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This cb price gouging has got to stop
- Thread starter groundwire
- Start date
There's still plenty of 2k's on ebay for $200 but they will need a bunch of work if they can even be repaired.
Again its your choice.
Again its your choice.
While I think the prices often are absurd, I wouldn’t call it price gouging either.
It’s the buyers driving the prices up by jumping on ridiculously hopeful buy it now prices.
Now that’s not to say there aren’t shady sellers out there...I just dealt with one.
Had three of an item in stock, and accepts offers. I made one, rejected, then I get an email “not currently accepting offers”, and “this is the last in stock may never be made again due to Coronavirus”.
All bullshit...lol.
It’s the buyers driving the prices up by jumping on ridiculously hopeful buy it now prices.
Now that’s not to say there aren’t shady sellers out there...I just dealt with one.
Had three of an item in stock, and accepts offers. I made one, rejected, then I get an email “not currently accepting offers”, and “this is the last in stock may never be made again due to Coronavirus”.
All bullshit...lol.
Now if we could only agree on the 10k versus the Texas
Haha.....best wishes to you groundwire!
73 and all the best to you and yours from wet and rainy North Carolina!
Bunch of people stuck at home = more bidders. The auto auction place in town here went online and people are bidding way more for cars than they do in person when I go to auction. Often there are a couple of cars that are steals but this time around I'd do better buying them on craigslist. I'm wondering if the Auto Auction is going to switch to online from now on - they got way more bidders because you don't have to be there in person.
Anyway, just saying - more people, more bids, higher prices.
Anyway, just saying - more people, more bids, higher prices.
Haha, yea. See ya on the bandsNow if we could only agree on the 10k versus the Texas
Haha.....best wishes to you groundwire!
73 and all the best to you and yours from wet and rainy North Carolina!
I know I was thinking this same thing looking for a compact SSB radio. I lucked out and found one on a Facebook page for $25+shipping. I could have saved the $15 shipping, but I couldn't make the 90min round-trip drive that week... but then again, what I saved in time and fuel that $15 was worth it.
My Cobra 2k sold today for $925 shipped on ebay and I didnt twist the buyers arm one bit. I did offer a $50 break tho.
I found a 980 new in box on offer up for $50 but the lady selling is out of state and its in storage. I told her whenever she pulls it out to message me.
I find good radio deals on offer up, letgo and craigs list but sometimes its a bitch to get them to answer.
Hahahaha, thats pure insanity. These buyers are fools. $900, hahahaha omg!
Automotive Business Expense: (consideration of buy/sell as income for a tech).
As an aside — borrowing the above example — folks rarely think of the true operating cost of an automobile. It’s always at least as high as the IRS business deduction per mile.
See EDMUNDS True Cost of Ownership. AAA.
At a 50-mph average (probably higher than in the above), a 90-minute round-trip of 75-miles costs
$38.00
when all owner & operator costs are included on a typical car (5-years ownership from new plus 15k miles/year).
Fuel is less than half the expense. $15.00 IS NOT the representative expense. (And nothing at all to do with lost income for time expended).
That $38.00 is actually cheap. The guys you see with 4WD diesels passed $1.00/mile long ago.
The number needed is CPM (cents per mile). It’s basic. There’s no accounting otherwise. (Records, records, records = Fuelly phone app).
Control of vehicle cost is freedom. What changes one might make are simply those one is willing to make permanent. Not otherwise.
1). Combining trips is the only way to offset the cost to match paying shipping cost.
2). Combining needed trips with another man or men with the same motivation means savings for all.
3). Hobby expense is an IRS line item. Same for insurance liability and vehicle registration. Don’t cross the line. YOU aren’t allowed a start in this world. Know your place. (Americans have already died off as a species).
I once made a 400-mile roundtrip to another city to buy a $1k air conditioner to save packaging & shipping. But made several OTHER stops to have truck service done at three shops not possible locally.
Controlled every factor of driving,
and just barely broke even on out-of-pocket expenses.
Bypassing the cost of shipping isn’t really possible against a volume carrier. (To put it kindly). Cover contingencies, is the answer.
This, in a diesel pickup where I know how to achieve 25-27 highway MPG on a regular basis. Had the entire day + expenses planned out ahead (as a truck driver, this is par).
The “answer” most give to “extra” vehicle use is that they throw it into the mix. I get it. But it’s indication their transportation costs are so out-of-control that plan & discipline there would underwrite most hobbies ANNUALLY.
With a travel trailer, I learned I could have 5,000/miles of FREE fuel with which to travel by controlling my use the rest of the year. At that time the 340-gallons represented would have retailed at $1,200. (One has to know Annual Gallons, not just miles).
The day-to-day is where a personal vehicle is abused. The difference between highway & city fuel MPG should be 15%, give or take. Tires & brakes should last 70k miles or better. These three are indicators of economical (also, safe) operation.
Fixed costs versus variable. Finance, Depreciation, Insurance + Tax & Fees is the highest portion. Scheduled Maintenance added to that is what tips the balance. Fuel is NOT one-half.
Overhead can’t really be changed.
But 1/3 of the total per mile can be reduced with conscious fuel planning (I ran a business years ago where interest in this subject was paramount).
High Average MPH (is key). Engine Hours divided into Odometer Miles. Must be 27-MPH or higher.
$100 “free” per month (per my personal example above; 25-gallons) pays a pretty fair amount of “extra” travel for someone not new to a hobby (capital expense already covered). Sure as hell this savings covers driving & buying junked equipment (a “given” that a personal vehicle is owned and used; already a very high drain on net income). Again — per my example — at my Annual Average MPG it’s 500-miles monthly.
Same annual gallons purchased, but based on real numbers AND A PLAN EXECUTED its over 6,000-miles at my average.
Intelligent versus Unintelligent Use. I’m now receiving HIGHEST value for the same annual ownership + operational expense. (My hobby is “who” I am; not what’s engraved on my slave collar).
Next, about the only vehicles which are economical enough on fuel to disregard its expense have a combined EPA Average well above 20-mpg when fuel prices are low.
Safety per design, size & capacity, a fleet-spec V6 Dodge Charger meets the mark all-around. Use it as default to plan the next vehicle. No smaller, no lighter, no shorter, no less-sophisticated in design. (Scrimping on safe design has bad life-changing consequences. Takes but ONCE).
At higher cost per gallon, it’s still “economical”.
Pulling a trailer NO TALLER than the vehicle roofline is the other piece of magic. Loaded to a combined gross of 13,000-lbs I’ve seen 18-mpg in thousands of miles of use with the U-Haul 6x6x12.
Your family benefits where a trailer is available, WITH CORRECT SPEC. (Penalty is 40% where all else is the same; I got it to 30%).
Back to records: several cars in a family mean greater savings. Use FUELLY or similar to get annual records in place. And, as 90% of trips are to the same places 90% of the time, there’s your start.
1). No cold starts (combine all errands)
2). Never idle (dress appropriately)
3). Once moving, never stop (best routing)
The closer one comes to fulfilling these, the better.
The 4WD diesel Dodge crowd is sure that I’m a liar in claiming I can hit 22-mpg in the city reliably. Ha! As they don’t break 18 on the highway. (And I’m carrying 1,200-lbs above curb weight).
If you followed me around you’d not notice anything unusual except I’m a bit slower. No stunt driving. You accelerate and then at stop at the next light. I just glide along.
But I’m nowhere near the numbers achieved by the guys who are serious about MPG.
It’s not a technical problem to be solved. It’s emotional. There’s a sixteen year old in the drivers seat. Be patient with him
.
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