I spent a couple hours in a tire retail shop this morning. The issue I had was trivial, but the outcome once again surprised me in regard to how things are done in O'Fallon. The issue was/is a tire on my Saturn has a slow leak. A very slow leak. It takes about two months for it to get to the point where the sensors object to the differential. I know I've mentioned this problem before but today I decided to do something about it.
We are going to travel up to Chicago for Christmas and I don't need any leaky tires along the way. Thus I went to my favorite tire shop which is basically a mom and pop business that I've been to before with the old Saturn. I explained my concern and they were sympathetic. As is always the case when having tires serviced, I had to sit in the cold cold waiting room for more than an hour. I don't think they heat that room, or they keep it well under 70F. Anyway, I had my phone with me and did a few crossword puzzles to keep me warm.
When the job was done they explained the situation. The wheel rim was corroded. They ground it down a bit and put some sealer on it and I should be good to go the 330 miles to Chicago. The charge for doing this was $25. I don't know what you are used to, but that was well below what I expected them to charge for the 20 minutes they must have spent actually servicing my tire. Believe it or not I thought of you when I got the bill. These people were charging a fair price for what I expect to be good quality work. They didn't tell me I need a new rim nor try to sell me better tires. They just fixed the problem. Well, it remains to be seen if it is actually fixed, but regardless the price was right.
The Price Is Right
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Re: The Price Is Right
Now that's awesome Yogi!
They sound like wonderful folks.
I'll bet they are older folks too, because it sure sounds like it.
Find the problem and fix it for a fair price.
See, there still are some honest people out there!
They sound like wonderful folks.
I'll bet they are older folks too, because it sure sounds like it.
Find the problem and fix it for a fair price.
See, there still are some honest people out there!
Re: The Price Is Right
The claim is that they are a family owned business in O'Fallon since 1961. I'm not sure the city is much older than that. There was an older lady walking around the back rooms and who watched over the two small dogs they had. The dogs were tame and friendly and greeted every customer that came through the door. LOL The staff at the registers were mixed. One obviously young fellow waited on me, but his partner was older and had a salt and pepper beard that came down to the middle of his chest. I could see him being part of the family. There are two or three franchise tire shops down the main drag and they always seem to be busy. The people I deal with are literally on the edge of town in a vintage building. I have my suspicions about the "country" folks around here, but the people running this shop seem genuine as can be. To be fair about it, I've not been to any of those franchise shops to compare prices. It could be that they all are the same way. I'm just not used to it coming from the Windy City and all.
Re: The Price Is Right
Where I was raised up through my teen years, nearly every store, shop, and service company were all mom n pop owned, some in the family for generations. But little by little, as their kids grew up and had kids, that generation was not interested in all the work involved and went to work for bigger companies, for higher pay, and more benefits.
I had a cousin who worked in our greenhouses, like most of us did.
He landed a job as a salesman for Anchor Hocking glass, Florist Line of products.
I don't know the progressions he made, but he shot up the corporate ladder, then moved to Sax 5th Avenue as upper management, and in the end was the head of a dozen Neiman-Marcus stores.
We were basically the same age, but all that hard work to get up the ranks didn't help him too much. He lived a lavish lifestyle while it lasted. He died several years back now. I may no longer be healthy, but I'm still here, hi hi.
I had a cousin who worked in our greenhouses, like most of us did.
He landed a job as a salesman for Anchor Hocking glass, Florist Line of products.
I don't know the progressions he made, but he shot up the corporate ladder, then moved to Sax 5th Avenue as upper management, and in the end was the head of a dozen Neiman-Marcus stores.
We were basically the same age, but all that hard work to get up the ranks didn't help him too much. He lived a lavish lifestyle while it lasted. He died several years back now. I may no longer be healthy, but I'm still here, hi hi.
Re: The Price Is Right
You know the old saying, "those who die with the most toys are the winners." You and I are the "also ran" in the race. 
You don't need to be reminded of this, but now that I'm as old as I am the fact that we are all going to end up in the same place clearly levels out the playing field. That reality kind of takes the fun out of it which is why another old saw was invented: "It's not whether you win or you lose that matters. It's how you play the game." Even that rationalization has its qualifiers due to the different set of values we have as individuals. My idea of the game of life is that our only obligation is to play it. We have no other choice actually so that we should be doing the best we can regardless of the direction our life takes. You are a inspiration in that regard.
You don't need to be reminded of this, but now that I'm as old as I am the fact that we are all going to end up in the same place clearly levels out the playing field. That reality kind of takes the fun out of it which is why another old saw was invented: "It's not whether you win or you lose that matters. It's how you play the game." Even that rationalization has its qualifiers due to the different set of values we have as individuals. My idea of the game of life is that our only obligation is to play it. We have no other choice actually so that we should be doing the best we can regardless of the direction our life takes. You are a inspiration in that regard.
Re: The Price Is Right
So True Yogi!
I do wish to sell a lot of the expensive stuff I have around here, in order to leave the frau some money when I go.
She wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to go about selling my ham radio gear.
Or several of the antiques and collectibles I've acquired.
Knowing her, she would just call a junk guy to come and clean out everything in my office, and probably pay to have it done.
But she should know, after her parents passed away and she wanted to do the same thing then. I said no, and began going through everything myself. Neither of us liked doing garage sales, so I just placed the valuable stuff on consignment. It was a little extra work, but in the end we wound up earning about 5 grand over the course of three months of cleaning and hauling stuff over to the consignment shop. So I didn't mind that we paid out 125 bucks a month while we had good stuff to sell. But as soon as that was gone, all the garage sale type stuff, I called a lady who has a lot of garage sales and offered it all to her for like 250 bucks, she tried to talk me down of course, but after she saw a few of the things in the batch, she agreed. I also hear she made over a thousand bucks just on our stuff. There was some of the things I brought back from the consignment shop when we closed our area out.
Back in St. Loo, when we held our auction. The auctioneer said he had never in his whole life seen the diversity of amazing things I had, nor the number of business items from various businesses, all in one collection.
Although most things went for well under what they were worth, less than a penny on the dollar, some things went for much more than any of us thought they would bring. The monorail train, which was just two towers, two tracks, and two cars, sold for 1000 bucks even, at auction. After the auction, the auctioneer told me that if it brought that much at auction, it was probably worth more than ten grand. I told him I had it listed for sale for four grand for over two years without a single nibble.
I do wish to sell a lot of the expensive stuff I have around here, in order to leave the frau some money when I go.
She wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to go about selling my ham radio gear.
Or several of the antiques and collectibles I've acquired.
Knowing her, she would just call a junk guy to come and clean out everything in my office, and probably pay to have it done.
But she should know, after her parents passed away and she wanted to do the same thing then. I said no, and began going through everything myself. Neither of us liked doing garage sales, so I just placed the valuable stuff on consignment. It was a little extra work, but in the end we wound up earning about 5 grand over the course of three months of cleaning and hauling stuff over to the consignment shop. So I didn't mind that we paid out 125 bucks a month while we had good stuff to sell. But as soon as that was gone, all the garage sale type stuff, I called a lady who has a lot of garage sales and offered it all to her for like 250 bucks, she tried to talk me down of course, but after she saw a few of the things in the batch, she agreed. I also hear she made over a thousand bucks just on our stuff. There was some of the things I brought back from the consignment shop when we closed our area out.
Back in St. Loo, when we held our auction. The auctioneer said he had never in his whole life seen the diversity of amazing things I had, nor the number of business items from various businesses, all in one collection.
Although most things went for well under what they were worth, less than a penny on the dollar, some things went for much more than any of us thought they would bring. The monorail train, which was just two towers, two tracks, and two cars, sold for 1000 bucks even, at auction. After the auction, the auctioneer told me that if it brought that much at auction, it was probably worth more than ten grand. I told him I had it listed for sale for four grand for over two years without a single nibble.
Re: The Price Is Right
You have a lot of experience disposing of estate items. No doubt your wife would not be able to be as effective as you are. It certainly would be a wonderful gesture to leave her with some money in the bank, but I have a feeling she isn't looking forward to that kind of thing. The memories you two share would last a lot longer than the balance in a checking account. But, of course, I know you realize all those memories won't pay the utility bills.
There is little doubt in my mind that you can get the price you think your collections are worth if you could find the right buyers. Collectables probably have more of an emotional value than a fixed price. A lot of collectors go to auctions just for the reason you mention. Valuable items can often be found at a great discount simply because the seller needs to dispose of the items quickly.
Apparently my Linux Laptop, the one with the flaky "l" key, isn't one of those valuable items sought out by collectors. LOL I got a note from the newsletter people saying that maybe I should lower the price and call it a "discount" to bring more attention to it. I did bring it down 10% but so far that isn't doing any better than the original listing. I dunno. Maybe I should put Windows back in it and see what happens.
There is little doubt in my mind that you can get the price you think your collections are worth if you could find the right buyers. Collectables probably have more of an emotional value than a fixed price. A lot of collectors go to auctions just for the reason you mention. Valuable items can often be found at a great discount simply because the seller needs to dispose of the items quickly.
Apparently my Linux Laptop, the one with the flaky "l" key, isn't one of those valuable items sought out by collectors. LOL I got a note from the newsletter people saying that maybe I should lower the price and call it a "discount" to bring more attention to it. I did bring it down 10% but so far that isn't doing any better than the original listing. I dunno. Maybe I should put Windows back in it and see what happens.
Re: The Price Is Right
Most of the items I put up for sale, I price them around 40 to 50% below what I see them selling for on places like eBay.
Except for a couple of true collectibles that I know are worth much more than I'm asking for them.
Way back when I was doing the eBay thing, a few of the items I sold via the auction brought much more than I expected they would. and others that folks were offering like the ones I had, heck, I didn't even get bids on. Or if I did, they never crossed my minimum bid, while others were selling for more than four times what I had set my minimum bid at. Crazy world out there!
I had a box of baseball cards, with some rare ones in it. I saw a few of those sell for 400 and 600 bucks each. Yet nobody bid up to 200 dollars for my whole collection, which included the ones folks were paying big bucks for.
Sometimes you just can't win, if the right folks don't see it and want it.
Except for a couple of true collectibles that I know are worth much more than I'm asking for them.
Way back when I was doing the eBay thing, a few of the items I sold via the auction brought much more than I expected they would. and others that folks were offering like the ones I had, heck, I didn't even get bids on. Or if I did, they never crossed my minimum bid, while others were selling for more than four times what I had set my minimum bid at. Crazy world out there!
I had a box of baseball cards, with some rare ones in it. I saw a few of those sell for 400 and 600 bucks each. Yet nobody bid up to 200 dollars for my whole collection, which included the ones folks were paying big bucks for.
Sometimes you just can't win, if the right folks don't see it and want it.
Re: The Price Is Right
Collectables are artificially priced by how emotionally motivated the buyer is. Everything has an intrinsic value, but collectables are very much dependent on supply and demand. Or, the perceived demand. It's that perception of an item's value only a few people possess. As you say, if the right people don't see your item, then it's not even worth the intrinsic value.
E-Bay is probably an excellent microcosm depicting the real world of auctions. It has the advantage of a large audience, much larger than can attend an estate sale. But even in that large audience the person with the right perception may not bid. Then, too, E-Bay is where you go for bargains on items. Even people who know the value of a rare item will not bid a fair price on E-Bay because they expect a bargain. The best scenario is when more than one perfect buyer spots your offer. That's when the bidding goes nuts. E-Bay appeals to me because they have everything you can imagine. Even more than Amazon has. LOL The prices might not be reasonable, but you can get anything you want on E-Bay.
E-Bay is probably an excellent microcosm depicting the real world of auctions. It has the advantage of a large audience, much larger than can attend an estate sale. But even in that large audience the person with the right perception may not bid. Then, too, E-Bay is where you go for bargains on items. Even people who know the value of a rare item will not bid a fair price on E-Bay because they expect a bargain. The best scenario is when more than one perfect buyer spots your offer. That's when the bidding goes nuts. E-Bay appeals to me because they have everything you can imagine. Even more than Amazon has. LOL The prices might not be reasonable, but you can get anything you want on E-Bay.
Re: The Price Is Right
The reason I've only been advertising locally for some of my items, is because they would never make it to their destination unscathed, hi hi. I have some ancient ceramics I'm almost afraid to touch, hi hi.
I met a man once who was looking for a specific old tool.
Based on the picture he posted, I sent him an e-mail that I might have what he was looking for.
He came over to see it. Said it was very close, but not the exact one he was hunting for.
Even so, he offered me 500 bucks for it. Needless to say, I sold it to him.
I saw another post later on that said he finally found the one he was hunting for.
It only had a value of about 250 bucks, but he paid over 2000 bucks to the guy for it.
About six months later, I saw the one I sold him on eBay and it went for 625 bucks.
So he didn't make a whopping profit from it.
I had thought to myself after I sold it to him, it might be a rare item and it might be worth a lot more than he paid me.
But I guess I was wrong. I was happy to get 500 bucks for it, hi hi.
I did learn the reason my Monorail sold for a grand at auction, had more to do with my paperwork, and all the names of the builders and companies involved, was easily verified before the auction.
This is why I have so much data on my dad's saxophone. Knowing as much about it as I could makes it more valuable than one sitting in a store somewhere with no known history behind it.
I met a man once who was looking for a specific old tool.
Based on the picture he posted, I sent him an e-mail that I might have what he was looking for.
He came over to see it. Said it was very close, but not the exact one he was hunting for.
Even so, he offered me 500 bucks for it. Needless to say, I sold it to him.
I saw another post later on that said he finally found the one he was hunting for.
It only had a value of about 250 bucks, but he paid over 2000 bucks to the guy for it.
About six months later, I saw the one I sold him on eBay and it went for 625 bucks.
So he didn't make a whopping profit from it.
I had thought to myself after I sold it to him, it might be a rare item and it might be worth a lot more than he paid me.
But I guess I was wrong. I was happy to get 500 bucks for it, hi hi.
I did learn the reason my Monorail sold for a grand at auction, had more to do with my paperwork, and all the names of the builders and companies involved, was easily verified before the auction.
This is why I have so much data on my dad's saxophone. Knowing as much about it as I could makes it more valuable than one sitting in a store somewhere with no known history behind it.
Re: The Price Is Right
I used to whatch the Antique Road Show on public television. Who hasn't? Perhaps you had to be there to appreciate some of the appraisals, but I rarely could guess the going price before it was announced. Then, even the Sotheby's expert doesn't always get it right. One day a woman appeared on the show with a table owned by the one and only George Washington. Apparently the table checked out physically and she had some paperwork to prove her claim. I believe he said, at auction this table would bring about $50,000. The lady was obviously overwhelmed by that appraisal. Several months later I read an article about this lady's table. She did in fact put it up for auction at Sotheby's and got over a million dollars for it.
Several times I've seen where the appraiser said that the value of the object was increased by the fact that the owner had letters, photographs, and other materials showing the history behind it. You are indeed doing the right thing by keeping all the records, but that only is of value when you actually sell those items. Keeping them in storage might increase their value, but what good is al that when the items stay in storage?
Several times I've seen where the appraiser said that the value of the object was increased by the fact that the owner had letters, photographs, and other materials showing the history behind it. You are indeed doing the right thing by keeping all the records, but that only is of value when you actually sell those items. Keeping them in storage might increase their value, but what good is al that when the items stay in storage?
Re: The Price Is Right
I've watched that show a few times.
I had a photograph of one of our old florist trucks from the early 1940's.
I also had a photograph after it was in an accident.
And rummaging through the old warehouse, I found the receipt where that vehicle was purchased.
And the receipts for when it was repaired. They had to replace the Chassis as the main item.
Today, a vehicle that got damaged in such a way the frame was bent, they would just total the vehicle.
But apparently the way trucks were built back then, you could easily lift the body off and put a new frame under it.
I had the pictures and receipts in a frame hanging in my office when I opened Wonder Plants downtown.
A customer was in my office and studied the picture while I made a couple of phone calls.
He offered me a thousand bucks for the pictures and receipts in the frame.
I couldn't pass that up, especially back then when I was scraping pennies together trying to get the business going.
Ironically, he said he wanted it for his Den, where he had other such pictures.
A thousand bucks to this guy was more like only ten bucks to us. He was filthy rich!
He was considering opening one of our Franchise stores, but later decided against it.
His reasoning was sound though, not enough return on investment, not with us selling our plants for only 12.95 in the system.
He though the system itself should be 15 to 20 bucks, and with a plant 45 to 75 bucks.
Most of the collectors items I did have in a special hyperbaric storage, and it was expensive to keep them stored that way.
Which is why I stopped it and sold all that stuff on eBay, because no family members wanted any of it.
Now they wish they would have taken me up on my offers, hi hi.
I had a photograph of one of our old florist trucks from the early 1940's.
I also had a photograph after it was in an accident.
And rummaging through the old warehouse, I found the receipt where that vehicle was purchased.
And the receipts for when it was repaired. They had to replace the Chassis as the main item.
Today, a vehicle that got damaged in such a way the frame was bent, they would just total the vehicle.
But apparently the way trucks were built back then, you could easily lift the body off and put a new frame under it.
I had the pictures and receipts in a frame hanging in my office when I opened Wonder Plants downtown.
A customer was in my office and studied the picture while I made a couple of phone calls.
He offered me a thousand bucks for the pictures and receipts in the frame.
I couldn't pass that up, especially back then when I was scraping pennies together trying to get the business going.
Ironically, he said he wanted it for his Den, where he had other such pictures.
A thousand bucks to this guy was more like only ten bucks to us. He was filthy rich!
He was considering opening one of our Franchise stores, but later decided against it.
His reasoning was sound though, not enough return on investment, not with us selling our plants for only 12.95 in the system.
He though the system itself should be 15 to 20 bucks, and with a plant 45 to 75 bucks.
Most of the collectors items I did have in a special hyperbaric storage, and it was expensive to keep them stored that way.
Which is why I stopped it and sold all that stuff on eBay, because no family members wanted any of it.
Now they wish they would have taken me up on my offers, hi hi.
Re: The Price Is Right
The story about the truck repair receipts is a classic describing the right person in the right place at the right time. If he paid that much for the pictures, I have to wonder what the truck itself would have been worth. Probably not much to him in that he was not collecting vehicles.
Return On Investment (ROI) must be responsible for a lot of good businesses going by the wayside. Wonder Plants was a fantastic idea but apparently not profitable enough for the average investor. I guess that makes sense when you consider the investor isn't really interested in what the business does beyond making a profit.
You are right about how easily vehicles are "totaled" out these days. Automobiles don't have frames anymore from what I can tell. It's all about unibody construction which is more of a shell than a frame. It's been compared to an egg shell so that it's easy to understand why there is no replacing it after it is broken.
Return On Investment (ROI) must be responsible for a lot of good businesses going by the wayside. Wonder Plants was a fantastic idea but apparently not profitable enough for the average investor. I guess that makes sense when you consider the investor isn't really interested in what the business does beyond making a profit.
You are right about how easily vehicles are "totaled" out these days. Automobiles don't have frames anymore from what I can tell. It's all about unibody construction which is more of a shell than a frame. It's been compared to an egg shell so that it's easy to understand why there is no replacing it after it is broken.
Re: The Price Is Right
I actually think it was one of the receipts in the frame that he was most interested in.
Although he didn't say that. But he sure looked super close at that picture frame while he was waiting for me.
I will say this much though, all of those who did buy a Franchise Store from us, quadrupled their money in the first year.
Probably a good thing too, since the business got destroyed by George Osserman.
And then the Feds caused me to lose all the antiques I had in my office, because they lied to me.
My brother has downsized his business once again. Staying at the same address but leased out half of the building he was leasing to someone else, going through the leasing agent for the building of course, not on his own.
It is amazing how he started in a garage, then a small leased space, then bought a humongous factory building, so he could expand his business. He was in that large building for many years, at least until the plush toys for crane machines fad started dying down. He sold that monster sized building and moved into a building about the size of his first building after his garage.
Now he is only working on boat transmissions, and making a killing doing it too. He charges about half of what any of his competitors charge and is still making money hand over fist. 50 bucks in parts, 2 hours labor tops, minimum charge for repairing a boat transmission is 500 bucks and most or 600 to 750. And the customer pays shipping both ways, hi hi.
Yeppers, cars have been Unibody now since the 1960's.
Although he didn't say that. But he sure looked super close at that picture frame while he was waiting for me.
I will say this much though, all of those who did buy a Franchise Store from us, quadrupled their money in the first year.
Probably a good thing too, since the business got destroyed by George Osserman.
And then the Feds caused me to lose all the antiques I had in my office, because they lied to me.
My brother has downsized his business once again. Staying at the same address but leased out half of the building he was leasing to someone else, going through the leasing agent for the building of course, not on his own.
It is amazing how he started in a garage, then a small leased space, then bought a humongous factory building, so he could expand his business. He was in that large building for many years, at least until the plush toys for crane machines fad started dying down. He sold that monster sized building and moved into a building about the size of his first building after his garage.
Now he is only working on boat transmissions, and making a killing doing it too. He charges about half of what any of his competitors charge and is still making money hand over fist. 50 bucks in parts, 2 hours labor tops, minimum charge for repairing a boat transmission is 500 bucks and most or 600 to 750. And the customer pays shipping both ways, hi hi.
Yeppers, cars have been Unibody now since the 1960's.
Re: The Price Is Right
You mentioned the boat transmission business once before and I'm still amazed that there is any profit in that kind of business. Like any other machine boat transmissions don't last forever, but how many are there? And, how many repair shops are there? It's such a niche enterprise that even one competitor could put you out of business. Charging the lowest price in town is generally the secret to success if you also provide the quality. And, no doubt your brother has the same appreciation for good work as you yourself have expressed here often.
I can't imagine what a repair receipt would have that might make it worth $1000. LOL Well, maybe if you had such paperwork for the Titanic. It's just totally amazing what collectors will pay.
I can't imagine what a repair receipt would have that might make it worth $1000. LOL Well, maybe if you had such paperwork for the Titanic. It's just totally amazing what collectors will pay.
Re: The Price Is Right
Here is an ad from a guy up in Maine that does boat transmission repairs.
Even they make you pay shipping to and from their shop.
https://www.marinepartsexpress.com/repair.html
My brother lives on his yacht, and has serviced several of the transmissions for those in his marina.
After finding out what it costs to have done, he decided to start a business doing it, and has fared very well with it.
While I was growing up, my dad had a friend who did transmission repairs on cars.
He even taught classes for a trade school, since he was so good at it.
The difference in cost to repair a manual transmission, vs an automatic transmission, is one reason why all of our delivery trucks were stick shift, up until the late 1970s, when dad learned he could get five or ten year warranties on the transmissions. The he migrated all of our delivery vans over to automatics, hi hi.
Even they make you pay shipping to and from their shop.
https://www.marinepartsexpress.com/repair.html
My brother lives on his yacht, and has serviced several of the transmissions for those in his marina.
After finding out what it costs to have done, he decided to start a business doing it, and has fared very well with it.
While I was growing up, my dad had a friend who did transmission repairs on cars.
He even taught classes for a trade school, since he was so good at it.
The difference in cost to repair a manual transmission, vs an automatic transmission, is one reason why all of our delivery trucks were stick shift, up until the late 1970s, when dad learned he could get five or ten year warranties on the transmissions. The he migrated all of our delivery vans over to automatics, hi hi.
Re: The Price Is Right
It doesn't surprise me that the transmission repair shops want their customers to pay the shipping costs. They do the same thing on E-Bay and probably for the same reason. Shipping a heavy object can eat into profits significantly. Thus by eliminating the shipping costs a more or less standard price structure can be offered to the customer. I noe the place in Main charges $600 - $1200 per rebuild on average. There would be little or no profit at the low end of that scale if the repair shop absorbed the shipping costs.
Your brother lives on a yacht? That sounds like the kind of thing an old retired couple would do. LOL
I recall back in the old days the exact complaint regarding the high cost of repair for automatic transmissions. Maybe back then the transmissions were not made as well, but I rarely hear of an automobile owner needing to repair one now. A business vehicle is a whole different story and easy to see how transmissions might meet their end of life prematurely.
Which reminds me of an interesting situation. I have a favorite car mechanic in the older part of town. He is just down the street from the local post office and always has two or three USPS delivery trucks in the repair bays. I never asked, but they must have some kind of contract where this shop does all the repairs for that office. Well, recently a ton of money was dropped into the USPS coffers and they bought a slew of new delivery vans. They are spiffy looking compared to the old trucks and suggest that the carriers will now be delivering bigger loads. Be that all as it may, all these new vans means that at least for the time being my favored mechanic isn't getting the business he once did. There still is a truck or two in his shop at all times, but it's not like it used to be. Oh, and by the way, he also owns a transmission repair shop located across the street from the auto repair place.
Your brother lives on a yacht? That sounds like the kind of thing an old retired couple would do. LOL
I recall back in the old days the exact complaint regarding the high cost of repair for automatic transmissions. Maybe back then the transmissions were not made as well, but I rarely hear of an automobile owner needing to repair one now. A business vehicle is a whole different story and easy to see how transmissions might meet their end of life prematurely.
Which reminds me of an interesting situation. I have a favorite car mechanic in the older part of town. He is just down the street from the local post office and always has two or three USPS delivery trucks in the repair bays. I never asked, but they must have some kind of contract where this shop does all the repairs for that office. Well, recently a ton of money was dropped into the USPS coffers and they bought a slew of new delivery vans. They are spiffy looking compared to the old trucks and suggest that the carriers will now be delivering bigger loads. Be that all as it may, all these new vans means that at least for the time being my favored mechanic isn't getting the business he once did. There still is a truck or two in his shop at all times, but it's not like it used to be. Oh, and by the way, he also owns a transmission repair shop located across the street from the auto repair place.
Re: The Price Is Right
Yes, my brother sold his house many years ago and moved onto his yacht.
His poor yacht has suffered two major fires, so he slept at his office while it was being renovated.
He did most of the work to save money. He's not rich by any means, but much better off than I am, hi hi.
The video and pinball machine fell by the wayside, but his big business was supplies for crane machines, which has been dwindling down a little bit more each year. So he tried adding other things, some worked out well, some didn't, hi hi.
While he was still in the big building, he started selling used cars for a short time, he hated that business.
Then when electric skateboards came out, he bought over 5,000 of them. They were a lower quality so he could sell them cheaper than any place else around. He managed to sell all of them fairly quickly. But by then, those (dang forgot the name) Treadways or something like that were on the market for really big bucks.
He found a company who made a smaller version they called a hoverboard and bought about 1000 of those. The company was supposed to ship them to him by the end of October and he didn't get them until the end of November. But he lucked out and was able to sell all of them before Christmas.
He had to repair the transmission on his boat a couple of times, and at first, only did that type of transmission for others.
Then he learned about a few others from local boaters, and that is how he ended up in the boat transmission business.
He's the only guy I know that can fall into a barrel of shaving cream and come out smelling like a rose every time, hi hi.
His poor yacht has suffered two major fires, so he slept at his office while it was being renovated.
He did most of the work to save money. He's not rich by any means, but much better off than I am, hi hi.
The video and pinball machine fell by the wayside, but his big business was supplies for crane machines, which has been dwindling down a little bit more each year. So he tried adding other things, some worked out well, some didn't, hi hi.
While he was still in the big building, he started selling used cars for a short time, he hated that business.
Then when electric skateboards came out, he bought over 5,000 of them. They were a lower quality so he could sell them cheaper than any place else around. He managed to sell all of them fairly quickly. But by then, those (dang forgot the name) Treadways or something like that were on the market for really big bucks.
He found a company who made a smaller version they called a hoverboard and bought about 1000 of those. The company was supposed to ship them to him by the end of October and he didn't get them until the end of November. But he lucked out and was able to sell all of them before Christmas.
He had to repair the transmission on his boat a couple of times, and at first, only did that type of transmission for others.
Then he learned about a few others from local boaters, and that is how he ended up in the boat transmission business.
He's the only guy I know that can fall into a barrel of shaving cream and come out smelling like a rose every time, hi hi.
Re: The Price Is Right
You and your brother are rooted in the same stock so that I'm not surprised to learn both of you have the same business acumen. A lot of people would call it luck, but I firmly believe we make our own destinies. Of course there are always random events; that's just how the universe works. The response to those random events is what determines if you come out smelling like roses, or sewer gas. Being brought up in a business environment exposed you to all the right opportunities and the right people. A lot of the successes, however, are due to your (and your brother's) instincts. I've said it before and can repeat it again, that I admire and am inspired by people with such abilities.
Why your brother is living on his yacht and you are living in Knoxville is a mystery to me. I've know identical twins that led entirely different lives in spite of growing up in the same family and social environment. It always amazes me how people with similar talents and assets manage to be so different.
Why your brother is living on his yacht and you are living in Knoxville is a mystery to me. I've know identical twins that led entirely different lives in spite of growing up in the same family and social environment. It always amazes me how people with similar talents and assets manage to be so different.
Re: The Price Is Right
I think the biggest difference between me and my brother is I was always honest and didn't try to bilk anyone.
My brother would borrow the shirt off your back, use it to clean up a greasy engine, then sell it back to you for twice what you paid for it, and you would swear you got a good deal, hi hi.
My brother has had boats his whole life, and basically lived on the water when he could.
Every few years he would move up to a larger boat until he finally bought this yacht.
As his business downsized, he sold his house, which is how he got this yacht in the first place.
And the yachting folks are his friends. Most of them gamblers as well.
How did I wind up in Knoxville?
Well, it goes like this.
I had the perfect house in Creve Coeur, fixed up exactly like I wanted it.
And it was geared to my wheelchair bound wife, with oxygen outlets in the main rooms for her.
As her medical condition declined, I sold off most of my business properties to pay her medical bills.
Then when her insurance capped out, and all but a couple of my properties were sold, we refinanced the house to cover her bills, then refinanced it again to more than it was really worth.
After she passed away, I was able to get back to work on the houses I had left in inventory, for renovation and resale.
Plus I still had the six rental properties. So within a couple of months, and after selling two of the houses, I was once again showing a small profit. Making enough to cover the mortgage on the house, and buy materials to do the renovation houses.
I was doing well enough that when I met Debi, we sorta hit it off. She was from Knoxville, and I moved her up to St. Louis for a couple years. We were actually doing quite well.
Then 9/11 hit!
Only one of my six tenants kept paying rent, and I didn't have the heart to kick them out either, since they were all older folks. Plus the renovation house I just completed, the buyer fell through on. Another I had sold with a second, the buyer defaulted on the main loan and the bank took it, which was a total loss to me.
Then the last house Debi and I worked on together to finish, although it sold, I did not make a profit since I had to carry a second on it also. What was called B-Paper Mortgages became non-existent after 9/11. So in order to sell that house, I cut the price back and carried the heaviest side of the mortgage. Same thing happened here. The main bank foreclosed on it, so I got none of my 2nd mortgage carry back either.
I was now flat broke. Had a huge auction to sell off everything in my house, and also sold whatever properties I had for zero profit, the bottom line had to come out to zero, mainly for tax reasons, and to unload them fast.
We sold my house after the auction, and thought we had 30 days to get out. No, they guy who bought it only gave us 3 days to get out. So we only moved the few things that did not sell at auction out to my mom's garage.
I still had one side business going, and got an order while we were at mom's.
This gave us enough money to get her moved back home to her parents house.
Then I got another large order, which was great. I came down to Knoxville and bought a house a few blocks over from her mom and dads house to renovate for us to live in.
Her dad, the healthy one, got sick and passed away within a few days time, which left no one to take care of her mom who had bone cancer. I stopped working on the house I bought to take care of Debi's mom, which led to me doing some much needed work in her house. I ended up buying Debi's sister's share of her inheritance of the house and land, and put the house in Debi's name. Once that was done, although it is an old crooked little house with crooked little walls and crooked roof and floor. I began redesigning the inside of the house, and started renovations. I did the only bathroom first, which was a chore to accomplish with three of us living there, and Debi's mom needing to go quite often, hi hi. I had finished our bedroom before Debi's mom passed away, and had started on the kitchen. That's when I had my first heart attack, which more or less put a damper on me doing much more. Right after I got the plumbing in, which was hard when you can't lift your hands above your shoulders. While I was doing the drywall work for the kitchen, I had my second heart attack. At least I was far enough along that it was ready to hang the cabinets. Even so, I had to hire that part of the job done, which put me back in the poorhouse again. I've never recovered enough to do any work, and then got hit with COPD and Emphysema.
So here in Knoxville is where I'll get planted when I croak.
My brother would borrow the shirt off your back, use it to clean up a greasy engine, then sell it back to you for twice what you paid for it, and you would swear you got a good deal, hi hi.
My brother has had boats his whole life, and basically lived on the water when he could.
Every few years he would move up to a larger boat until he finally bought this yacht.
As his business downsized, he sold his house, which is how he got this yacht in the first place.
And the yachting folks are his friends. Most of them gamblers as well.
How did I wind up in Knoxville?
Well, it goes like this.
I had the perfect house in Creve Coeur, fixed up exactly like I wanted it.
And it was geared to my wheelchair bound wife, with oxygen outlets in the main rooms for her.
As her medical condition declined, I sold off most of my business properties to pay her medical bills.
Then when her insurance capped out, and all but a couple of my properties were sold, we refinanced the house to cover her bills, then refinanced it again to more than it was really worth.
After she passed away, I was able to get back to work on the houses I had left in inventory, for renovation and resale.
Plus I still had the six rental properties. So within a couple of months, and after selling two of the houses, I was once again showing a small profit. Making enough to cover the mortgage on the house, and buy materials to do the renovation houses.
I was doing well enough that when I met Debi, we sorta hit it off. She was from Knoxville, and I moved her up to St. Louis for a couple years. We were actually doing quite well.
Then 9/11 hit!
Only one of my six tenants kept paying rent, and I didn't have the heart to kick them out either, since they were all older folks. Plus the renovation house I just completed, the buyer fell through on. Another I had sold with a second, the buyer defaulted on the main loan and the bank took it, which was a total loss to me.
Then the last house Debi and I worked on together to finish, although it sold, I did not make a profit since I had to carry a second on it also. What was called B-Paper Mortgages became non-existent after 9/11. So in order to sell that house, I cut the price back and carried the heaviest side of the mortgage. Same thing happened here. The main bank foreclosed on it, so I got none of my 2nd mortgage carry back either.
I was now flat broke. Had a huge auction to sell off everything in my house, and also sold whatever properties I had for zero profit, the bottom line had to come out to zero, mainly for tax reasons, and to unload them fast.
We sold my house after the auction, and thought we had 30 days to get out. No, they guy who bought it only gave us 3 days to get out. So we only moved the few things that did not sell at auction out to my mom's garage.
I still had one side business going, and got an order while we were at mom's.
This gave us enough money to get her moved back home to her parents house.
Then I got another large order, which was great. I came down to Knoxville and bought a house a few blocks over from her mom and dads house to renovate for us to live in.
Her dad, the healthy one, got sick and passed away within a few days time, which left no one to take care of her mom who had bone cancer. I stopped working on the house I bought to take care of Debi's mom, which led to me doing some much needed work in her house. I ended up buying Debi's sister's share of her inheritance of the house and land, and put the house in Debi's name. Once that was done, although it is an old crooked little house with crooked little walls and crooked roof and floor. I began redesigning the inside of the house, and started renovations. I did the only bathroom first, which was a chore to accomplish with three of us living there, and Debi's mom needing to go quite often, hi hi. I had finished our bedroom before Debi's mom passed away, and had started on the kitchen. That's when I had my first heart attack, which more or less put a damper on me doing much more. Right after I got the plumbing in, which was hard when you can't lift your hands above your shoulders. While I was doing the drywall work for the kitchen, I had my second heart attack. At least I was far enough along that it was ready to hang the cabinets. Even so, I had to hire that part of the job done, which put me back in the poorhouse again. I've never recovered enough to do any work, and then got hit with COPD and Emphysema.
So here in Knoxville is where I'll get planted when I croak.