Random thoughts that are pointless and too dumb to say anywhere else thread: * 2023 *

[NeedMoreFans]

We're in the Madison area and will be putting our house on the market in the next few weeks (we close on our new one soon!).  I am hoping for a bidding war, obviously, but I cannot believe how upside down the housing market is right now.  No contingencies, waive inspections, etc...

[Samurai Bucky]

My daughter has been trying to buy a house for around 9 months.  Everything is a bidding war.  The biggest bargaining chip:  waiving inspection.

Definitely a seller's market.  My fear is that she will get approved for some crazy amount and have to work OT at the hospital (she's a nurse) for the next 10 years to afford a 975 square foot home.

[NeedMoreFans]

8 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

My daughter has been trying to buy a house for around 9 months.  Everything is a bidding war.  The biggest bargaining chip:  waiving inspection.

Our new house is only 3 years old so I was very comfortable waiving inspection.  Unless it's the highest offer by a longshot, I won't consider any offer that has an inspection contingency when we sell ours. 

[owbc]

17 hours ago, NeedMoreFans said:

Our new house is only 3 years old so I was very comfortable waiving inspection.  Unless it's the highest offer by a longshot, I won't consider any offer that has an inspection contingency when we sell ours. 

Yeah these days I would recommend watching a few Youtube videos, making a checklist, and doing a quick inspection yourself at the open house. It's hard for first time home buyers because they are less likely to know what to look for. Every house is full of flaws and you have to learn the difference between cheap cosmetic flaws and money pits. In theory a good agent should help you with this but good luck finding one that is truly on your side. 

We ended up getting a house with no competing offers on one of the busiest weeks of the year in the middle of the 2018 peak. The house we bought had a poor cover photo on Zillow and all of the buyers flocked to a couple homes nearby that looked sexier on the outside. Way cheaper to spend $5K on an exterior paint job than $50-100K on a bidding war. 

[homer]

I read somewhere that the houses for sale in the Milwaukee market are down 49% from a year ago. There is just no supply right now. Stuff goes up on Zillow/Redfin and is gone within 24 hours unless it's at the high end of the market.

[owbc]

49 minutes ago, homer said:

I read somewhere that the houses for sale in the Milwaukee market are down 49% from a year ago. There is just no supply right now. Stuff goes up on Zillow/Redfin and is gone within 24 hours unless it's at the high end of the market.

Nobody wants to give up their 3.5% mortgage. 

[homer]

28 minutes ago, owbc said:

Nobody wants to give up their 3.5% mortgage. 

Yep pretty much.

[GAME05]

I gotta raise my hot dog prices from $3 to $4 which won't go over well since this is my first summer doing it and customers are still discovering me. But I can lose 20% of my customers and still be better off at the higher price. I want to be a bit above that $20/hr threshold to feel like all the labor is worth it.

Looking at adding lemonade as another income source, particular since I don't sell many sodas which aren't a big markup to begin with. I see some people do concentrate which tastes good but I hesitate on thinking people will believe it's worth $4. But it'd be the easiest method. Or I'll just have to start buying lemons and the squeezer and do it that way. That would add a bit more time in line which the construction workers won't like. But once it gets particularly hot out I think it should be a big seller, even better that it has a $3 profit to it compared to $0.90 for sodas.

[MrTPlush]

1 hour ago, GAME05 said:

I gotta raise my hot dog prices from $3 to $4 which won't go over well since this is my first summer doing it and customers are still discovering me. But I can lose 20% of my customers and still be better off at the higher price. I want to be a bit above that $20/hr threshold to feel like all the labor is worth it.

Looking at adding lemonade as another income source, particular since I don't sell many sodas which aren't a big markup to begin with. I see some people do concentrate which tastes good but I hesitate on thinking people will believe it's worth $4. But it'd be the easiest method. Or I'll just have to start buying lemons and the squeezer and do it that way. That would add a bit more time in line which the construction workers won't like. But once it gets particularly hot out I think it should be a big seller, even better that it has a $3 profit to it compared to $0.90 for sodas.

Construction workers care about fresh squeezed or concentrate? Take the concentrate and just pour extra sugar in...I bet that will have the same effect. 

[SeaBass]

Yeah, I'd go with the concentrate option, as long as it tastes good. Pricing is about convenience as much as anything else. Customers can know they could buy their own for better value but that doesn't get them the instant gratification. You can always change it up if that's not working.

I order off food delivery apps enough to know that people will pay. There are restaurants that sell little 8oz. bottles of Simply Orange OJ for like $3.25 each. You can buy a 52 oz. bottle at the grocery store for just a bit more than that.

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

Construction workers care about fresh squeezed or concentrate? Take the concentrate and just pour extra sugar in...I bet that will have the same effect. 

I think he was referring to the extra time it would take for fresh squeezed.

I'd go with concentrate as long as it tastes good.  No offense, but I wouldn't expect people to be very picky when eating out of a hot dog cart.  People are eating there for convenience.

[GAME05]

Interesting, and thanks for the feedback.

Only some of my customers are construction workers, and they've left the line before when someone in front of them started ordering for their office, but I guess I would have, too. And I'm probably overselling the time to make the real stuff. It's basically squeeze lemon, add simple syrup, add water and ice, shake.

Another vendor did that with concentrate and didn't offer ice in the cups. Told people it was already cold, more ice would only dilute it, and that way they were getting a full cup of lemonade instead of a cup of ice and a little drink. Crazy enough the concentrate still comes out to about $0.80/serving like the real lemon version.

My biggest hesitation was on the perceived value of me just pouring it out from a cooler vs. actually seeing the lemons cut. I assume people will think the powdered Wylers version, regardless, and that they'd balk at $4. But I would have sample cups to give out to demonstrate it's better. But you're also right I'm convenient and 24 oz. of lemonade would hit the spot on a 95-degree day, even at $4.

But you both make a good point, too, it's basically the same cost from doordash.

You're also right that I could switch out. Dumping the concentrate idea would only cost me a $30 cooler and a $50 bottle of concentrate.

[nate82]

Couldn't you also just do a pitcher infuser?  Would be cheaper as all you would have to do is buy some sugar and cut up the lemons and place in the infuser.  If lemons get expensive switch to limes or other fruit that are less expensive. 

[GAME05]

Pitcher infuser would take too long and I'd probably need three or four of them.

Squeezing a real lemon is part showing the customer that it's the genuine stuff and part performance. I don't have to race to decide, but right now that's about the way I'm leaning, in large part because I'm thinking that pouring it from a cooler is a much tougher sell for $4 regardless of taste.

And I'm probably selling myself short that "fast" is the only reason people stop, plus if they want fast they can hit a gas station. There's only one fast-food place in town and everyone hates it. People will wait. And a line is good advertising for me, anyway.

I'll likely ditch sodas altogether. $2 water, $3 small gatorades, $4 lemonade. That's a bargain for all three. I gotta stop selling myself short. I keep thinking about customer value but I gotta make money, too. Down the road maybe I'll add sweet tea concentrate.

edit: Looks like the food truck that is sometimes around does lemonade for $5, so I'll likely match that price. Undercutting him is tempting, but I don't need him to show up at my spot and take all my customers.

[Thurston Fluff]

When I heard Al Pacino is expecting a child all I wondered what the kid's first thought will be when he sees his dad for the first time. I think it'll go something like this.

AHHHHHH MOM WHAT THE HELL!!!! AHHHH HE'S A RAISIN!!!! AHHH PLEASE TELL ME IT WAS INVITRO!!!!! AHHHHH.

[SeaBass]

1 hour ago, Thurston Fluff said:

When I heard Al Pacino is expecting a child all I wondered what the kid's first thought will be when he sees his dad for the first time. I think it'll go something like this.

AHHHHHH MOM WHAT THE HELL!!!! AHHHH HE'S A RAISIN!!!! AHHH PLEASE TELL ME IT WAS INVITRO!!!!! AHHHHH.

How does Al Pacino go around with a newborn baby and not begin with, "Say hello to my little friend!"

[GAME05]

To save everyone else from having to look it up, he's 83.

[Jimbo]

The tenth President, John Tyler, has a living grandson.

 

[SeaBass]

12 hours ago, Jimbo said:

The tenth President, John Tyler, has a living grandson.

 

Wow. That's one heck of an accomplishment for a guy that was born March 29, 1790. A grandson still living 233 years after the date of his birth.

That would be like if I had a kid, that had a kid that was still living in 2205.

[homer]

1 hour ago, SeaBass said:

Wow. That's one heck of an accomplishment for a guy that was born March 29, 1790. A grandson still living 233 years after the date of his birth.

That would be like if I had a kid, that had a kid that was still living in 2205.

Yep he's 94. Born in 1928 when his dad was 75 (born in 1853). And when HE was born President Tyler was 63 years old. 

So if Al Pacino's kid has a kid when he's 75 and that kid (Pacino's grandkid) makes it to their 94th birthday the year will be 2192 (Happy 252nd Al Pacino!)

[GAME05]

Finally told my commercial kitchen that they haven't been invoicing me. We'll see if they say "we'll start" or "Here's six months of back charges".

They're re-organizing yet again, which they like to do every two months or so. They never tell me about it, so I just walk in for the morning and suddenly my stuff has been moved. This time not only was it moved, but some stuff was missing. You'd think if you saw three plastic jugs right among somebody's stuff that they weren't garbage, but I guess not. They weren't cheap and I can't vend without them.

I get the impression they don't really want me there. I also don't have any other option.

[Thurston Fluff]

I'm not saying facebook algorithms are evil but it forgot to remind me it was my wife's birthday then 17 ads for couches so comfortable you could sleep all night on them popped up.

[GAME05]

Vended my first kinda event. Made 180% of what I usually do, but it was 10 hours and my body really paid for it the next day.

[NeedMoreFans]

My walk to the bus stop after work each afternoon requires me to cross both Johnson and University on campus at UW-Madison.  I choose the crosswalk outlined in red below:

The only issue with this crosswalk is that it has no signals so you have to cross when there's a break in traffic.  This is usually not an issue because there is a stoplight to the left and another to the right on University that stops traffic and allows me to cross.  Each road is 4 lanes wide.

While I appreciate the state law requiring cars to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, I do not like it when drivers use it at this location to let me cross.  I'll give an example of why.  Number the lanes on Campus Dr, with 1 being closest to me on the south/bottom and 4 being at the top.  A car stops in lane 3, but cars fly by him in lane 2, and he almost got rear-ended.  He decides to go after I waive him forward.  Moments later, a car stops in both lane 2 and 3 (no traffic in lane 1), so I proceed, only there was a car in lane 4 that did not see me and I almost got hit.  

Yes, I could walk a block to a signaled intersection, but I figure there is a crosswalk there for a reason, and there is usually never an issue crossing when the lights are red.  

[Samurai Bucky]

2 hours ago, NeedMoreFans said:

My walk to the bus stop after work each afternoon requires me to cross both Johnson and University on campus at UW-Madison.  I choose the crosswalk outlined in red below:

The only issue with this crosswalk is that it has no signals so you have to cross when there's a break in traffic.  This is usually not an issue because there is a stoplight to the left and another to the right on University that stops traffic and allows me to cross.  Each road is 4 lanes wide.

While I appreciate the state law requiring cars to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, I do not like it when drivers use it at this location to let me cross.  I'll give an example of why.  Number the lanes on Campus Dr, with 1 being closest to me on the south/bottom and 4 being at the top.  A car stops in lane 3, but cars fly by him in lane 2, and he almost got rear-ended.  He decides to go after I waive him forward.  Moments later, a car stops in both lane 2 and 3 (no traffic in lane 1), so I proceed, only there was a car in lane 4 that did not see me and I almost got hit.  

Yes, I could walk a block to a signaled intersection, but I figure there is a crosswalk there for a reason, and there is usually never an issue crossing when the lights are red.  

Things went wrong when they got rid of the Badger Tavern.