Monday, April 03, 2006
All Hail Craigslist
When I first moved to Washington, DC in early 2001, I was amazed at how active the listserv for the singles ward (Colonial) was. Particularly, if you had something to sell or get rid of, you had a couple hundred young single Mormons raring to take it off your hands.
Well, since then, the Internet has developed (or at least I've learned more about it), and there's Craigslist, which shoots the Colonial Listserv all to heck. Not hundreds, but thousands of anxious buyers--and they're not all cheap Mormons!
Case in point, Shelly and I have decided to get new couches, and they're ready for delivery. But first, we need to get rid of our old couches, which were a gift from a friend leaving town. We thought we'd get some money out of them, so we posted them on Craigslist at about 9pm last night.
By the time I got to work this morning, there were 8 responses, and more poured in all morning. As I write this at 3:00, Shelly is istting in a living room with no couches, but with $100 in her hand. And if I'd held off another hour before making the deal, we'd be even richer (yes, one person contacted me to offer a price 30% HIGHER than we had asked, but alas, the deal was already done).
Nothing could be more efficient. Certainly not old-fashioned newspaper classifieds. And not even the Colonial listserv.
Well, since then, the Internet has developed (or at least I've learned more about it), and there's Craigslist, which shoots the Colonial Listserv all to heck. Not hundreds, but thousands of anxious buyers--and they're not all cheap Mormons!
Case in point, Shelly and I have decided to get new couches, and they're ready for delivery. But first, we need to get rid of our old couches, which were a gift from a friend leaving town. We thought we'd get some money out of them, so we posted them on Craigslist at about 9pm last night.
By the time I got to work this morning, there were 8 responses, and more poured in all morning. As I write this at 3:00, Shelly is istting in a living room with no couches, but with $100 in her hand. And if I'd held off another hour before making the deal, we'd be even richer (yes, one person contacted me to offer a price 30% HIGHER than we had asked, but alas, the deal was already done).
Nothing could be more efficient. Certainly not old-fashioned newspaper classifieds. And not even the Colonial listserv.
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