There's Always Someone Who is Not as Lucky as You!

I think sometimes we have a tendency to complain too much. At least, I know I do. Whether it's slow sales, grumpy customers, or grumpy spouses, we sometimes get caught up in our own problems and forget about the folks around us who have it worse than we do.

A good example of this happened to me over the last 2 weeks. As you probably know, the East Coast was visited by a category 1 hurricane a couple of weeks back. We're not really use to this type of weather in the Northeast, and so its arrival was heralded with some trepidation. We made preparations as best we could; tied down everything that needed tied down, brought in anything from outside that could turn into a wind powered missile, and made sure we had plenty of wine on hand to "weather" the storm.

As it turned out, the storm packed quite a wallop when it came to rain. We were very lucky that the winds were not as strong as predicted. The damage, however, was done by the heavy rains. Areas flooded that had never done so before. I don't know what we find so fascinating about floods, but there's just something in us that tends to make us sit back with jaw dropping amazement at what nature can do.

After it was all over, we ended up with no more than a bit of water under the garage door, and a small leak in the chimney. I wasn't too happy about this, because we had just paid to have that small leak fixed last year. Apparently it was back to torment us once again.

Before I had a chance to call my roofer and give him what for, I found out that our dear friends who live next to a creek down by the Delaware River, lost absolutely everything in the ensuing flood. They own an old, 3 story stone house dating back from when their property had a mill on the premises. They've been flooded before, but never more than the first floor of their home. Apparently one wall of the nearby canal gave way, creating a wave of water from the Delaware backward up the creek. It came so fast and furious; they barely had a chance to escape with their lives. The water reached the ceiling of their second floor, wiping out everything. They lost not only their possessions in the house, but also all their automobiles, their barns, and their small cottage. He described the first floor as looking as if it was "covered with 3 feet of chocolate pudding, only it smelled like sewage and dead fish."

The next time I feel like complaining about slow sales, or a bit of water leaking in the chimney, I'll think twice...and count my blessings.

Nice Day for a Walk...or in My Case...a Gimp

Yesterday was one of the nicest days around here that I can remember for quite a while. It also happened to coincide with the Wednesday flea market in the next town. I've been frustrated most of the summer with a severely sprained ankle, and yesterday was just too much to ignore.

I bravely strapped on my ankle brace, got into the car and headed to the flea market. Apparently, everyone else in the local area had the same idea. The place was jammed! Usually this early in the morning, traffic is very light, but this morning I was lucky to have a place to park. Swell...that much more of a distance to walk on this bum ankle. Nevertheless, the day was gorgeous, and I had some cash to burn, so off I went...slowly.

One of the things I noticed almost immediately was the prices on the items for sale. I may have been out of commission for June and July, but that wasn't enough time for inflation to hit the country THAT fast! On many of the items that held my interest, the prices were at or above retail! I couldn't believe it! I think too many of these good folks watch Antiques Roadshow and believe that the items they're selling are rare, and therefore worth lots of money. Trust me...most of the stuff is quite frankly, junk. If yesterday was any indication, the days of finding a real bargain at the flea market might be coming to a close. I'm not ready to give up...but it certainly was disheartening.

While I was there, I stopped and talked to a few friends that I know and haven't seen for a while, but after a couple of hours, I decided to call it quits and hobble on home. No luck. Not even close, but it was sure a nice day for a walk.

Be Informed When it Comes to Shipping

Unfortunately, shipping costs are a fact of life in running an on-line business. It's also a given that these costs are not going to remain static for long periods of time. When I started selling on the internet 7 years ago, it was not uncommon to be able to ship a fairly large package for under 10 bucks. Since most of the items I sell are fragile, my packages tend to weigh a bit more and be a bit larger than normal due to the extra cushioning material I use. Double boxing doesn’t help either. Since shipping costs now depend on both weight AND volume, not to mention the price of fuel for the delivery trucks, I've seen my costs go up significantly over the last few years.

This, of course, makes little difference to the casual on-line buyer. I say casual because people who tend to buy often on-line are fairly knowledgeable about what things cost to ship. This is not necessarily the case with buyers who only make the occasional purchase.

Shipping breakable items means extra cushioning, and added size and weight to any package. Anything less, and the seller is taking a huge chance with his reputation, and therefore his or her business. This means it now becomes common to have packages that cost between 15 and 20 dollars to ship. Packing and shipping art work can easily run up shipping costs of 30 dollars or more.

Of more concern are the less expensive items. Most people cringe at buying a $10 dollar item, and paying more than that for shipping (I know…I’m one of them). This might be fine if the item is hard to find; not so fine if the item can be obtained locally with a bit of effort. This situation may cause many sellers who specialize in less expensive items to rethink their on-line selling strategy.

In any case, if you buy on-line, you need to be aware of the expenses your sellers incur to get their goods to you in a safe and timely manner. If you think the shipping costs really are too high, don’t be afraid to ask the seller why they charge what they do. Most sellers will be more than happy to explain their costs to you. Be an informed buyer.

Best Laid Plans

This was the end of my last year in the teaching profession. As June approached, I could feel my excitement building regarding the prospect of starting all over again. I have been looking forward to concentrating on doing my on-line collectibles business full time. Finally, I could spend the time I had, doing what I wanted to do, not what someone else wanted me to do.

Selling collectibles on-line requires a lot of time going to auctions and flea markets, something that I really enjoy. However it also requires a lot of walking, something else that I like to do. What better way to spend time than to put two things together that I enjoy doing? Well...as fate would have it...a few monkey wrenches have been thrown into my plans.

Two days before the end of work, I somehow got my foot caught up in a footstool (bit of irony there), and injured both my ankle and calf muscle. Not all that much pain involved, but it prevented me from being mobile for a while. After about 5 weeks of rehab, things were getting back to normal. This is about the time my stupidity kicked in.

I had to go down to the basement to do a load of wash. I always put my shoes on when I do this, but this particular time my foot was feeling really good, and I was in a hurry. Bad move. Walking across the basement floor, carrying a load of wash, I stepped on the only remaining clothespin within a hundred miles. Of course, it was with my previously injured ankle. Of course this caused me to lose my balance, my foot twisted, and viola...a severely sprained ankle!

So once again I'm in the rehab stage...Probably another 3 weeks or so before things get back to some semblance of normalcy so that I can walk. In the meantime, I'll just have to be patient about getting my "new life" going...again...and try not to do anything stupid. My wife has her doubts.

Defying the Laws of Physics

I've been a science teacher for the last 38 years. As of the end of June, I decided to retire and pursue other interests, such as my favorite hobby, on-line selling. I've been looking forward to this for quite a while, as the on-line selling part always had to take a back seat to teaching...and rightly so. Now however, that's all changed.

My plan was to reorganize my home office to reflect the fact that I would now be spending all of my free time building my business. Of course, the first thing I had to do was clean out the office before I started reorganizing, and I figured I could accomplish this in just a few short days. Boy was I wrong! I didn't realize a room that small could hold that much! In fact, it appears that the room is actually defying the laws of physics in that the more I throw out, the more I seem to find! I don't know where all of this stuff is coming from, but it appears to me that "stuff" is being created faster than I can clean it out.

So much for being done and ready to go in three days. As I start my second week of clean up, I have hopes that I might be able to finish by the end of the weekend. I'm probably safer not making any predictions, but I can guarantee the trash and recycle guys aren't going to be too happy with me this week! Back to work!

Proofread Those Listings!

I'm usually pretty good at proofreading my listings, but every once in a while something slips through. Recently I had to raise the prices I charge for shipping due to increased operating costs, and so I had to go through and make changes in many of my item descriptions.

Recently I made a sale to a customer who pointed out, and rightly so, that it said "in the description" of the item that the shipping cost was $5.00, even though this customer was charged $10.00. Well I was pretty sure that $10.00 was the actual shipping charge, but when I investigated, I found that I had indeed forgotten to change the wording in the description of the item. Since it was my fault, I only charged this customer $5.00 as in my opinion, arguing the point was not worth the bad feelings that would have been created.

The bottom line is, I am once again combing through my listings and looking for errors. A second pair of eyes would have been a big help, but as we all know, that's not always possible. Even though I've been doing this for a few years, incidents like this remind me to slow down a bit and take my time. Lesson learned...until the next time.

Trying to Sort Things Out...Not Having Much Luck

I haven't written very much as of late. It's been a very busy last couple of months; more so than usual. As of this Monday last I have retired from 38 years of teaching science. I didn't know how I would feel about that when the day finally came. Now that it's here, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's kind of an odd sensation. On the one hand, it hasn't really hit me yet that come August, that little packet of information that always arrives in the mail from the school will not be in my mailbox. It just seems like the start to a normal summer break. On the other hand, I know that this won't just be any normal summer...how I'll react to that in a few months will also be an unknown.

I do know I've been looking forward to being able to spend more time building my on-line business. It's still going to be a few weeks before I can really dive in. I'm cleaning out almost 40 years of educational material from my office, and reorganizing. It's a bigger job that I thought...no surprise there I guess. In any case, I hope to be up and running in just a few weeks. See you then.