Each month, we like to set goals, make plans, or just put together a quick list of the things we want to accomplish, resolve, achieve, or finish during that month. This thread has been a tradition of the Building/Starting An eBay Business boards for as long as I can recall. It's also a chance for those participating to socialize a bit without violating board rules.
So what is it you'd like to commit to, or are working to continue during the month of July 2021?
@downrightspecialkids wrote:Bob, then her departure sounds like it worked out well. Hadn't your company recently (well, maybe last year) hired a couple listing people, or was it just the one?
I sure hope you get that position. Your current one sounds like you are so overworked. Plus, zero commute is such a bonus! But you'd also be making more money! I really hope you get it!
I had a decent weekend for sales. I had 20 to pack up this morning, so that is better than it's been in a little while here.
We had several different folks in different positions in 2020. One young fella was a sports coach and needed something to do until that all got worked out. But he spent more time on the phone with his mother (both were realtors) and eventually he got bored and moved on. Which didn't really bother me at all actually.
Then we had a couple of sisters - daughters of a couple my boss knows. They were waiting out the summer to see what was going to happen with school (college) and between the two of them almost reached 40 hrs a couple different weeks. One was a bit flighty, almost 'Valley Girl' in nature and speech. The younger was a bit more stable, actually showed up when she was scheduled, and seemed to be enjoying what she was learning. Then they both left.
In the meantime, our retired IRS manager and myself just kept moving forward. She was doing the majority of the listing while I was just trying to keep things together. Little stuff like making sure orders shipped on time, dealing with customer complaints, trying to find space for even MORE inventory... you know, dull/boring stuff. 🙂
I'm waiting on some promised rolling racks - the 18in x 48in 5 wire shelves kind. I can get 10 boxes on each rack, not kill myself trying to reach the top ones, and they can be easily & safely moved out of the way to get whatever is behind them. I asked for a dozen...I'll be good with at least 6. It will increase safety immensely, but I have to find a way to keep the warehouse & stock guys from filling up all the floor space I'm going to be opening up. That open space is for the other 6 racks - which could theoretically be filled up in less than two months.
But I figured out how to capture several birds in one net -- we want to switch from brown corrugated boxes (whose bottoms constantly fail) to plastic hinged-top bins. So as I move the stock from brown box to plastic bin, I get to do a physical inventory as well!! And I can 'unstuff' some of the overstuffed boxes and make it easier to find smaller items when they sell. Right now, I have to practically empty an 18x18x18 box to find the one little thing I need that's slipped all the way to the bottom. THAT is a productivity killer right there.
On a good mental status day, I actually enjoy the challenges and finding working solutions. On the other days, I work as best I can, try not to **bleep** anyone off, and hold out for at least 7hrs and no phone-time while I'm working. You know....just getting by.
The new opportunity is mucho exciting - a complete new system to learn!! I programmed in that language and relational database environment for a couple years early in my career, and it was never a problem. Computer languages are generally pretty easy - it's getting the end user to decide just exactly what it is they --really-- want from you and not just what they are asking for. That's also a very good way to learn the system as a whole -- talk to the folks who use it every day. 🙂
We've got a semi-decent week weather-wise this week, then on Sat & Sun -- 90% chance of rain/severe thunderstorms. Same thing that mess up last summer -- the weekdays were sunny, the week-ends were rainy... and the humidity was constantly as high as the temps!!
Heading to bed - have a great week y'all!!
-Bob.
@debbiet22 wrote:Quiet here on the boards this month.
Bob-are you doing good, I haven't seen you on the board for a while?
Been doing OK. Busy at work, exhausted at home, spend too much time catching up on sleep over the weekends.
Got my rolling racks at work, got a few adjusted (shelf spacing) to work with what we have now (20x20x20 boxes) and others to work with where I think it should go (hard plastic grey bins with interlocking flip-tops).
I'm getting a new shipping recruit - one of the guys who worked at my store, then moved over to the new store, and is now going to be coming back to start training for shipping and listing. Which makes me feel better about the next piece of news.
The recruiter I'm working with says I should be getting a written job offer before the end of the week. It will detail all the specifics of the job and has actually got me a bit excited...and concerned. I'm excited about getting back into programming (the money was secondary, but you never tell a client that), but I'm also concerned about leaving my current position with no clear, trained, and functional replacement ready to step in. I'm pretty sure it will be fine, but change is not always comfortable, and conflict gives me hives. Leaving a job is both -- so it's going to be a fun few days.
Sales are slow both at home and at work. Home doesn't surprise me, but work is concerning. Yeah, there are a lot of stale listings - but I'm slowly getting them all ended, updated, and reposted. Along with posting some of the new stuff. Thankfully the buyer complaints seem to be dropping as the sales volume drops, but I would have preferred the complaints drop as USPS gets it's act together and our sales volume climbs.
Going to the Zoo on Saturday!! Both boys and their families will be coming with me - it pays to be the one with the membership that gets all the kids in free and half of the adults as well. 🙂 We just have to get started early, before things heat up, and keep hydrated. It also means I have to find all my accumulated change - I'm pretty sure I know where I stashed it all, but it's always fun to re-find things after I've finished cleaning/re-arranging the room. 🙂
Should be a fun and exhausting weekend. And I still have more 'stuff' to get moved into (and out of) storage. I think the heat is causing the stuff to multiply on it's own - asexual replication, if you will. Just like cells grow and split and grow some more, multiplying until they develop into a fully-grown Godzilla rampaging thru Tokyo (classis G) or New York, Hawaii, & the west coast (new-age G).
Stay safe, stay cool, and enjoy!!
-Bob.
@legessi wrote:OMG...I just wrote a book and it disappeared...well anyway hi everyone nice to see so many new faces and lots of recognizable names..a few are missing, hoping they are well
If this is a too-frequent thing, there's a quick fix: Once you're ready to post your reply, click anywhere in the reply, then press Ctrl-A (select all) and then Ctrl-C (copy) to select the entire message text and then to copy it to your Windows clipboard. If the posting goes awry, just restart the reply, then click on the reply box and press Ctrl-V (paste).
-Bob.
Had that, for me, uncomfortable conversation with the boss today. He was hoping it wouldn't be what it was - he had plans that will have to be scaled back until he can find a way to replace me. As expected, he's going to transfer to a fully online listing service, rather than staying with SixBit in-office. It makes sense as he'll be posting from multiple locations and we hadn't figured out how to do that yet (I'm a programmer, not a network tech). I've got one week full-time to train, then two weeks part-time to get the rough edges smoothed over and the basics in place. Then I'm gone - altho I'm sure I'll stop in from time to time, and I may be doing some more consignment selling for him after a few months, once I get settled into the new routine and get my skills back up to speed.
My sales have basically stopped. I haven't been able to list anything new for a while, and it's showing. The good news is I found a better way of managing my overall inventory so that I can rotate things in/out with less work. All my elongates are run as auctions, and after the first 5-10 cycles, I'll add a BIN price to see if that helps (mixed results).
-Bob.
I'm exhausted. Saturdays are not supposed to start at 8am, and 4+ hours of walking around The Zoo in the heat and humidity is a bit more than I should probably be doing right now. But I wouldn't change a thing....
But everyone went home happy, several of the non-drivers opting to nap on the way to their respective homes. And now Grandpa can lay back in the recliner, feet up, and inspect the insides of his eyelids for any signs of a reason to wake up. 🙂
Hope y'all had a good day and were able to manage the heat. Our 10-day forecast is "more of the same", so getting out to get things done becomes a pre-dawn or near-dusk task! I'm just thankful that my AC hasn't given up yet!! 16yrs service for an auto AC system is pretty good!!
No sales today, but I did get bids on two items, so not a complete loss. 🙂 Goal for tomorrow is to get those rolling racks I want to start moving more stuff into storage. It's the most put-off item on my to-do list!!
-Bob.
