It is really hard to write a highlight post on a Sunday night about the garage sale that started Thursday evening. Sort of like trying to write about waiting an extra half hour at the bus stop in the drizzling rain and how that one car drove too close to the curb, rolled through the puddle of water, and very nearly got your pant cuffs wet.
Hoo boy.
I did find out, unsurprisingly, that I shouldn't be in charge of pricing books if our intent was for them to sell.
Our first two customers Thursday night were two middle-aged ladies who pulled up in a minivan a few minutes after we opened. They had been garage-saling since nine that morning, itself an admission worthy of a single arched eyebrow, if only I were capable of such a feat. But the elder woman also boasted that she was showing her younger cohort the ropes. Like there's a trick to it or something. I don't know. Maybe there is.
The trainee flipped through a number of the books at the back of our garage and made half-hearted disparaging looks, like she was psyching herself up to talk me down from a dollar. (They really HAD been at it since nine that morning. I braced myself.) She showed genuine interest in my spare copy of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, and asked my opinion of it, which I expressed as high. I wanted a dollar for it. She thumbed to the copyright page and gave a snort when she read the original publication date of 1928. She offered me 50 cents -- half the asking price, because it was so old. I stuck to my price of a WHOLE DOLLAR and just barely restrained myself from going on a rant about how a book's age does not automatically cause it to depreciate, and that some actually increase quite a bit in value as they get older. Shall I show you my 120 year-old copy of Last of the Mohicans?
She left the book, and sauntered out. I allowed myself my own snort as they drove off. We didn't sell many books this weekend.
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We were all glad to be done on Sunday night. Tavish wrapped up the event in fine Fraser form.
Amy put Tav in the bath after we finished our pizza, Dex and I went downstairs for some time on the computer. When we came back up a while later, Amy recounted the particulars:
"Hey Si, guess what. You know how I just had Tav in the bath? Well, I let him run around the living room naked afterwards to air out, and he started farting. He was like a little machine gun! And then he was over by the chair and bent over to pick up his soother, and he farted again. And then he followed through with just a single kernel of corn. And Jango ate it."
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I have no more words.
Used paperbacks = 50 cents
Used Hardbacks = a dollar
New books, unread = 30% of face value
Sunday book sales = 50 cents/lb
At least it looked like food...
Posted by: wil | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 05:30 AM
Ah, yes. I, too, have felt the sting of over-pricing garage sale items.
That last detail... just glad this was Monday, the one morning I don't eat breakfast during my pre-work blog check.
Posted by: Mark | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 05:45 AM
Lord that was funny! Sorry to hear the books didn't sell as well as you would have liked. Given any thought to donating them?
Posted by: Tal | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 10:12 AM
Sorry you didn't sell much. And while I do think you were overpriced...assuming a book should be cheaper because it's old is hilarious.
Corn Pops...good eatin' in the morning
Corn Poofs...nice crunchy snack any time of day
Corn Poops...delicious to dogs when served fresh.
Aparently corn is just tasty...no matter what sort of processing it goes through ;)
Posted by: Moksha Gren | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 03:03 PM
Note to self..DO NOT MARK BOOKS TOO HIGH! Ours starts Friday night.
Posted by: TerriTorial | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 08:23 PM
Note to self..DO NOT MARK BOOKS TOO HIGH! Ours starts Friday night.
Posted by: TerriTorial | Monday, 21 May 2007 at 08:23 PM
Wil, it's that kind of pricing that makes me cringe. Even more than knowing my dog eats poo.
Mark, you have a kid and a dog... you should be as immune as I am to this sort of mild domestic occurrence.
Tal, I've thought about donating them, and there are many I'd like just to be rid of, so I may start considering that more seriously soon.
Moksha, yes I know I had overpriced the books, but that first gal left such a bad taste in my mouth that my obstinacy really asserted itself. Like it normally needs any help.
Terri, good luck with your own garage sale. Good luck with your own garage sale.
Posted by: Simon | Tuesday, 22 May 2007 at 01:20 PM
Sorry about the books. And the TMI.
Posted by: Linda | Tuesday, 22 May 2007 at 03:00 PM