I posted the following on craigslist last week, for a week, deleted it and re-posted at the beginning of this week. Yesterday craigslist handed it back to me. I suspect that someone, probably a person towards whom this rant was directed, narced on me and got my “listing” removed. But I think it’s relevant enough for more widespread reading.
Got signs?
Even if you have announced your garage sale on craigslist, you’re probably going to put up signs to direct people to your place. I’d like to offer my two cents worth about how best to make your signs work for you.
Focus on who is going to be reading your sign. 95% of the time, it’s a person driving a car. That person, generally, has a split second to notice your sign and understand it. Don’t make him pull off to the side of the road or stop in traffic to try and comprehend the mini-billboard you’ve erected. You shouldn’t list the contents of your sale on your sign in 1” (and I’ve seen smaller) letters and don’t let your kid make the sign. It needs to be very simple and readable. Big, bold arrows are just about all you need and try to make all your signs the same color. Don’t put up a sign at some random intersection which, upon close examination, is only there to tell you NOT to turn there. And when you post a sign at the corner you want cars to turn at, put the sign on the side of the road they are to turn towards. This is especially important when you have drawn your arrow with something like a number 2 pencil. Again, you ought to be trying to avoid causing traffic accidents. And, if your sale starts tomorrow, put up your signs tomorrow.
If your sale was over yesterday, that’s when your signs should have been taken down. Why am I bothering with this? I go to more sales than anyone else. There’s no way to prove this, but I do. Like most salers, I travel alone and must make navigational decisions as I drive. After threatening to post this notice for the last few years I decided not to let another year go by without trying to extend some useful advice. I am aggravated by about half the signs I see, usually for one or more of the reasons I describe above. And, chances are, if I have to pull over and study my map book to figure out that your sale is 2 blocks away and you can’t pull off a decent couple of signs to get me there, I’m probably going to go elsewhere on general principles. Certainly more important than my feelings and those of the other customers, posting illegible signs or setting out signs for sales that aren’t happening on that day is going to annoy your neighbors with the unnecessary traffic. And isn’t that important to you?
Thanks, David.