Posted on 06/18/2012 6:37:22 AM PDT by rhema
It is entirely self-serving of me to point out that the classified ads in the Pioneer Press seem to be making a comeback, but I think we are past the point of pretending to hide my affection for newsprint. I am not claiming that the classifieds are as busy as a small-town telephone book, or even a small-town church bulletin. I am merely suggesting that I am noticing a revival of sorts, particularly in my fields of misadventure.
In Classic Antique Autos for Thursday, June 7, for example, the category immediately following Volvo and just before 4WD Trucks, there was an offering of five Corvettes, a couple of other Chevrolets, two Fords, an Olds Cutlass, a Porsche 914 and a 1952 Hudson Hornet. A Hudson Hornet!
All told, there were 13 antique or classic vehicles offered Thursday, and I can't wait to read the Sunday paper because Sunday papers still tend to attract a few more sellers. The Marine category was weak Thursday, one offering. Motorcycles offered five selections, two of them Harleys. I would have put mine in the paper and was about to but managed to sell it to a friend by word of mouth and avoided having to place an ad anywhere, about which more will be said in a moment.
To my way of thinking, nothing speaks to the distress of the American newspaper so much as the emaciation of the classifieds, once one of the great pleasures of a fellow's morning. As recently as 2005, I bought a collectible Honda motorcycle out of the classifieds -- unfortunately in the Enemy Paper -- on a day when motorcycles took up about two full-length columns of possibilities. That isn't that long ago.
Well, in just the last seven years, the Internet began roaring even louder and eBay seemed to be the place to go and Craigslist invaded every city and hamlet like a plague of army worms. Because for many of us the adventure is in the hunt, Craigslist has been seen as a blessing. I do not see it as a blessing, for one obvious reason and another not so obvious.
Yes, I like to hop onto Craigslist and see what's what, but I am also afraid Craigslist holds up a mirror to a general decline in spelling and grammar that is absolutely appalling. I am tired of cars that have good "breaks" or rebuilt "trans-missions," or "will send pitchers as soon as abel."
Come on, at least get a dictionary. Not to mention that Craigslist, while having been a treasure hunter's goldmine for better or worse, seems to suggest a note of desperation, that the thing getting sold was just discovered under a tarp and that a foot had been put down in the household to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Thus: "Grate condishion. Run good when last run."
Not so with the newspaper classifieds, which offer the ambience of a gentleman's club by comparison, with newspapers folded on those bamboo newspaper racks and a butler in a waistcoat bringing around samples of single-malt scotch to give a try. In the classifieds, words are spelled correctly, and rather than the advertisement telling of haste and discombobulation, a newspaper ad speaks of deliberation, of the parting with the thing having been weighed carefully.
I sneak a glance at the motorcycles in the paper, but I had a good 15-year run with motorcycles and am phasing out. I am no longer willing to fall off, not when you can merely slip on the ice in your own driveway and have your wrist out of commission for five months. I might even draw the correlation that as classifieds disappeared, distracted driving increased exponentially, probably because so many people had been issued an order to get rid of that canoe on the side of the garage and were rushing home to put on Craigslist that it is "aluminom'' and doesn't need any "mainnenzt."
“My local paper printed that I had been arraigned for drunk driving nearly 7 yeas after it happened.”
I had a 60s Corvette fuel injection unit stored away for 30+ years. Sold it a couple years ago on eBay for $4500. One of these days I may peddle my massive stash of R12 freon LOL.
I still laugh when I see someone selling a “Chester Drawer”.
*shakes head*
You are correct. Poor ole Joe is having a mental wet dream wanting to move back to the past:
“Face facts, Joe.
Newspapers are nearly as dead as weekly news magazines.”
None of our younger relatives in their 30-40’s subscribe to a newspaper. The free weekly ad paper goes from their driveway to the recycle can, unopened.
We still subscribe to our local fishwrap due to a reversal of their left wing stances. I never look in the ad section except to find the hard to finish crossword puzzle.
I don’t use Craig’s list as cop friends call it the robbers ATM.
We use the internet to sell/buy sporting goods to similiar people. We go to the internet sites of clubs/activities, we are interested in, and many friends use EBay to buy sell items.
About a decade ago, a younger relative couple wanted to sell their current home to buy a larger home for their larger family. Their Realtor refused to use the internet, she didn’t want to share the commission with other realors. There were no buyers in a hot market.
After 30 days on the market and 4 open house Sundays, I felt the realtor didn’t really want sell their house at the asking price and was waiting to come in with a lower price.
I told the wife to send the Realtor an email and to put their house on the internet. Then give her 8 hours to post the internet info or she would find a new realtor.
She and I worked on the internet to create the internet ad and it was posted after some harsh words in time for the weekend.
The internet open house had more good lookers than the previous 4. Our relative and her husband stayed at the house and monitored the realtor. After the realtor downplayed their home to two lookers, the husband told her to go sit in her car.
They ended up with a bidding war and about $10K over their asking price. One of my relatives sat in on any discussion a potential buyer had.
After the sale of their home was completed, our female relative let everyone in her circles know what happened. The worthless/game playing realtor sold her home on the internet and left the area.
Watch out for a hellfire missle from an EPA drone.
I love perusing Craig’s Listings. One of my all time favorites was a chair that was “genitally used”.
Uhhh, no thank you.
I put an RCA Victor Victrola radio/record player console from the 1940s on Craigslist.
I’ve had four inquiries, all bogus.
“I had a 60s Corvette fuel injection unit stored away for 30+ years. Sold it a couple years ago on eBay for $4500.”
One of our relatives in the midwest sold his beautiful Slant Back Ford Torino, he bought when he got out of the military.
Fish Wrap ads were expensive, and they didn’t want to use Craig’s list. He was a member of some web site or older Fords and Torinos and posted picture of his baby and the price.
Immediately, he had a small bidding war, and a couple on the Gulf Coast bought it. The guy’s dad drove up with a car hauler, paid with a cashier’s check, loaded it on the hauler, secured it and drove away.
The cost to our relative, 0/zero $’s.
Over the weekend, I ran across a copy of the 1908 Sears & Roebuck catalog. Fascinating to see the difference a hundred years had made in the world of advertising copy.
“I put an RCA Victor Victrola radio/record player console from the 1940s on Craigslist. I’ve had four inquiries, all bogus.”
The bogus/scams on Craigs List work both channels, seller and buyer.
Stupid paper....Very rarely do they actually do something worthwhile.
I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in decades but I get 2 to 3 per week. They go under the cat litter box and the newspaper gets to claim increased circulation - it's a win-win.
A local wood seller repeatedly listed chords of wood for sale. I always wanted to call and ask if they were in a major or minor key.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OMG, that DID make me spit my drink!
LOL..."genitally used"...:)
I used to use “The Want Ad” and classifieds in papers...I BLOODY WELL HATED THEM. They were a pain to use, a pain to pore through, there was NOTHING good about them except that there was no alternative.
And dipstick that longs for the days of the classified ads has a screw loose. Newspapers are dead, Dead, DEAD. They just don’t know it yet.
And, I say, GOOD RIDDANCE.
Democratization of the language. A lexicon is a terrible thing to waste.
Must be a slow opinion day.
Agreed...I am visualizing some doddering old liberal type sitting on a tall editors stool with a threadbare button down sweater and hunched shoulders, his glasses with a piece of string attached to keep from losing them, getting himself all worked up into a lather over this!
lol! Exactly!
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