Human Nature or....

I had a yard sale a few weeks back, it was a resounding success.  My main goal was to get rid of as much "junque" as I possibly could.   By then end of the day I had a few hundred dollars in my pocket and had reduced my clutter pile by 3/4.

All of my items were priced and they were giveaways even at the marked price.  I fully expected that everyone would bargain with me.... they did, it's part of the fun of a yard sale.  However; by 2 pm we wanted more product to leave the driveway (less stuff I have to drag to the swap shop) so we told our customers that everything was free and to make a donation if they felt so moved.  Interestingly, I made more money after 2 pm then before.

Did people feel guilty just taking my bric-a-brac or were they so grateful not to have to haggle?  Either way, I made far more money.  People are generous.  American's are one of the most giving nations on earth.  Give us a sad story or natural disaster and we will donate.  Or a yard sale.  The next yard sale I have I'm going to start the morning off the way I ended my last yard sale.  Everything is there for the taking, make a donation on what you think it's worth.  I'll move more odds and ends and make more money. Clearly a win-win.

On the other hand, I do this blog (occasionally and lord only knows why) and along with the blog I keep a list of gluten free places on Cape Cod.  For years now I've given that list out for free.  I guess because with research, phone calls, and Google the information is out there for everyone.  There is also another list that you can get from someone else; however, it is much smaller then mine.  I not only try and eat/shop at all the places on my list but I also call the owners and speak to the chef's.  When a bad report comes in I research what happened and why.  I've just spent 2 weeks working with one restaurant owner to get as many GF ingredients on their menu as possible.  I'm also in the process of putting clickable links to the individual restaurant websites in the 14 page "Gluten Free on Cape Cod" list.  Did I mention that the restaurants don't pay me either?

Although I send out a form letter with each request, 95% of the time I end up personalizing the form letter because the requester has also asked specific questions along with their request for the list.  At least 75% of the time I end up sending a few emails back and forth with each requester.  At best (meaning the quickest turnaround and follow up) I spend 5 minutes on each request for the list. This week was a slow week with only 35 requests for the GF list.   Which adds up to just under 3 hours of my time spent on just sending out a free list (that does not include my visits and phone calls to the various restaurants or the constant list updates).  The week before 4th of July, I had over 125 requests in a 7 day period.  That's a lot of time on my part... I work a full time job, I'm a single mom of a teenager, and I have a dog that I walk 4 miles a day.  For me, time is of the essence.

So a few weeks ago I decided that I'd add a Pal Pal button and ask for a donation to get the list.  There was no suggested amount to donate, just like at my yard sale, I left it up to the "buyer".  Well, 41 requests later and guess how much I've gotten from my Pay Pal button?  $0.  That's right, not a red cent.  I'm trying to figure out why that is?   Maybe people don't really realize how much time and money this takes me and maybe they don't care.  Perhaps they are just use to this type of list being free because in some larger cities GF lists are kept up by numerous people in the local Celiac group but that isn't the case here.  I'm the only one working on this list.

I'd be interested in your thoughts and ideas on this one, it astounds me that no one has thought of sending me a single dollar thru Pay Pal.  I guess if someone couldn't afford it I'd certainly give it to them for free but quite a few people tell me where they are staying (rented house, Chatham Bars Inn, Daniel Webster Inn, etc.) and surely they can afford a buck.  Right now I'm debating canceling the list completely, it really does take a lot of time or charging for it.  What do you think?'

Well here is the sad news... since I wrote this post I've spent over 5 hours updating the list so that the restaurants have clickable links to their websites.  I've also had numerous people ask for the list and even after they read this post, they didn't donate.  So now I'm charging $3.00 for the list. It's worth it and I spend so much time on it.  I've just sent out over 100 emails to restaurants that are NOT on the list asking how they handle gluten free requests so I expect soon I'll be updating with new additions!