In a message dated 9/15/02 12:25:08 AM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
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Message: 19
From: OROBOYZ@aol.com
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 22:34:19 EDT
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: http://jacksbikes.netfirms.com/
Slow down, slow down.. Calling this "Bait & Switch" is an extreme over reaction and an unlikely situation when there is virtually nothing left to sell! It is not bait and switch when you just happen to sell stuff and not get around to "taking the sign down." Heck, I bet half the stuff on the CR Classifieds have sold and the gumbas haven't told me to remove it! Hardly bait & switch. Jack is indeed a pretty old guy now (I would guess late 70s) and has been slowly and half heartedly selling off the last odd bits of what was once was a very big business. He himself doesn't do the web site.. I heard a friend of his daughter put it up and Jack has little idea of computers, etc. And he really has not promoted it .. I think the daughter, Yvonne, ran some announcements a while back but it is a minimal effort on all their behalf. And whatever he/they still have left is very likely: a. Severely picked over b. Shopworn and ratty c. So cheap that anyone with any brains wouldn't expect much at all.
Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina >>
Hey now, Weinnman brakes for $1.50, dats a deal! $3.00 dollar alloy wheels, new! I expect to spend $30.00 for product and $75.00 for shipping but as a red bloodied American I (we) want it all and a 30 day money back guarantee too don't we.
In this fast paced super Internet highway to hell we expect everything to be perfect or else. The fact is on many websites, most should but are not updated on a regular basis. I see published updates that are two years out of date when they were posted all the time. It is a burdensome task to perform if you have any business at all.
What is the reason? Time maybe, the only thing we can't make more of. In the shop I used to work in with seven full timers (plus me) I was told now there are two full timers. Either they can't find a qualified person or can't afford them, maybe both. A common problem given he brain drain of experienced people in today's bicycle shops.
Anyway, on the Flying Dutchman, he had hundreds and hundreds of frames (among other items). These are hard to sell in any environment (old ones ditto, but I bought a few) but with a closed shop even harder. Anyway I feel my shop has about as low an overhead as anywhere and if I sold all I see on Jack's website by noon tomorrow and if it cost me nothing to do so it would not pay my rent and utilities for the month, not to mention telephones, employees, time away from fishin, etc. It's not a sale, it's a service to keep the stuff out of a landfill.
Buy the way I heard that the guy that maintains Jack's website is a former 16 year old bike mechanic that was only allowed to work on Huffy's.
On a related note posted on another cycling discussion list I saw a person who accused another person of being stupid because he couldn't author a website instead of posting a story on the list. I think the stupid fellow had authored several websites but facts have little to do with insults, or do they? Of course the accuser of the alleged stupidity was not the sharpest tool in the drawer.
Well, gotta go play with some radioactive isotopes my pals at the power plant loaned me for the weekend. They sure have a warming glow. I wonder if old weird Albert E. knew anything about websites, my links never work.
Can't we just get along,
Gilbert Anderson
Raleigh, NC
USA