What Irked You Today?

[slusher]

5 hours ago, Xingu said:

Just hold onto it for a while and resell it.

I agree wait a while and resell it. I think all of us have made mistakes on eBay brother....

[Tom Geiger]

10 minutes ago, slusher said:

I agree wait a while and resell it. I think all of us have made mistakes on eBay brother....

yea,  early on I paid $20 for a kit instruction sheet thinking I was getting the entire kit!  ?

[cowboy rich]

4 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

 

. I think all of us have made mistakes on eBay brother....

 

Roger that!! if anybody needs a 1/4 acre in Deming New Mexico let me know! Really please.

[Tom Geiger]

37 minutes ago, cowboy rich said:

Roger that!! if anybody needs a 1/4 acre in Deming New Mexico let me know! Really please.

and those jokes about selling me a bridge.... no thanks I already own one.  Really!

[Xingu]

2 hours ago, NYLIBUD said:

I just wish it was 1/24th, but it still wouldn't get back what I payed for it??

You never know. I have bought many things for way more than I should have and ended up making money when I sold them.

[NYLIBUD]

34 minutes ago, Xingu said:

You never know. I have bought many things for way more than I should have and ended up making money when I sold them.

Yea I’ll give it a shot selling it,,But I really don’t think there’s a much of a demand for a 1/32 scale Lindbergh Ford Granada...Maybe 1/24th/or 1/ 25th scales.I would have probably turned it into a drag car....Oh well,you live and you learn.?

[crazyjim]

I haven't been on the forum much for the last week or so because of Photobucket.  I started paying them $5.00/month to store pics.  A few months later they said I'm getting close to my limit and should upgrade to Intermediate for $7.99/month.  A few days later they were running a sale to get Intermediate for $5.00/month, but I can't get that price because I'm already a member.  So most of my time the last week or so has been to copy all my model pics to Google Photo for free.  Problem there is sorting.  All my PB pics are sorted in albums by Street Rod, Custom, factory Stock, etc. and then sub albums for the individual builds.  Google Photo gets just one big album.  Lots of work to transfer over 2500 pics.

[Tom Geiger]

1 hour ago, crazyjim said:

I haven't been on the forum much for the last week or so because of Photobucket.  I started paying them $5.00/month to store pics.  A few months later they said I'm getting close to my limit and should upgrade to Intermediate for $7.99/month.  A few days later they were running a sale to get Intermediate for $5.00/month, but I can't get that price because I'm already a member.  So most of my time the last week or so has been to copy all my model pics to Google Photo for free.  Problem there is sorting.  All my PB pics are sorted in albums by Street Rod, Custom, factory Stock, etc. and then sub albums for the individual builds.  Google Photo gets just one big album.  Lots of work to transfer over 2500 pics.

Jim, it's only a matter of time before something changes with Google Photo being free.  And since it's one huge folder, you've already discovered that you get what you pay for.

I've been on Fotki for a very long time.  Their rates are cheaper than what you were paying...  $1.53 a month ($18.36 per yr) for 300 MB,  $3.08 a month ($36.96 per yr) for 600 MB and $6.17 a month  ($74.04) for 4 TB.  All plans have unlimited bandwidth and ability to post in messages.  I would say just to sign up for one year, as they have periodic sales and that's when you buy the 3 or 5 year plan.

[crazyjim]

I might have to try Fotki.  Dod they offer albums and sub-albums?

[Tom Geiger]

Yes. Folders and albums. It works great. Here’s our club album:

Https://www.fotki.com/tssmcc

 

[peteski]

On 11/30/2019 at 9:01 PM, NYLIBUD said:

Yea I’ll give it a shot selling it,,But I really don’t think there’s a much of a demand for a 1/32 scale Lindbergh Ford Granada...Maybe 1/24th/or 1/ 25th scales.I would have probably turned it into a drag car....Oh well,you live and you learn.?

I don't feel like going back in the thread to get more info on this purchase, but I know you paid close to $100 for it.  Was it a Buy It Now auction or was there a bidding war?  If there was a bidding war then few buyers on eBay wanted it almost as bad as you did.  So there is some chance that if you list it, that those buyers will find it and the selling price will get quite high.

[NYLIBUD]

5 hours ago, peteski said:

I don't feel like going back in the thread to get more info on this purchase, but I know you paid close to $100 for it.  Was it a Buy It Now auction or was there a bidding war?  If there was a bidding war then few buyers on eBay wanted it almost as bad as you did.  So there is some chance that if you list it, that those buyers will find it and the selling price will get quite high.

It was a bidding war for lack of a better word.But I was the only idiot who went that high.Whatever, you live and learn.If it was a 1/24th scale,I wouldn’t mind so much.But almost $100 for a 1/32 scale.Its like throwing money in the garbage.I was really hoping someone at the last second would jump in and out bid me, but nope, no such luck.I didn’t even notice the scale, until it was too late.??????.Arrrggggg

[Tom Geiger]

Not really irked, more sad.  My wife and I go to the same pub for Happy Hour specials at least once a week.  It's pretty much our "Cheers".  The bartenders  know us, what we drink and what we normally order for food.  It's a friendly place with many regulars we talk to on a regular basis.  Recently my wife mentioned that we hadn't seen Phil in a while.   I was hoping we'd ask the bartender and he'd say Phil was coming in on different nights than we were. 

When I asked, I found out that Phil had passed away.  We weren't close to him, in fact we didn't even know his last name until I Googled for his obituary.  We did know he was never married and lived in a condo alone.  He had a red Audi.  He was a Viet Nam vet who continued to serve in the reserves until his retirement.  He was a retired bank manager. He'd talk about playing golf. Overall a good natured guy we liked to see at the pub.  So we are sad to learn about his passing.

 

[SfanGoch]

On 11/29/2019 at 11:01 PM, NYLIBUD said:

Having eBay deliver a 1/32 scale model that I thought I was buying 1/24th,1,25th scale model kit.And it then it went off the scales at $92,for this piece of garbage little model of a 75 Ford Granada.Oh I screwed up big time.

92 bucks......a real one probably costs less.

[NYLIBUD]

Yup.?

[cobraman]

I would keep it by your computer as a reminder to be more careful. I have screwed up a time or two on my 20 years on ebay. Hold on to it for awhile and list it. You maybe able to recoup a lot of your money.

[peteski]

11 hours ago, NYLIBUD said:

It was a bidding war for lack of a better word.But I was the only idiot who went that high.Whatever, you live and learn.If it was a 1/24th scale,I wouldn’t mind so much.But almost $100 for a 1/32 scale.Its like throwing money in the garbage.I was really hoping someone at the last second would jump in and out bid me, but nope, no such luck.I didn’t even notice the scale, until it was too late.??????.Arrrggggg

Ron, either you or I are not understanding things here.  I've been on eBay for 20 years, and the bid that eBay will make for you (because eBay always does proxy bidding, or whatever they call it now) will only be higher than the second highest bidder's bit by the minimum bid increment.  So if the second highest bidder had a bid of $75 dollars, and you bid $200, your bid would only show up as $80 (or higher than that $75 by whatever the minimum bid increment amount  is in that situation). It would not show up as $200.  Go back to that auction and look at the bid list. You will see that the 2nd highest bidder bid almost as much as you did.  Or am I missing something?

Post the link to that listing (or the item number) and I'll take a look.

Edited December 5, 2019 by peteski

[W-409]

On 12/2/2019 at 7:16 PM, Tom Geiger said:

I've been on Fotki for a very long time.  Their rates are cheaper than what you were paying...  $1.53 a month ($18.36 per yr) for 300 MB,  $3.08 a month ($36.96 per yr) for 600 MB and $6.17 a month  ($74.04) for 4 TB.  All plans have unlimited bandwidth and ability to post in messages.  I would say just to sign up for one year, as they have periodic sales and that's when you buy the 3 or 5 year plan.

I also created Fotki account years ago when I had some issues with Photobucket. I used it for a while, but when the Photobucket was working normally again, I continued to use mainly that for hosting pictures, as the most of my pics were already there. But a while ago when Photobucket ruined itself by creating the ridicullous prices for picture hosting, I decided to leave immediately and move back to Fotki. Very happy with how the Fotki is working, much easier than Photobucket in every way and I think it's a great addition that I can add descriptions to the pictures as well.

So for anyone who is struggling with the photo hosting sites....I definitely recommend Fotki.

[stitchdup]

Paid for a kit on the auction site over 2 weeks ago and just went to check for the tracking number to find it still hasn't been sent. I can understand waiting for payments to clear but when it gets to 16 days later it gets irritating. I paid immediately upon winning so if as a seller you are unable to post soon after it sells then dont list until you can get it posted in a timely manner.

 

EDIT: the kit has now been posted, quite how this was managed on a sunday I'm not sure

Edited December 9, 2019 by stitchdup
more information

[TonyK]

Another USPS fail. Tracking said package would be delivered Dec. 6 Friday by 8 pm. Nope. Checked online after 8 and now says it's arriving late. Obviously but when?

Saturday it says in transit. Again, rather vague. Sunday morning it says the package left Portland for destination. I'm thinking it's coming. Later I see a mail truck delivering packages to 3 of my neighbors but not me. Check tracking again and it now says it left Portland at 4 am and arrived at Oregon City (where I live} at 5 am and heading for destination. I'm thinking there's enough for the local mail truck to deliver and that's what they're doing. No. Still nothing. Checked this morning and it said heading for destination (there's that word again) and will be delivered by 8 pm Dec. 9 Monday. Is it though?

The post office is a 1/2 mile from my house What say I just come get it and save everyone some more trouble.

Update - The story gets better. Just got my package this afternoon and there's a Priority Mail 2-Day sticker on it. First checked tracking last Wednesday and that's when it said I'd get it Friday. Guess I should be happy I finally got it.

There was a local news story of a mom who sent her son a package of home baked cookies for his birthday through USPS. Don't remember the exact date but sometime at the beginning of November. It went back and forth between Medford and Portland 30 times! Those cities are at the south and north of Oregon. He still hasn't got them but of course they're not edible by now. She said next year she'll just drive and deliver them herself.

Edited December 9, 2019 by TonyK
Update

[espo]

I think the USPS is experiencing problems because a big cut in funding and more cuts on the horizon for them. I live in a small rural area just outside of the Kansas City Ks. Metro. Until a couple of years ago you could set your watch by the Postal Delivery Driver, plus he was a really nice guy. He retired and the local Post Office never replaced him. Now the drivers are pulling double shifts trying to do the work of two people. Some days the mail gets here around noon and that used to be the exact time the original driver would roll thru. Most of the time it's now between 3 P.M. and O dark 30 before we get mail. I'm not fooling, we haven't seen our mail the last time I checked was around 5:30 P.M. I feel sorry for the guys that are still working for the P.O. There has been at least 1 or 2 days a week when we get nothing. We always get junk mail without fail so you know when they didn't deliver. They will sometimes have a part timer driving his own car. You can tell by the scrapping sound from his brakes, you can hear it inside the house it's so loud.  In the bigger scheme of things my problems are nothing really. But the point is they system as a whole is crumbling and I don't think defunding the service any further is the answer.  

[stitchdup]

2 hours ago, espo said:

I think the USPS is experiencing problems because a big cut in funding and more cuts on the horizon for them. I live in a small rural area just outside of the Kansas City Ks. Metro. Until a couple of years ago you could set your watch by the Postal Delivery Driver, plus he was a really nice guy. He retired and the local Post Office never replaced him. Now the drivers are pulling double shifts trying to do the work of two people. Some days the mail gets here around noon and that used to be the exact time the original driver would roll thru. Most of the time it's now between 3 P.M. and O dark 30 before we get mail. I'm not fooling, we haven't seen our mail the last time I checked was around 5:30 P.M. I feel sorry for the guys that are still working for the P.O. There has been at least 1 or 2 days a week when we get nothing. We always get junk mail without fail so you know when they didn't deliver. They will sometimes have a part timer driving his own car. You can tell by the scrapping sound from his brakes, you can hear it inside the house it's so loud.  In the bigger scheme of things my problems are nothing really. But the point is they system as a whole is crumbling and I don't think defunding the service any further is the answer.  

It seems to be happening all over, the postie in the uk are wanting to strike, and the posties in finland are on strike. You'd think that since we all rely on them to deliver our internet purchases that we'd give them some support but we only really mention them when things aren't going right. Its now coming up to christmas time and my local posties will be delivering until probably 7pm on christmas eve, possibly later when they should finish hours sooner. I'll say it now, the postal service is still just as relevant now as it ever was, sure most people send more emails than letters but we buy loads online so these guys are probably doing heavier work then they used to, and for those of us in more rural areas they can be the only option for deliveries

[peteski]

3 hours ago, stitchdup said:

It seems to be happening all over, the postie in the uk are wanting to strike, and the posties in finland are on strike. You'd think that since we all rely on them to deliver our internet purchases that we'd give them some support but we only really mention them when things aren't going right. Its now coming up to christmas time and my local posties will be delivering until probably 7pm on christmas eve, possibly later when they should finish hours sooner. I'll say it now, the postal service is still just as relevant now as it ever was, sure most people send more emails than letters but we buy loads online so these guys are probably doing heavier work then they used to, and for those of us in more rural areas they can be the only option for deliveries

Wait til the big online merchants start using their own drones for deliveries.  Postal Services will likely suffer.  I heard that even UPS is looking into using drones.

[espo]

The mention of Drones makes me laugh. There have been tests to do that here but I think it will ultimately fail badly. I just know there'll be many instances of crashing them and what about delivery to the wrong place ? A little bit of humor at the expense of a locale person getting an Amazon delivery yesterday. Seems an Amazon driver delivering a small flat package that looked to be about the size of a magazine was seen on a security camera throwing the package on this persons front porch and then instead of backing out of the guys driveway the way he came in the driver backs up a couple of feet and then drives across his front lawn, leaving deep tire tracks, thru a ditch and then back out onto the road. Maybe Drones are the answer.    

[SfanGoch]

11 hours ago, espo said:

I think the USPS is experiencing problems because a big cut in funding and more cuts on the horizon for them.

Not true. From the USPS website:

Quote

The Postal Service receives NO tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

What it boils down to is many postal workers, like a fairly sizable number of gubmint employees, don't care about the public service aspect of their positions. They're there for the paycheck and benefits. From Forbes:

Finally, Shapiro points out that the USPS pays its workers salaries and benefits far above the rates paid to similar workers in the private sector. Labor accounted for 78% of the organization’s costs in 2014, “with about 89% of those costs involving employees represented by collective bargaining.” These higher labor costs, plus the absence of a need to innovate due to government-granted monopolies, has freed the USPS from $20 billion in labor and productivity costs per year, Shapiro estimates. “While we do not technically count this as a subsidy,” he writes, it represents an economic burden on others arising directly from USPS’s monopoly position.” Postage, for instance, would likely be cheaper for everyone if the organization were subject to the same competitive pressures as private firms.

Ever notice that there never seems to be anyone working the service windows when you go to the P.O.? I've had the pleasure of standing in line at the Main Post Office in Downtown Brooklyn for nearly 90 minutes because, out of 22 service windows, only one or two are open at any given time. There are at least two dozen employees milling around behind the windows on perpetual coffee breaks, though.