1. The Good Intentions Behind Coupons
Coupons begin with good intentions. “Make it easier to take the first step.” “Thank someone for a referral.” “Offer a special price to a special person.” The intent is kind. But the consequences of the structure operate independently of intent.
Some people receive a discount. Others do not. That fact alone creates a “difference” within the service. Difference invites comparison, and comparison breeds resentment.
2. When Good Intentions Backfire
“That person got it for free with a coupon, but I paid full price.” This feeling is rational. The mere existence of different prices for the same product raises questions of fairness.
The criteria for distributing coupons become problematic too. Who receives them? Influencers? Early adopters? Personal acquaintances? Whatever criterion is chosen, those not chosen see only one fact: someone else was selected.
This is elitism. What started as generosity structurally embeds discrimination.
Moreover, coupons carry an inherent risk of exposure. Someone who knows a coupon code shares it on social media as “insider information” to attract attention. Their intent may be kind, but the spread is beyond the provider’s control. Information asymmetry—the gap between those who know and those who don’t—is structurally embedded in coupons. That asymmetry gets consumed as marketing material for drawing attention. Once the spread exceeds the provider’s intent, good intentions no longer remain just good intentions.
And the very existence of coupons structurally creates the opening for negotiation. “I’ve been referring people to you—give me a discount.” “Read the room.” Once a precedent for discounts exists, the next one is expected. Expectation becomes demand, and demand distorts relationships. Uniform pricing cuts this off at the root. If no room for negotiation exists in the first place, no one tries to negotiate.
Coupons create yet another hierarchy: between “those who came first” and “those who came later.” A seniority structure emerges—early adopters, referrers, long-time acquaintances begin to feel entitled to preferential treatment. But the desire to preserve a voice has no chronological rank. A person who arrived yesterday and a person who arrived a year ago deserve equally to have their voice reach a thousand years hence.
3. No Differential on the Right to Preserve a Voice
The core of TokiStorage’s mission is “democratizing proof of existence.” Preserving a voice. Preserving a likeness. Preserving words. This is a fundamental human desire, independent of social status or economic means—a right everyone should hold.
What does it mean to apply a discount to that right? “Your proof of existence costs ¥5,000. But this person’s is free.”—that is placing differential value on existence itself.
To champion the democratization of proof of existence while differentiating on price is a contradiction.
4. Uniform Pricing as Respect
Everyone pays the same price. This is not a constraint. It is respect.
“You and that person receive the same service at the same price. No one gets special treatment. No one gets shortchanged.”
Uniform pricing is a declaration of equal respect for every customer. We do not ask why someone wants to preserve a voice. Whether they have a referrer, whether their timing was early, whether they have a large following—none of it matters.
They wanted to preserve a voice. That fact alone is enough.
5. No Discounts, No Price Hikes
There is another problem lurking behind coupons: who bears the cost of the discount?
When a free coupon order comes in, TokiStorage absorbs the production and shipping costs. Or the profit from other customers paying full price subsidizes it. Either way, the discount is borne by “someone invisible.”
In other words, coupon users—whether they realize it or not—receive preferential treatment at the expense of others. This structure inherently embeds an ethical conflict. The person who used the discount is not at fault. The fault lies with the side that created such a structure. That is why we eliminate the structure itself.
Uniform pricing eliminates this opacity. There is one price. Everyone pays the same and stands on the same cost structure. There is no need to inflate the listed price to fund a discount pool.
6. The Complexity Problem
Coupons carry management overhead. Code generation, expiration dates, usage tracking, product restrictions, validation logic, email template branching for free orders. Technically it is perhaps fifty lines of code, but those fifty lines produce “exception handling.”
Exception handling increases system complexity. Complexity breeds bugs, raises maintenance costs, and shortens the lifespan of code.
As described in the Storage Strategy essay, TokiStorage’s server is 3 MB. To preserve the purity of those 3 MB, unnecessary complexity is eliminated. When we deleted the coupon code, 64 lines vanished. The system became 64 lines simpler.
7. A Universal Mission Demands Universal Pricing
“Preserving a voice” is a universal mission. Someone wants to preserve their dog’s bark. Someone wants to preserve a deceased parent’s voice. Someone wants to preserve their child’s first “Mama.” To all of them, we respond with the same price, the same quality, the same respect.
In a world with coupons, there are “lucky people” and “everyone else.” In a world of uniform pricing, everyone stands on the same ground.
Democratizing proof of existence means
everyone pays the same price and receives the same respect.
Making no exceptions is the highest form of fairness.
Uniform pricing is not a constraint. It is respect.
We do not ask why someone wants to preserve a voice.
Everyone pays the same price. Everyone receives the same respect.