Yard Sale Addict

Signs for today

Yard sale promotion has changed in the past year. The 805 ads in the AJC have been surpassed in their coverage of sale events by the fast rising Craigslist listing. The free Craigslist service makes if practical for the smallest sales to promote their existence. But the downside is that a there are ads posted for many sales that never materialize. On some Thursday night a person in a clutter filled home gets the notion to host a sale, goes online and places the free listing on Craigslist. The following Friday evening instead of staying home that person goes out barhopping, gets home at 2 AM and realizes they have not done a single bit of preparation for the sale. The sale never happens but the ad is still on line directing shoppers down narrow oneway streets in Cabbagetown or some other confusing neighborhood.
But overall Craigslist makes good browsing by itself with its many photos of ugly loveseats and other furnishing. Street signage is by far my favorite means of communication and an art in itself (baring interference by the sign Nazis). But sign creators themselves often say too much about themselves instead of their clutter. Take the case of the recent “Queen goes to Betty Ford” Yard Sale signs found around midtown. It is questionable in this case if the seller actually did have a substance abuse problem and that they were going to the celebrated recovery clinic named in the sign. I appreciate but have issues with signs that say far too much. One I passed this week instructed drivers to do a search on Craigslist to find the sale located several miles away from where the sign was posted. This presumes that there are drivers with laptops and PDAs who are operating motor vehicles with a level of distraction never before considered possible.