Garage sale sign "readability" clue to quality of merchandise? (sell, prices)
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I've noticed that "easily readable" garage sale signs lead to sales which have better quality things for sale.
And dumb "can't read them" garage sale signs lead to sales with lower quality stuff - a bunch of junk.
For example, when driving by a sign, the lettering needs to be BIG so people driving by can read it. And the faster the speed limit, the larger the lettering needs to be. (Stop by a city/state road sign and see how big the lettering on the sign actually is.)
And you can only read about 7 words or less when driving by a sign.
Also people do not necessarily know where "such and so" street is or how to get there.
So the easy to read signs will have very large lettering, just say "YARD SALE", and have an arrow pointing the way. Then there will be additional signs along the way to guide people to the sale. And a sign in front of where the sale is (YARD SALE HERE).
The "dumb" signs are on 8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper, the writing is too small to read, sometimes 30 or more words to read, and no directions on which way to turn or how to get there - no arrow.
My thinking: Perhaps the people who are intelligent enough to make good signs are also intelligent enough to get a good paying job (or manage their finances well), and therefore have better quality things?
[quote=Billy_J;26413527]I've noticed that "easily readable" garage sale signs lead to sales which have better quality things for sale.
And dumb "can't read them" garage sale signs lead to sales with lower quality stuff - a bunch of junk.
For example, when driving by a sign, the lettering needs to be BIG so people driving by can read it. And the faster the speed limit, the larger the lettering needs to be. (Stop by a city/state road sign and see how big the lettering on the sign actually is.)
And you can only read about 7 words or less when driving by a sign.
Also people do not necessarily know where "such and so" street is or how to get there.
So the easy to read signs will have very large lettering, just say "YARD SALE", and have an arrow pointing the way. Then there will be additional signs along the way to guide people to the sale. And a sign in front of where the sale is (YARD SALE HERE).
The "dumb" signs are on 8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper, the writing is too small to read, sometimes 30 or more words to read, and no directions on which way to turn or how to get there - no arrow.
My thinking: Perhaps the people who are intelligent enough to make good signs are also intelligent enough to get a good paying job (or manage their finances well), and therefore have better quality things?[/quote]
I think that there is some truth to this.
The way that some people make garage sale signs I'm surprised that anyone finds the sale. It was like the time that our three or four year old son decided to "sell some rocks". He asked us to make a sign which he put up inside our livingroom door and then was a little disappointed when no one showed up to look at and buy the rocks.
I always thought it was more, if a person cared enough to make a good sign, they had some sense of what makes a good garage sale and would have better stuff, more neatly laid out and their yard not looking a mess.
More like they were more acqainted with yard sale etiquette than anything.
I always thought it was more, if a person cared enough to make a good sign, they had some sense of what makes a good garage sale and would have better stuff, more neatly laid out and their yard not looking a mess.
I have great handwriting skills and good sense of white space. If I am making the sign, it will look infinitely better than my husband's scrawl across some poster board.
I would probably even do balloons at the mailbox. He would not.
But the stuff we are selling and how it's presented would be exactly the same.
I always thought it was more, if a person cared enough to make a good sign, they had some sense of what makes a good garage sale and would have better stuff, more neatly laid out and their yard not looking a mess.
More like they were more acqainted with yard sale etiquette than anything.
Well, we've always had "nice" signs - usu. yellow posterboard (1/2 sheet per sign), I letter them using black poster paint and put a nice arrow, I also think about where they will be placed and put (I usu, get some nice wooden stakes) beforehand. Our stuff is nicely laid out, well priced, and we go to the bank the day prior to get plenty of singles , etc... We spend a fair amount of time planning our sales, usu in conjunction with a major move. I always thin better signs = more serious about selling stuff = better prices and better stuff...
Except if the sign is "too nice" - we had a few people who have perpetual yard sales in our old neighborhood - they had really nice signs (painted on plywood) but dumpster dived stuff for sale
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I don't think so.
