Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
Where are you guys searching for cars and "stuff"? I know that the default answer is usually "Facebook" but unless I'm missing something, it REALLY sucks. For example, I'm planning an extended working-vacation in the Phoenix area this October. By working, I mean reconditioning a small condo I've owned since 2012. I plan to either re-rent it at a higher price, or I might consider selling it. But in either scenario, it will need the basic paint-flooring-updates. It would have occurred last year, if not for all the China bio-warfare.
I plan to rent a car for a few days early on, but ultimately I want to buy something to use out there for a couple weeks, then drive back to Michigan, keeping it as a daily-driver. My search is broad, so anything from a 2010 Ram to a 1965 Newport that will make the drive. I've done this more times than I can remember (at least twice in Florida). But this was all back in the days before Craigslist hadn't gone to sh*t. I also used Craig's for stuff like appliances, deals on paint/tile, even hiring guys to clean up landscape/gutters, etc.
Now I'm trying to look and just get a bead on the market, as I don't expect any particular car or refrigerator to still be around in 4 months. My Craigslist search used to go like this... Select Phoenix Metro > Keyword: Chrysler > Price range $900-$8000 > 183 Results amongst which would be something like a 10-year old grandma-condition LHS in Sun City for $4500. I'd call the number and be in business. Doing the same thing on FB requires me to apply "filters" that mostly don't work. So I see 7-8 overpriced dealer cars in Phoenix, then a 1985 LeBaron brouchure for $8 in Pacasaway, NJ and a Camry in Calaxia, California, written in Spanish. The results get dumber from there. AND if I run the same search, but add a second keyword like "Yorker", I'll get a '77 New Yorker in Phoenix that SHOULD have shown up the first time, and then the same Se Habla Espanol Camry. God forbid I press "back" one too many times, because it loses all the filters and I'm reading local ads for stolen $300 tennis shoes. Usually around this time I say "F-this" and read a spam article about what happened behind the scenes of The Golden Girls. If you DO actually find something you'd be interested in, better hope the other person has the right version of their retarded messenger program running, or you'll get a response next Easter when they clean out a spam folder. Let's not forget all the "splinter" apps like OfferUp, $ellMy$hit and Glorp! or whatever has gotten popular this month and will be out of business by October.
Searching for household/building materials is even more of a disaster.
Once upon a time in a pre-smart phone era, I literally landed in Phoenix, drove a rental car to the library-homeless shelter, found a '76 Dodge Shortbed for $2500 and told the seller I'd give him the full price if it was reliable enough to follow me to the airport to return my rental. Then I proceeded to score every appliance, box of ceramic tile, and day-labor with said truck. I put it back on Craig's a few weeks later for the same money (and much safer wiring) and set it up so the buyer had to drop me at the airport to make my flight.
I know I'll no sooner have this experience again than buy gas for under $3 a gallon while the jackass in charge sends welfare checks to Libya, but someone must feel my pain. What are you guys doing to find stuff nowadays? I'd post the question on Facebook, but 10 people from Calaxia would ignore what I just wrote and suggest FB marketplace.
I plan to rent a car for a few days early on, but ultimately I want to buy something to use out there for a couple weeks, then drive back to Michigan, keeping it as a daily-driver. My search is broad, so anything from a 2010 Ram to a 1965 Newport that will make the drive. I've done this more times than I can remember (at least twice in Florida). But this was all back in the days before Craigslist hadn't gone to sh*t. I also used Craig's for stuff like appliances, deals on paint/tile, even hiring guys to clean up landscape/gutters, etc.
Now I'm trying to look and just get a bead on the market, as I don't expect any particular car or refrigerator to still be around in 4 months. My Craigslist search used to go like this... Select Phoenix Metro > Keyword: Chrysler > Price range $900-$8000 > 183 Results amongst which would be something like a 10-year old grandma-condition LHS in Sun City for $4500. I'd call the number and be in business. Doing the same thing on FB requires me to apply "filters" that mostly don't work. So I see 7-8 overpriced dealer cars in Phoenix, then a 1985 LeBaron brouchure for $8 in Pacasaway, NJ and a Camry in Calaxia, California, written in Spanish. The results get dumber from there. AND if I run the same search, but add a second keyword like "Yorker", I'll get a '77 New Yorker in Phoenix that SHOULD have shown up the first time, and then the same Se Habla Espanol Camry. God forbid I press "back" one too many times, because it loses all the filters and I'm reading local ads for stolen $300 tennis shoes. Usually around this time I say "F-this" and read a spam article about what happened behind the scenes of The Golden Girls. If you DO actually find something you'd be interested in, better hope the other person has the right version of their retarded messenger program running, or you'll get a response next Easter when they clean out a spam folder. Let's not forget all the "splinter" apps like OfferUp, $ellMy$hit and Glorp! or whatever has gotten popular this month and will be out of business by October.
Searching for household/building materials is even more of a disaster.
Once upon a time in a pre-smart phone era, I literally landed in Phoenix, drove a rental car to the library-homeless shelter, found a '76 Dodge Shortbed for $2500 and told the seller I'd give him the full price if it was reliable enough to follow me to the airport to return my rental. Then I proceeded to score every appliance, box of ceramic tile, and day-labor with said truck. I put it back on Craig's a few weeks later for the same money (and much safer wiring) and set it up so the buyer had to drop me at the airport to make my flight.
I know I'll no sooner have this experience again than buy gas for under $3 a gallon while the jackass in charge sends welfare checks to Libya, but someone must feel my pain. What are you guys doing to find stuff nowadays? I'd post the question on Facebook, but 10 people from Calaxia would ignore what I just wrote and suggest FB marketplace.
