Garage sale more trouble than it's worth
Last ever garage sale. A reader from Westmere writes: "Firstly got hassled the day before, after putting signs up and ad on Trade Me to let punters know about the Saturday garage sale. Guy turns up Friday afternoon, wants to buy everything in sight, even stuff not included in sale, and then insists he wants a preview or first dibs. Finally he went away after realising that we are not open for business 'til 9am Saturday. Then 7am Saturday, doorbell goes hours before we are ready - he wants a look. We kept the gate locked until the time we specified, and we were not ready 'til then. A flood of people arrived, and a ton of stuff went pretty quickly ... only some of the items were paid for! Seems that there is a hard core of people who think that they can just pinch it. The usual hard bargainers came; some we could negotiate with, others were not prepared to move on their original offer. We had to stop one guy from wandering off into the backyard for a nosey. Our stuff was not expensive or amazing, it was just meant to be a fun way to get rid of some crap and make a wee bit of cash. Next time we will either donate to the op shop or sell on TM! It definitely did not feel worth the effort! If anybody who accidentally left without paying from our garage sale wants to pay, then feel free to stop by any time!"
A use for window washers
"I have the answer to two traffic problems: window washers and drivers using phones," writes Matt. "The police have often employed 'non-sworn' officers to man their police stations. So, why not employ the [presumably] unemployed guys who wash windows to instead photograph and report drivers using phones. They wouldn't even need to change locations, and given the number of drivers I see looking into their laps [phones] at traffic lights this idea could be a huge financial success! Once phone usage goes down they can start reporting red light running."
