{"id":2760,"date":"2011-04-25T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T20:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=2760"},"modified":"2011-04-25T16:28:07","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T20:28:07","slug":"classifying-%e2%80%94-and-solving-%e2%80%94-a-new-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=2760","title":{"rendered":"Classifying \u2014 and solving \u2014 a new problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craigslist is scary, eBay is a hassle and newspaper classifieds as less effective than a combover in a windstorm \u2014 so what to do? The new UnionvilleTimes.com classified<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

It's listed at $7,500, but make me an offer.<\/p><\/div>\n

I have a car problem. At least, that\u2019s how my wife sees it.<\/p>\n

Up until recently, I had too many cars. Now, I recognize that can be taken a couple of ways around Unionville, ranging from the dreaded and now mostly extinct cars on the lawn on cinder blocks, to some of our wealthier neighbors wondering which Ferrari to drive today.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t exactly fall in either category \u2014 my cars all run, but none would win Best in Show at Amelia Island, either. One car has departed via eBay \u2014 my beloved old Honda Civic. Well, at least I think so. Since this is a family news site, I\u2019ll put it this way: selling a car on eBay is less fun than getting divorced, and with none of the perks and nearly as expensive.<\/p>\n

The problem car I still have is my old 1979 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible. The car itself isn\u2019t a problem \u2014 but continuing to own it prevents me from getting another car, this time (cue Bob Barker voice), a brand new car! My days of owning three cars at a time (I still have my everyday driver Subaru, which remains handy to have when it snows two feet or the Brandywine floods, or both on the same day, and I need to get out to shoot pictures) have met a spousal roadblock (yes, that\u2019s her over there with her cute, little chainsaw).<\/p>\n

So, to get the new wheels \u2014 a new Ford Mustang convertible, from our pals at Garnet Ford \u2014 the Bug must depart, plus, to be honest, I could use the cash to add to the down payment fund.<\/p>\n

But how to sell it? Well, there\u2019s eBay \u2014 which is where I bought it, and subsequently drove it home from Utah in three days (and discovered that the horn and wipers didn\u2019t work in Kansas, both of which are now fixed). But there\u2019s the whole less fun than leprosy issue, so, I\u2019m leaving that as a last resort.<\/p>\n

Hmmm. There\u2019s always Cragslist. Of course, that\u2019s a little like going on a double date with Charles Manson, but it\u2019s never boring and of course, free. Unless you don\u2019t so much like the idea of inviting felons to your house to inspect the merchandise. My wife, you remember the chainsaw, is oddly opposed to that idea. Fussy, fussy.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s my pal Freddie\u2019s suggestion: run an ad in the paper. Unfortunately, Freddie was hit very hard in the head in the early 1980s, and doesn\u2019t seem to remember any new information. Walk around downtown Kennett Square with him and he always marvels at all the people talking into their tiny \u201cwalkie-talkie\u201d thingamabobs. You\u2019ve undoubtedly seen him, he\u2019s the guy in the \u201cMiami Vice\u201d T-shirt trying to find New Coke at SuperFresh.<\/p>\n

The abject failure of classifieds at newspapers (along with the abject failure of management) is why pretty much every old-style newspaper around here not already pushing up daisies is in the publishing equivalent of hospice care.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Mr. Big-time media baron, why don\u2019t you do something about it?\u201d asked my wife, the other day.<\/p>\n

Well, I did.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably noticed the new classified section \u2014 which features an ad for the Volkswagen. Your ad could be there, too (just $2.99). The ads are cheap \u2014 but not free, which cuts down the odds of ads being placed for non-existent products by scammers and the ads are all locally placed and screened by our staff (no strange or icky stuff). And the ads are seen by your neighbors, so the scary factor is at a minimum.<\/p>\n

So give \u2018em a try. Or check out my ad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Granted, there\u2019s not much there yet, but I wanted to make sure everything worked right before rolling it out. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

Let me know what you think \u2014 and as always, if you have any other ideas we should be looking at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craigslist is scary, eBay is a hassle and newspaper classifieds as less effective than a combover in a windstorm \u2014 so what to do? The new UnionvilleTimes.com classified By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com I have a car problem. At least, that\u2019s how my wife sees it. Up until recently, I had too many cars. Now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,183],"tags":[291,49,24],"class_list":["post-2760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-business","tag-classified","tag-new","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}