• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

So, when will the gasoline buying panic begin?

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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Gasoline prices around here jumped 10 cents a gallon for regular just from yesterday to today. Been ratcheting up before that, but I really didn't take note of it much. Normally when prices go up every day, people buy as much gasoline as they can TODAY thinking it will just be more expensive tomorrow. Which gets people to topping off their gas tank every day, leading to lines, and gas stations running out.

Fortunately Connie and I really don't have to go out much, only to the post office and to do curbside pickup at Walmart for groceries every week or three. So not much we can do to cut down our driving any more than it already has been. Oh, I did take the vette out Saturday just for a drive, though. First time in 2022, and last year I think I only put 285 miles on it, so I guess a little bit of frivolous driving is excusable. :eek:

With the yard work we have been doing, we are using battery powered tools, having mostly gotten away from gasoline powered tools.

So price increases for gasoline really aren't going to affect us very much. And on top of that, both Connie and I are on Social Security, so basically we pay for the gasoline with government money anyway. But for some people, this is going to be a real crunch on their income paying over $4 a gallon, with no idea just how high it will go.

Whatever happened to the USA being an oil surplus producing country, able to sell surplus to other more needy countries? Doesn't the government believe that the country being oil independent is a damn good national security plan? Or is it (putting on my conspiracy hat) that SOMEONE in charge of such decisions is able to make more money via importing oil than having it produced here locally? :shrug01:
 
I mean, I had to pay $5.99 a gallon today over here on the CA coast, $4 a gallon sounds pretty nice right about now! In all seriousness, I've never been so tempted to hop on the electric bandwagon, even with a hybrid, I still pay over a hundred a week with work commutes.
 
The problem will be snowballing. When I was a kid, during one of the gasoline panics of yesteryear, my dad owned a service station. He lamented that he could not raise the prices per gallon to the customer quick enough to be able to pay for the next tanker truck of gasoline he needed to refill his underground tanks. So he was winding up losing money every day. So the sellers HAVE to increase the price they charge a LOT in order to try to predict what the cost to them will be when their current stock runs out. If they guess wrong, they could be out of business pretty quickly. This is a tough game to play.
 
The price of gas for personally owned vehicles isn't really a big issue for most households. People will adapt by making fewer trips, switching to a work-from-home job or one that permits a compressed schedule (4 10's or 9 9's) to cut commuting costs, or by cutting discretionary spending in other areas.

The price of diesel (now over $5/gal in some states) will cause more pain because it affects the cost of everything that gets shipped, or there will be "fuel surcharges" added for services such as trash collection or when you have a plumber/HVAC tech/appliance repairman/etc. come to your home.
 
Filled up at $4.09 this morning. At 4:45 this morning and only one at pump. I may ask to go to 4 10's like Melinda mentioned if price sky rockets. I do 52 miles round trip now Mon through Fri.
 
I've been seeing these stickers showing up on gas pumps lately, pointing to the price display. I laughed at first, but lately it isn't feeling so funny. They may be elsewhere, but Connie and I really don't go much of anywhere else except maybe the post office. Had to actually go inside during normal business hours to pick up some tooling that was too big to fit in the parcel lockers.

And been going down to the seafood market now and again to stock up on fresh local shrimp and grouper. Oh yeah, had to run down to Just Fruits and Exotics the other day so we could get fertilizer for the fruit trees. Both are outside engagements with the sellers. Wound up spreading 120 lbs of fertilizer around. We have LOTS of fruit trees.

Amazon has those stickers for sale, if anyone is interested.

https://www.amazon.com/100Pcs-Biden-Stickers-Sticker-Brandon/dp/B09DD41B2K?th=1

All four vehicles are pretty much with full tanks of gasoline right now. I hate to see what it would cost putting gasoline in the vette since I use the highest octane available for it. :ack2:
 

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bcr229 said:
You should get out more.
Click to expand...

Not quite yet. Still too much lying and "officially" stated BS being slung around about this COVID stuff for my tastes. I am still in "better to be safe than sorry" mode.
 
I sure am glad I have my bicycles and tricycle. I am slowly getting stronger and cycling more after my bouts of Covid and getting my diabetes managed, and I expect to see more people out there on bicycles before too long.
 
There will be more motorcycles on the roads too, so keep a sharp eye out when driving.
 
Compared to most of the civilized area's of the world our gas prices are cheaper. The area's that are cheaper most of us wouldn't want to live in. You could move to Venezuela for 8 cents a gallon :ack2:
 
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