Portable Air Conditioners can be useful, but they are limited in their capacity and efficiency.
I bought two portable air conditioners several years ago. We bought the lake house, and it had no central A/C, just one split system unit. In that area, you rarely need air conditioning, but that year, there was a heat wave, and temperatures soared into the high 80's. In the later afternoon, temperatures could soar in the house to nearly 100.
As I noted in my Hydronic Heating post, adding central A/C to an existing house that does not have a forced-air furnace can be a nightmare. Running duct work after the fact is expensive and cumbersome and moreover cuts into closet space or other living space. In most cases, it simply is impossible.
I used split system air conditioners for most of the house. But on the top floor, adding split systems would not have been easy. Running power to that level of the house would be tricky (without tearing into a lot of the sheet rock) and placing the condenser units would be hard as well, without resorting to roof or wall mounts.
Window units were out of the question. Too ugly, to begin with, and hard to adapt to casement windows.
Since the top floor was used only for guest rooms, I decided to use portable Air Conditioners.
What are portable air conditioners and should you use one? Online websites are full of complaints about these devices, mostly from users who do not install or use them properly. Many folks buy these units and think they will cool down a whole house, and then get upset when they barely cool a small room.
But if you read the fine print on these things, you'll realize that they are not designed for much more than cooling a bedroom. And yes, they can be noisy, due to their design.
These units, which look like the R2-D2 units from Star Wars, usually sit on casters. They have a compressor built in, along with a fan and evaporator and condenser coils. A flexible duct is used to discharge the warm air from the condenser coils to the outside, so you can reject heat from the room. This flexible duct may be routed through a window with an adapter kit, or through a hole in the wall using a dryer-type vent (more on that later).
The first mistake people make is not venting these units. Some folks have no clue how A/C works, and they assume the machine will just "make cold" for them. But what they fail to realize is that an air conditioner is a heat pump - it moves heat from one place to another. In order to cool a room down, you have to reject heat. So you need to have that pipe vented to the outside, or the room will not cool down. In fact, the heat from the compressor will make the room warmer than normal, if it not vented to the outside.
Some units are advertised as non-venting or having a non-venting option. They basically cool down a room by heating a corresponding amount of water. You then have to drain the water from the unit. This is not a practical solution and the amount of cooling such units provide is pathetic. Without a duct to the outside world, to reject heat, no real cooling can take place.
Second, you have to look at the ratings on these units. Most are about 5,000 BTUs or so. This is not a lot of cooling capacity. While these units may be physically large and heavy, they do not provide a lot of cooling capacity. 5,000 BTUs is enough to cool a small bedroom, not a living room or family room, etc. So many folks buy one of these units, plug it in, and wonder why it won't cool the main room in their house. It just isn't large enough.
For my guest bedroom, it works OK, provided you leave it on all day, if you are expecting guests. Like any A/C unit, it has its limits, and trying to turn it on in an 85-degree room and expect the temperature to drop to 70 degrees in 5 minutes is unrealistic. By the way, the same is true for central air. People invite 30 guests to their home for a summer party and then wonder why, after the room heats to 90 degrees, the A/C won't cool the house. It simply can't keep up with the load. Cold soaking a room in advance is the best solution for both situations.
Third, you have to install them properly. I used a dryer vent on both of mine. The instructions warn against doing this, as it could constrict the flow of air. However, I have a short run of tubing (less than a foot) and it seems to work OK. If you try to run 10 feet of tubing to vent these units, it probably will not work well. The less restriction to air flow, the better.
And in that vein, most of these units only discharge hot air. The higher priced units have an intake as well. If your house is "tight", the fan may have a hard time blowing out hot air if no air can come back into the room. So ironically, you may have to crack open a window slightly to let in some air for the unit to blow back out again. Otherwise, you are trying to pull a vacuum on your bedroom, and that isn't going to work.
Fourth, these units are not very efficient. Unlike a window unit, they don't have the free flow of air across the coils, so the efficiency suffers. As a temporary solution for renters, or for occasional use (like my guest room) or for supplemental cooling, they may be a solution. But they will use more energy than even a window unit and certainly more (per BTU) than central air or a split system.
So, if you are looking for a permanent, full-time solution to your A/C needs, I would not recommend one of these units, but instead look to something more substantial.
Fifth, these units have no condensate drain. All A/C units generate condensate, unless you live an a dry desert climate. As the air passes over the evaporator coil, it falls below dew point, and water condenses on the coil. For a window unit, this is not a problem, the water merely drips outside. For central air, the condensate either drains into a basement drain or is pumped outside by a condensate pump.
Portable Air Conditioners generally have a drip tray. Older units had to be emptied, like a dehumidifier, once the tray or tank was full. In fact, portable A/C units and dehumidifiers are close cousins. An A/C unit is just a vented version of the dehumidifier. And some portable A/C units are sold as combination units (as dehumidifiers when un-vented).
Newer units exhaust the condensate water through the vent by using heat from the compressor to evaporate water prior to discharge. It is a pretty clever invention, and for the most part, it works. When you first cool down a room, particularly on a humid day, it may fill the drip tray (which will shut off the unit until it is emptied). But once a room is "pulled down" in terms of temperature and humidity, the units generally do a good job of exhausting the condensate as humid warm air out the discharge duct.
So there are limitations to these units, and they do operate in a slightly different manner than traditional A/C units.
Many of these units are used by IT professionals to cool computer rooms. In many office buildings, A/C controls are inaccurate and allow smaller rooms to get warm. You can duct a portable A/C unit through the ceiling (blowing the hot air into the crawl space there, which is usually a return air flow) and thus keep a critical computer room cool. Not horribly efficient, but when you are renting office space, trying to get the central chilling plant to keep one room at a critical temperature is often difficult, if not impossible.
So these units have their uses. For a small room that is only occasionally cooled, where a window unit won't work, physically or aesthetically, these portable units can work well. If you keep their limitations in mind, they will work well for you. If you don't understand the nature of these units, however, you may end up being disappointed.
UPDATE: Do not confuse portable air conditioners with these fraudulent tiny boxes being sold on the internet for $89 usually under the name Blaux. That's just a scam.
Opticians are one of the few professions left where pricing is very abstract and consumers are not informed of prices ahead of time. As a result, you can easily pay double or triple for the cost of glasses.
I recently took a trip to the Opticians. It was an eye-opener, to say the least, and yes, I'm sorry about the pun. We went to one of these chain stores in the mall, thinking that a large chain would have a good selection of glasses at competitive prices. Wrong!
The basic exam (with an optometrist) cost $77 with my AAA discount. But the cost of the glasses was staggering.
The eyeglasses industry is an interesting one, and there so many aspects to this business, it is hard to know where to begin.
To begin with, it is a bipolar business - schizophrenic, if you will. There are two halves to the business, the medical and the cosmetic. On the medical side, the Optometrist (or Ophthalmologist) examines your eyes and writes a prescription for eyeglasses. It is a pretty simple business, and costs are fairly competitive on this side of it. You can call an Optometrist and they will tell you over the phone what the cost of an eye exam is.
The Optician side of it, however, is run
more like a retail business. They are selling you the glasses, which
often cost far more than the eye exam itself. Moreover, trying to get
pricing data on glasses is somewhat difficult. Very few places publish
their prices, and the prices vary all over the map based on glasses
style.
By the way, it gets confusing to the layman, what an Optometrist, Ophthalmologist, and an Optician are, and do, and legally are allowed to do. A reader recently clarified this for me:
"An Ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who may possibly
prescribe corrective lenses but has a primary focus of did eases of the
eye treated both medically and surgically. An Optometrist does not have a
degree from a medical school or residency in ophthalmology but rather a
degree in optometry. The focus is on corrective optics and in some
states the treatment of a few medical conditions. An Optician prepares
corrective lenses and mounts them in frames. Sometimes you find all in
one high end practice with prices to match, but you are obviously paying
a premium for the setting."
(Thanks to Dr. Coolidge for clarification of these terms! We lay people tend to get them confused and/or use them interchangeably!)
Most of us may never see an Ophthalmologist, unless we have severe eye problems. My Mother always thought that going to an Ophthalmologist was a better idea (for lens prescription) than an Optometrist, as the former (being a Doctor) was better qualified to detect medical problems with your eyes.
Opticians, on the other hand, just sell glasses. The closest they get to your eyes is perhaps measuring where the lenses should center and how the glasses should fit.
There are three basic types of Opticians, from what I can tell:
1. The Fashion Store: If money is no object, and you just have to have the latest cutting edge eye-wear, there are places like this in most major cities that have all the latest "must have" eye-wear, at fairly high prices. On the plus side, they sell quality merchandise that is from high-end designers. And they have a staggering selection of sizes, shapes, and frame and temple sizes. You get exactly what you want, but you pay for it, of course.
2. The Chain Stores: Like Lenscrafters and Empire Vision, these stores are corporate chains. They would like you to think they are the fashion store above, and charge accordingly, but in reality, their selection is not nearly as good as the fashion stores. And their prices are no real bargains, either.
3. The Discount Stores: Wholesale Clubs and Wal-Mart have vision centers that sell glasses remarkably cheaply and also publish their prices up front. Their prices are far less than the chain and fashion stores, and oftentimes they have some of the same merchandise. If you are looking for a basic pair of RayBan sunglasses, all three types of stores will have these, but the discount stores will sell them to you, in prescription form, for as little as $150 or so, less than half the cost of the Chain Stores. Discount stores have a good selection, probably better than some Chain stores, but don't expect the fashions to be cutting edge.
The interesting thing about selecting glasses, is that we'd all like to think we are making a fashion statement with our frames, selecting the latest cutting edge styles. But in reality, we are picking from a limited lot of selections, which have been culled for us. So we are hardly making a "statement" but rather are just picking from a Chinese menu.
Years ago, we all wore aviator glasses - because that's what the stores sold. Before then, we wore John Lennon like "granny glasses" and guess what it was they Optician had in stock? Before then, it was Buddy Holly type thick framed glasses - because that was what was sold.
Recently, everyone has bought these rectangular glasses, which are wildly impractical (you end up looking around them than through them). Why? Because they are "popular" and that is what they have on the racks at the Optician.
So the idea that somehow you have more "choice" at a chain store than at a discount store is somewhat flawed. And even at the high-fashion stores, chances are, you are buying from what appears to be a wide selection of frames, but actually is a limited selection of a few styles.
My recent experience with a chain store was interesting. The business model is like that of a car dealer - keep the customer in the dark about the pricing, use odd "discounts" and rebates to encourage purchasing (based on phony "savings") and then use the hard sell to close the deal.
After waiting an hour for the eye exam from an Optometrist (who worked for the Optician chain and had offices in the store) we selected a number of frames for sunglasses and new regular glasses. An interesting new twist was that the optometrist recommended that we also buy reading glasses, which would have pushed us into buying three pairs of glasses apiece.
The store was dirty and disheveled. The sunglasses were all taken off the racks and placed in a box. We ended up digging through the box to find a couple of pairs that looked OK. This struck me as odd right off the bat and one reason I had stopped going to this store in the first place. Rather than choosing the exact right pair of glasses in the style and size I wanted, I was instead picking the least objectionable pair from a pile (quite literally a pile) that looked the best and fit the best.
In the past, at more high-end Opticians, I had picked exactly the style I wanted and then had the frames made in the size appropriate for my head, including the frame size (the front part) and the temple length (the side parts). Here, I was merely picking from a pile, trying to find a look I liked in a size I liked. It was like digging through the bargain bin at Marshall's.
But at least at Marshall's, you are getting some stellar deals. After waiting nearly another hour (another trick car dealers like to use - getting you to invest time in the process, so you don't give up and leave) the fitter told me the bad news. The bi-focals would cost $398, this after a 30% "discount". The sunglasses were no better, costing over $380. I didn't ask about the reading glasses. At over $400 per pair with tax, this would have come to over $1200 in glasses for all three pairs, or over $800 if I just bought the two pairs (regular and sunglasses).
I quickly did the math on this. If my partner opted to get two pairs of glasses as well, we'd be spending more than $1600 on glasses. Over $2400 if we opted for he prescription reading glasses the doctor recommended.
This seemed to me like a staggering amount of money. As Ron White noted in one of his monologues, you can buy a television for less money than a pair of glasses, and a television will decode a signal sent from a satellite in outer-freaking-space!
As Ron White points out, you can buy a television for less than the cost of a pair of glasses!
The fitter (Optician) noticed that we were comparing notes on pricing and immediately separated us to different fitting stations. That was an interesting move, as if she could get each of us to go along with the purchase separately, it was a done deal. We would not be totaling up the bill all in one sum and figuring out that we were spending more on glasses than many people spend on a car.
I started thinking about this process though, and got that gut, "I'm being ripped off" feeling. The delays in the process, the mysteries in pricing, all of it reminded me of buying a new car.
And while I don't mind paying a lot of money for a really, really good pair of glasses, if I do that, I want a really good pair of glasses, not whatever they had that was in my size that wasn't too ugly. If I am shopping for glasses in a Marshall's style environment, then I want the Marshall's style pricing.
My Optometrist in Washington DC ran a fashion-style office. She had a great selection of glasses, and they weren't cheap. But there I was selecting style, frame size, and temple size, not merely picking from the five options that would fit me. I purchased a set of Kazaio Kawasaki glasses from her, and while they were expensive, they fit well, were stylish, and lasted for many years (even after having multiple lenses refitted). In fact, I still have them. I would probably get new lenses made for them, but in the intervening decade, that style was unfortunately made popular by Sarah Palin, who people seem to think "discovered" Kawasaki, even though I had the same frame type (although not her dorky lens shape) back in 1995.
So if you are going to pay top dollar, get top dollar service. But if you are getting bargain basement service, why bother paying top dollar?
We talked it over and decided to leave. We paid our $77 fee for the eye exam and left. The funny thing about the eye exam was that for me, the prescription didn't change much. The optometrist noted that my new prescription was "in the ballpark" of my old one and that I really didn't need new glasses.
Some wags out there believe there is a conspiracy on the part of Optometrists to intentionally prescribe different prescriptions to force you to buy new glasses. Others believe that Optometrists intentionally prescribe glasses that are too weak or too strong on purpose, so that your eyes adjust accordingly, forcing you to become more and more out of focus and thus making you dependent on glasses for life.
Perhaps some of these theories are far-fetched. However, it is not hard to see where the temptation to write a new, different 'script might be present, if the Optometrist has a vested interested in the glasses-side of the business. In fact, in the old days, many States required that Optometrists and Ophthalmologists have separate practices from Opticians, so the temptation to cross-market would be eliminated. Today, however, the practices are often in the same building, or have a reciprocal relationship. It does create some interesting conflict-of-interest problems.
There are some small, solo practices still out there these days. I used to go to an "old School" Ophthalmologist in the State Tower Building in Syracuse. Dr. Dolittle (a name you can't forget) wore a pinstriped vest with a pocket watch, and in his oak-paneled office would place lenses from a rack on a wire frame on your head. After a number of lenses were added, he would then determine your prescription. At that point, you had 10 pounds of lenses hanging off your nose. He also used dilating eye-drops that caused you to be blind for half a day. While his equipment was old-fashioned, his service was excellent and his professionalism was beyond reproach. And he didn't sell eyeglasses, either.
I went to a solo practice shop in Ithaca last year. It was interesting in that the doctor there (who I beleve was an Ophthalmologist, not an Optometrist) was modeling his practice on some of the big chain stores. People were hustled in and out like an assembly line. I went from room to room for different tests, seeing the actual doctor for only minutes. It was a cost-effective way to do business - for him. The overall pricing, including the glasses (again, a very limited selection) was staggering - over $400 a pair.
We still have not gotten new glasses. Our next step is to investigate B.J.'s wholesale and Wal-Mart. B.J.'s has a coupon in their flyer. Their regular glasses, including frames and lenses, are less than $150. Transition bifocals can be had for only a little more. Sunglasses are also cheap.
Wal-Mart has cheap frames and lenses as well and also offers an AARP discount. Be aware, however, that the Opticians in some Wal-Marts are merely chain stores renting space there, and not "Wal-Mart" eyeglass centers. The non-Wal-Mart Optometrists can be just as expensive as the chain stores.
The nice thing about the wholesale clubs and discount stores is that at least pricing is posted up-front before you buy. The chain stores have you go through a 2-3 hour process and then present you with a price, hoping they've worn you down enough to buy.
I will update this listing after visiting the chain stores. We plan on going to Rochester to see them, as the chain stores in larger communities tend to have better and more stylish selections of goods.
So, stay tuned!
Post Script: We went to BJ's Wholesale in Rochester, New York. They had as good if not better selection of frames, particularly for sunglasses, as the Chain store. They also looked better and fit better. I didn't feel as much as I was settling for something I didn't really like.
The bottom line? Sunglasses with polarized lenses for $130. Prescription glasses, with lightweight polycarbonate lenses, in transition bi-focal, for $140. We got four pairs of glasses for about what the chain store wanted for one pair.
A considerable savings.
Mr. See's new glasses from BJ's wholesale have garnered praise from all corners. Trendy Manhattenites ask which designer store they came from! Our secret, OK?
UPDATE:A return trip to BJ's Wholesale in Florida reveals that their eyeglasses prices are no longer any sort of bargain. The frames alone are over $140 and they wanted over $200 for lenses. I will write a new listing looking for better bargains in eyewear, shortly.
UPDATE JUNE 2014: BJ's has gotten more expensive and they are playing the Optician game of offering $99 glasses that end up costing $250, once you are done. So we will start looking elsewhere. Online is one source, and even Blue Cross offers hints on places to order glasses online. Some online sources advertise bifocals for as little as $50 a pair, and while I am skeptical, it can't hurt to order a pair as a "spare" and if they are nice, use them.
One thing the Optician at BJ's did teach me was how to clean my glasses correctly. Plastic lenses can scratch easily if you wipe them on a shirtsleeve or dry-wipe them with a cloth. Spray the lenses with a lens cleaning solution and use clean fingers to wipe the solution to work loose oils and dirt. Use a lens cleaning cloth or tissue to BLOT the solution away, wiping lightly only if needed. Grinding your lenses dry with a shirtsleeve will scratch them. They did replace one set of scratched lenses, free, under warranty.
Thanks to Dr. Duncan for the technical correction above, and these comments:
"As you know standard corrective lenses and frames are high profit
margin items, or in old terms - rip offs. It used to anger me when older
people came to my office sporting new glasses that they had paid
$400-$500 for. With a little Internet sleuthing I discovered a source
for rimless glasses with progressive lenses costing about $70 each if
bought in sets of three. These would easily be a total of $1,500 or more
here in most any setting. They are light weight, unobtrusive, and serve
perfectly the purpose intended. myeyeglasses.net
They get panned in reviews but I think from my experience with them
that the reviews are not from real customers but rather angry
competitors.
Another peeve is hearing
aids. Imagine a a frequency sensitivity programmable aid costing $7,000 a
pair when iPhones come free with 2 year service contracts. The
electronics are not particularly complex, and are just potted in plastic
molded to conform to your ear. Good grief you can get a 47" LED TV at
BJ's for under $700. Hearing aids are a market that is ripe for some
entrepreneur to tap with a quality product at an aggressively low price.
In truth the programmable frequency sensitivity is of marginal value."
Well, I don't need hearing aids just yet, but soon, and yes, they are a racket. Why? "Medicare Pays" I believe, so they don't need to control costs.
UPDATE 2020: We finally broke down and started buying glasses online. At Eyebuydirect we bought two pairs for what the wholesale club wanted for one. And readers are telling me there are even cheaper sites out there! Ron White was right - there is no logical reason glasses should cost hundreds of dollars a pair, not when you can buy a friggin' television for less!
In every classified ad section, someone is always selling used tires. And in every poor neighborhood, there is usually a used tire store. Usually, these are bad bargains.
Tires are like a roll of tape. Quite literally. As explained to me by one of my professors at General Motors Institute, when you drive your car, you "unwind" your tires, leaving a thin layer of rubber on the road as you go.
Eventually, like a roll of tape, you reach the core, and you throw that away. A bald tire is worth nothing.
In fact, a nearly bald tire is worth nothing, too, as you need to have 2/32" of tread for a tire to be legal. A tire with 3/32" of tread is only a few hundred miles from being replaced - and probably not safe in the rain.
Many people selling used tires on places like Craigslist fail to take this into consideration. They think that tires with "half the tread left" are worth half the cost of a new set. But since "half the tread" represents less than half the tread life, they are worth less - far less.
Compounding this is the mounting and balancing costs which are not trivial. Most shops charge $10 to $20 to mount and balance a tire. Particularly when they are not the one selling the tire, they need to make money to recoup their labor costs and also cover their liability.
If you pay 50% of the cost of new tires for tires that have half their tread life left, then you will end up paying twice as much for mounting and balancing, to get the equivalent tread life as you would out of a new set of tires.
For example, say you buy two sets of used tires with "half the tread life left" and pay $50 a tire, with each tire lasting 25,000 miles. You have to pay $10 for mounting and balancing each tire, which comes to $480 total cost for 50,000 miles of tread life.
But on the other hand, suppose you bought a new tires for $100 each, and they last 50,000 miles. You pay $10 a tire for mounting and balancing. Your total cost is $440 for 50,000 of tread life. New tires are cheaper by $40!
So you are, in effect, paying more for used tires than you are for new ones. This makes no economic sense, which is why stores like this (and people selling used tires) proliferate in poorer neighborhoods.
The only exception to this rule is "Take-Offs". These are tires that were removed from new cars so that the owner could put fancy aftermarket rims and tires on (see my posting on Bling Rims). We call these people fools. They are removing hundreds of dollars worth of new tires only to sell them for less than half the cost, so they can have something fancy.
Such take-offs CAN be a good deal, if priced appropriately. And similarly, tires with more than 60-70% of their tread life left can be a good deal, if priced appropriately.
But often, used tires are a bad deal, as the person selling them or the store who deals in them, overprices these items. People assume they are getting a "deal" because they are used tires, but they fail to check out prices on new tires and "do the math" on mounting and balancing costs, and thus make a poor economic choice.
Note that cheap new tires are often the same bad deal. A good set of tires, like Michelins, may have a tread life warranty of 60,000 miles. That is staggering, considering how quickly tires wore out just a few years ago. Yes, they are more expensive tires, but when you throw in $100 in mounting costs, buying two sets of "cheaper" tires ends up costing more.
And better tires handle better, are quieter, and ride better. So often, when you buy the latest Asian off-brand, you live to regret the decision, and you are stuck with the decision for at least 30,000 miles, until they wear out.
Finally, tires are nothing to go cheap about. If you don't have sufficient tread, your car is more likely to get stuck or get in an accident. Tires are the major part of your braking, handling, and suspension. Tires with little tread left are dangerous in the rain and useless in the snow. You are literally gambling with your life to save a few bucks. And some used tires may have hidden damages and other problems you may not be aware of.
I have found one or two deals on used tires in the past. I just found a pair of Michelin MXV 205/60 R15 radials with 80% of their tread left, for $10 the pair. Even with mounting costs, this is a bargain, as they should provide 40,000 miles of good service. One new tire would cost $70-$100 plus mounting.
UPDATE: While the used Michelins looked good, they were old and dry-rotted. They were hard as a rock and cause the car to vibrate and shimmy. I replaced the ball joints and tie rods, had the front end aligned, and still the car shimmied. I changed the tires and the shimmy went away. Older tires get HARD and then flat spots set in, causing shimmy, usually between 55 and 60 mph. Used tires, as it turns out, were no bargain here!
In another case, I bought a set of four tires and wheels from a fellow for $200. Three of the tires were usable, and I ran them (plus my unused spare) for 20,000 miles. I sold three of the rims for over $200 and kept one as a spare. So the net cost was, to me, zero.
UPDATE: Again, while I did get a few miles out of those tires, they also hardened like a rock and guess what happened? Shimmy. This time around, I knew what the cause was, however. Just say "No" to used tires!
Thus, it pays to check the age of used tires as well. Usually there is a date code on the tire. Oftentimes, people leave old tires laying about in garages, basements, and attics, for several years, before deciding to sell them. By the time you buy them, they may be hard as a rock, and thus vibrate and ride like Fred Flintstone's car. They may also dry-rot and blow out. Tires over five years old are suspect. Tires over ten years old should be thrown out, in most cases.
But as you can see, the amount of money "saved" is not all that great. And unless you are savvy about cars and tires, chances are, you'll get taken. And the safety issues sort of seal the deal, at least for me.
So I would put this one down as "Probably Not" for most people. Even when I have paid trivial amounts for used tires, they ended up not being real bargains.
Craigslist has become a substitute for the traditional classified ads. However, when something is "free" it does create a lot of problems for users.
Craigslist sucks, lets face it. There are so many problems with the service it isn't funny. And it's getting worse and worse over time. And many of the "fixes" instituted by Craigslist are causing most of the problems.
In its infancy, it worked well, as did eBay, as the people using the Internet were Internet people - computer geeks who played by a set of unwritten rules. But as the Internet has become the network for the everyman, people, often unscrupulous people, have figured out ways to basically wreck all the fun.
So you want to sell your old futon. You put it on Craigslist. You get e-mails from scam artists and maybe a serial killer comes to visit you. Fun, eh? But actual BUYERS? No, you don't get any of them.
P.T. Barnum said it best - "never let the suckers in for free - people don't value that which they don't have to pay for". You want people to take something seriously, you have to CHARGE for it.
Craigslist has remained like a cult, fairly secretive in its operations, and also steadfastly refusing to take paid advertisements or charge user fees. How long they can keep up this "business model" is anyone's guess, however. You can't run a business like a religious cult.
There are several features of Craigslist that are disturbing. First, since everything is free, anyone can post anything. And that often means that people who want to sell outright junk list it on Craigslist for a billion dollars. This ends up wasting your time, as you spend countless hours tracking down some clown to see his broken-down (fill in the blank) only to drive an hour out of your way to find out that whatever it is he is selling should be put in a dumpster.
Since the listings are FREE, people with garages or back yards full of junk feel obligated to list things there. Most of these are people with hoarding disorder, who merely want some validation that their crap is worth something. They post a misleading advertisement, and if it generates interest, they fell justified in keeping their mounds of objects. But they really aren't interested in selling anything, even if someone really wanted to buy their pair of bald snow tires.
These sort of sickos don't advertise in conventional classified ads, because they cost MONEY. When someone is SERIOUS about selling something, they are usually willing to part with some CASH as part of the deal. But "FREE" attracts all sorts of fringe elements, and unfortunately, on Craigslist, these types can predominate, drowning out the ads for quality items that are really for sale.
And if you DO have a legitimate item to sell, watch out, because if it is "flagged" by anyone, they remove it. And lately, people have been abusing the heck out of "flagging". Some folks have even written 'bots to flag the snot out of everything. And since Craigslist takes a "hands off" approach to flagging, if your posting is "flagged" it gets deleted.
Why do people "flag" your legitimate post that is in the correct category? Why do people spray graffiti on the wall? Why do people pee on the toilet seat or smear feces on the wall? Some people are fucked up. And if you get enough of them together, well, it only takes one or two assholes to ruin everything. So all it takes is a few deranged individuals to go online and start "flagging" the snot out of everything, and all the postings get deleted. This begs the question, why bother posting anything then?
And then there is the parochial nature of Craigslist. Their mantra is "buy local". But often, the best deals might be found an hour or more away. But since you can only advertise locally, you can't reach those markets, and moreover, it is harder to search far-away markets.
If you try to list an item on multiple Craigslist sites (for example, Syracuse, Ithaca, Rochester) the posts will be denied. Craigslist now has a feature that "finds" items in adjacent areas, but ONLY if there are not enough listings in your local area. So Craigslist determines, using an unknown algorithm, if you are "worthy" of seeing listings for items in adjacent areas. How patronizing.
There are services, like searchtempest, that will search all the Craigslists nationwide for an item. For some items, like vintage car parts or an old Airstream travel trailer, it is worthwhile to do a nationwide search. For some reason, Craigslist people think this is a horrible idea. "Buy Locally!" they chant, not realizing that if you want a left-handed carburator bracket for a 1954 Chevy pickup (and it's different than the '55 and '53) you might want to look in places other than Elmira New York and its environs.
If you use SearchTempest or one of the other Craigslist aggragators, the system may lock you out, blocking your IP address on the grounds that you are searching too many sites at once.
Now, you might say, "Well, this is all very good, they are trying to police abuses of the system - by allowing flagging of items, they keep the system clean, and by blocking IP addresses of people searching too many sites, they prevent 'bots and spammers for accessing Craigslist."
Oh, if only that were true! The reality is, the con artists are all over Craigslist and rarely, if ever, are their posts flagged or deleted. And if they are, they just re-post, over and over agian. When you see a car for sale for less than half its book value, that is a tipoff. Then you e-mail the person, and they tell you a wild tale of how they are overseas and they will have the car shipped to you. Scam, plain and simple. And these "deals" are all over Craigslist.
And even Craigslist knows this. In the "Cars and Trucks" section, there is a highlighted heading that says "ALL OFFERS TO SHIP CARS ARE FRAUDULENT!" - so they know what is going on. But, the offers continue to plague Craigslist.
Meanwhile, my legitimate offer to sell a set of used car parts is "flagged" as "inappropriate" for the "Car parts for sale" section.
The system simply DOESN'T WORK.
I've wasted countless hours on Craigslist trying to find things. Either the people are DREAMERS trying to sell junk for top dollar, or they are impossible to get ahold of and won't tell you a time and place to come look at the item in question. They are afraid to give you their home address, because they are afraid you might be a serial killer. It has happened. Since Craigslist takes no money, they can't afford to have a system in place that would at least monitor who sees your ad and who contacts you.
P.T. Barnum had it right. When the SUCKERS don't PAY for something, they don't appreciate it. Craigslist has devolved into little more than a graffiti-covered bathroom wall. For a good time, call Suzie 555-1212.
Craigslist sucks. Scammers predominate, as they figure out the rules of the automated system and just skirt them. Or they just keep posting and re-posing over and over again. But Joe Everyman, trying to sell his lawnmower, gets flagged. The spammers are taking over Craigslist and then shutting out the individual.
Um, how many times have we seen that happen on the Internet? Remember NewsGroups? Simple, fast, fun, - FREE. Then they got slammed with SPAM and no one could use them anymore.
And apparently I am not the only one to notice this. Google Craigslist Sucks sometime and you may see result like this one.
The existence of Craigslist illustrates that there is a desperate need for a centralized place on the Internet to buy and sell your stuff. But the problems with Craigslist show that the "free" model simply doesn't work.
And I'm not saying I've never bought anything on Craigslist or ever sold anything. It is just been that for every transaction I have consumated, there have been probably 10 aborted transactions because the seller was fraudulent, the goods were in horrible condition, or the seller or buyer never responded to calls, e-mails, failed to show up, etc.
The first person to come to market with a nationwide buy/sell classified system that either charges a nominal amount (to keep out the spammers and con artists) or uses paid adverts to fund a staff to monitor it (and keep out the spammers and con artists) will find a ready market.
And Craigslist will be relegated to the trash heap of history.
What a freaking waste of time! Anything FREE basically sucks most of the time.
You DO get what you pay for. And FREE gets you BUBKIS.
There's tons of money to be made in the fat business - by playing to people's emotional needs, fears, wants, and desires.
Recently I had to disable COMMENTS on my Losing Weight Now! blog to limit them to blog members. I'm sorry to do that, but I was not getting many legitimate comments there anyway.
On the other hand, about every day I was getting SPAM comments from people who wanted to embed hyperlinks in their comments that would lead you to their "fat burning pill" websites.
Let me re-iterate this for all you fat girls who don't want to stop eating donuts and think you can eat a whole pizza pie and lose weight if you take a "fat burner" pill or powder:
THEY DON'T WORK!
Please re-read the last line until you "get it". Otherwise go away, I have no time for people who engage in self-delusion and want to blame all their problems on their hormones, genetics, the trilateral commission or whatever.
Calorie in, calorie out, it is as simple as that. You want to lose weight? Eat proper portions and proportions, that's it. There is no "weird old tip" or "secret". I'm sorry if you even want to believe that.
Belief is one thing that leads to a lot of problems in the world, whether it is in racial superiority, various forms of government "isms" (Nazism, Communism, whatever), or the "religious" beliefs that the world would just be a swell place, if only we could kill enough of the right people.
Illogical beliefs cause the world no end of grief, and they cause individuals no end of personal grief as well.
So stop being a "believer" and try being rational. It is not as scary as you might think - reality and all. In fact, it is rather pleasant, as once you stop believing in silly things, your personal life gets a lot better, as you can make rational decisions about your life. And more often than not, rational decisions pay off better than irrational ones.
Seem kind of simple, but there you have it.
Marketers make billions of dollars every year off of fat people, particularly women, by trying to sell them magic fat cures. So yes, I am hard on "fat chicks" because they are the ones who continually fall for this nonsense, again and again. And being nice and sympathetic and a shoulder to cry on is not the medicine they need. They need a good wake-up call, however uncomfortable it may make them.
Money - it drives a lot of evil things in this world. It is not inherently evil, but as the Bible says, the pursuit of money is the root of all evil. Many people miss that part and assume money itself is evil. It is value-neutral. It is people's greed and desire for it that is the evil thing.
And one evil way to make money is to take advantage of people - by playing to their greed, fear, lusts, wants, need for status, and other emotional triggers. Once you can "hook" someone emotionally, you can really loot them clean. And they will give you their blubbering thanks for it, too.
So all you have to do, if you want to make a PILE of dough, is offer to sell someone a fat pill, a fat powder, an exercise dealie, whatever. PROMISE them they will lose weight with little or no effort on their part. Provide tearful testimonials from some model in a bikini. Tell them "operators are standing by, call now!"
And they will call - again and again. And it doesn't matter how many times they get "burned" by pills, powders, diet plans, exercise devices, or whatever, they will keep calling, again and again, until they are flat broke.
You see, like Ponce de León and the Fountain of Youth, people will believe crazy shit. And they will take it to total extremes, too. You don't have to work very hard to instill belief into people, they will gladly take the bait, hook, line, and sinker, and then tell all their friends as well.
It is amazing, really. And you wonder why some folks think it is so hard to make money in this country - if you really want to get rich and have no scruples whatsoever, well, all you have to do is pander to the lowest common denominator in humanity. And you really don't have to break any laws, either. Just tell someone they'll look sexy or wealthy driving a shiny car, and chances are, they'll buy it - and pay 20% over book for the privilege.
The secret to losing weight and the secret to financial success are closely intermingled. That's why I am cross-posting this in both my blogs. The secret is no secret - you just have to embrace reality and not fantasy.
You have to monitor your calorie intake and your exercise and your weight on a daily basis, and then take steps to reduce calorie intake and increase exercise, if you want to lose weight.
You have to balance your checkbook and credit card accounts on a daily basis, and then monitor your spending and have a plan to increase savings and reduce debt, if you want to increase your wealth.
In either case, there is no "secret" or "magic". There is no "fat-burner pill." There is no "money system." You can't call a 1-800 number, hand over your credit card number and lose weight and get rich. Life just isn't that easy. If it was, everyone would be slim and wealthy.
Yet, a surprisingly large number of people are willing to believe that they are fat because of hormones, genetics or some other factor beyond their control. They pray for a miracle fat-burner instead of addressing real factors that are really within their control.
Similarly, many people look at money like it was a natural weather phenomenon. Some days it rains, other days it is a drought. Where money comes from, and more importantly, where it goes are mysteries to them. So a "money system" sounds plausible, as to them, money is a deep, deep mystery.
And because of human weakness, we all want to hear easy answers. You can lose weight without effort. Wealth can be generated without work. Weak minds want to believe. And they do. And the irony of it all is, the people who take advantage of these weak minds end up leaving their victims fatter and poorer - the exact opposite of what they were striving for.
Save belief for intangible questions in your life, such as "Is There a God?" and "What Happens After I Die?" Belief is well-suited for such questions, as we will never answer them, for sure, until we die.
But for things like "what is the balance in my checking account?" and "How many calories are there in Sweet Potatoes?" belief has no place. These are rational, numerical questions, with finite answers. A money system or a fat burner are not going to provide you with the correct result.
