The tip jar and the collections basket

A tip jar is sitting on the counter of your favorite deli. After you pay, you drop your change in as a little extra something to them. A monetary "thank you".

You're sitting in church, and at the end of the service they pass the basket around directly asking you for money.

Which one do you give more to?

The deli provides a real product that keeps you alive right here and now. They spend their time and resources, feeding on other people's products and services to provide this for you. It's real food that has a real impact on you right now. The church provides a service, not a product, and the payoff of the service (depending on your church) may or may not ever come to pass. I know that I usually gave more to my church than to the tip jar at the deli.

That says something about money. It's not that the sandwich has an inherent value, in dollars, and a 20% tip is the correct amount to "voluntarily" add on to that. It's that there is a feeling associated with the sandwich, and a feeling associated with the church service. You value that emotion more or less depending on your opinions about those things at those times (combined, maybe, with a little social obligation).

So, what's the value? Is that to say that it's whatever you make of it? Sure, in a sense. A starving man would pay a million dollars for a slice of bread. Does that make bread under-priced or under-valued in general? No, it means that context and feeling matters.

Propits is supposed to be a way of expressing that feeling when you are "out and about" on the internet. Thanks, that's cool. Here's a tip. Oh wow! That changed my life, here's an offering in thanks. The amount doesn't matter. There is no intrinsic "value". The feeling matters.

We are trying to make the feeling matter to both parties, not just one. The sandwich maker is thankful for the tip. It passes some of that feeling onto them. That's the whole point. Pass along the warm-fuzzy. Make a difference in your life and the lives around you. You shouldn't have to do anything at all in life for any reason other than it brings you happiness. Propits makes that a real proposition, not just a nice idea.