marketing campaign that is as Canadian as "apple pie" is American.

The basic premise is, Tim Hortons continues with their cups, but adds in a manner by which a person with a smartphone app and a reusable cup gets TWO entries into the contest instead of one, simply by opting for the "greener" non-litter choice.

I still think it's a good idea, and am hoping that someone who is a lot smarter than me takes the idea and makes it happen.  Seriously, go ahead, please just steal the idea, I'm never going to be able to do anything with it. Just make something like this happen. Please. I wonèt come after you claiming it was my idea in the first place (although attribution is always the right thing to do) -- I might, however, ask you to at least buy me a double-double at Timmies.

When Technology Hinders Humans Work Around

Recently on his blog, Seth Godin suggested in a blog post called "Empty your library" that people give or lend their copy of LINCHPIN, his latest fantastic book, to someone else.

"Go find someone you care about, hand them the book and insist they read it. I'd consider that a gift of the first order, and I hope they will too."

I recently finished reading LINCHPIN and thought it was awesome.

It was exactly the kind of book that I'd love to give to as many people as possible and tell them to read it.

The problem is, I can't.

You see, I bought the ebook version of LINCHPIN on my enTourage eDGe -- I had a great experience reading it because the eDGe allows me to take notes, both in the margin of the book and in a quickly accessible enotebook I can toggle back and forth between.

And I took a ton of notes while reading Godin's latest. Because it's the kind of book that doesn't just give you information. It makes you think. Really think.

But I'm not about to just hand over my eDGE. Sorry, just can't afford that one. (Though, admittedly, it would be interesting to share the highlights, notes and comments I made in the margin of this book)

Sigh. Technology usually makes things easier, not more difficult.

I suppose I'll have to go buy a copy of the hardcover to give to someone.

That, or I'll just give away my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING - a book from well over 10 years ago by Godin, but fantastic and worth reading, particularly since he predicts many things that have come true today and much of what he addresses is still pertinent and valuable.

So, in the nature of the giving without strings that Godin suggests throughout the book LINCHPIN, who out there has always wanted to read Seth Godin but hasn't? I'll send you my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING. Free. No strings attached.

And if you're thinking this is a pure "Mark being generous" effort, here's the clincher -- there is something in this for me besides feeling good about giving. For a long time my wife has been asking me to clean up and deal with the piles and piles of books in my den that won't fit on the 8 book cases that fill two walls. This "giving away" is a step in the right direction and will please my wife, which brings me happiness. But instead of getting rid of things I don't want to keep, I'll start by giving away a book I really enjoyed and would normally want to hold on to forever -- Godin's PERMISSION MARKETING -- still in hardcover after all these years.

Who wants it? Post a comment on this blog post at http://markleslie.blogspot.com along with a note indicating the latest favourite book that you recently read and would highly recommend that others read (just because that's a cool thing for me to learn and for you to share with others) and my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING can be yours.

Sorry, but I only have one copy to give so will have to figure out who among the requesting folks actually gets it. I'm thinking I'll do this randomly, but I'm also open to take suggestions on how to selection someone, or suggestions on which of the people requesting it should be selected.

(Also, please note, I auto-syndicate this blog into Facebook, Goodreads and a few other places that I can't remember -- so if you're reading this note anywhere but directly on my blog, please click back to my blog to comment -- I have a setting on my blog that notifies me of comments there and that way I won't miss it)

Roll Up On Your RIM To Win

Every year during Tim Hortons' Roll up the Rim to Win contest I'm a little bit torn over the disposable cup.

Don't get me wrong -- I think the concept, the actual printing onto the previously "unused" area that gets rolled and hidden under the rim of the cup is absolute brilliance on behalf of Ron Buist, who was a long-time marketing director for Tim Hortons. I had the pleasure of listening to him talk at a Campus Stores Canada symposium a few years ago and read his book Tales from Under the Rim: The Marketing of Tim Hortons shortly after that and quite enjoyed both his talk and the book.

However, technology has advanced in such a way that I think Tim Hortons can continue the very successful marketing campaign, but offer a more environmentally friendly way of playing.

And no, it's not that I always have a reusable mug on me -- but I do like to keep one in the car when I'm going on long trips, and I also keep one at work. Tim Hortons does offer a discount on the purchase of a coffee when you bring in your own reusable mug -- but, the saving of 10 cents during the Roll Up The Rim To Win time of year hardly compares to the chance to win a prize (whether it's a free donut, coffee or perhaps a new car).

So, just like there's an incentive to bring in a reusable cup, perhaps there can be an incentive to use a smartphone application (or online entry) for the whole "Rim" promotion. And thus my riff on the "rim" of the cup with RIM as in Research in Motion, yet another hugely successful Canadian success story, the folks behind the Blackberry: Roll up on your RIM to Win!

Here's how I imagine my idea might work.

When customers purchase a coffee during the "RIM" promotional period, they either get the wonderful cup we all know and love, or they get the option to register a randomly generated code either immediately using an application on their smartphone, or, if they don't have a smartphone or the app installed, via an entry form on their website (similar perhaps to the way that iCoke points are entered for contest prizes)

Of course, in order to encourage people to continue using reusable cups during the promotion, there needs to be an incentive. Let's be honest here, most people quickly and easily default back to the "what's in it for me" mentality in much of their daily activities and routines. That's not to say that people don't try to do better, and don't think about consequences -- Earth Hour is quite successful every year; it generates a huge amount of awareness; yet, despite this, most of us go back to our regular wasteful habits almost immediately after that hour is over. Not because people are selfish and evil -- it's just human nature. We need continued reminders (like Earth Hour) to prompt us to be less wasteful, to reduce consumption of materials and resources.

Thus, any promotion that ties back to environmental benefits, such as less waste, needs to be as simple as possible, and needs to offer an added incentive. For doing it "the digital way" I think that people need to get more; thus, two chances to win rather than one is a pretty cost-effective way of giving them more.

So, if I buy a coffee and get my tradition rolling rim, I get a chance to win, just like it has always been? Cool.

But if I do the digital rim thing, I not only get a discount on my coffee purchase, but I get TWO chances to win? Where did you say I could install that free application?

Of course, the whole digital method of "rolling the rim" could be extended to all kinds of social media platforms and made into games and fun sharing (further pushing the environmental message in a fun and competitive way). There is already an application for smartphones like RimRoller in which users can enter their "stats" of wins and track a Win/Loss ratio that is sent out to Twitter. So why not offer something similar?

The idea is simple and I'm sure that, using technology that already exists within the Franchise, (whether it's related to their cash register system auto-generated a number or a number being printed to those little slips of paper that come out showing your remaining balance on your gift card) something can be developed where you either enter the code right into your smartphone application on the spot, perhaps texting the entry code to a particular number or entering it online later. (I like the instant entry option because it might be more exciting to win on the spot rather than finding out later at home, or forgetting to enter)

In any case, I'm sure there are some really smart people out there who could make the idea work.

In the meantime, I'll continue to feel guilty when I take a disposable cup during this promotion rather than my reusable one. (Of course, I'll do my best to remember to recycle or add the cup to my compostable waste. But reducing use is still better than recycling waste)