The coupon metaphor: clipping was the point, and AI agents just broke that filter
arampell · x · 2026-09-23
A neat observation from arampell: coupons used to neatly divide people who cared about money from those who cared about time.
You had to clip them from the Sunday paper—the toil was the point. It assured grocers and CPG companies the discounts weren't cannibalizing sales from people who'd pay full price anyway.
AI agents change that: when an agent automatically finds and applies every deal, the time-for-money friction disappears—and with it, a whole pricing-discrimination architecture built on人工麻烦.
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