Psychology, or "People are strange"

[wdfifteen]

I once had a car, it might have been my Mazda LC or Dodge Colt, that had variable wipers and the swipe interval was indicated by lines on the wiper switch. The longer the line, the longer the interval between swipes. That made perfect sense to me.
My Tundra and Volt both have the same lines on the switch, but they work the opposite, which makes no sense to me. The longer the line, the shorter the interval. Vicki says it's perfectly logical. Really?



In preparation for turning our backs on our home and starting over, I have been selling stuff on CL and Facebook Marketing. I want to get this stuff out of my hair ASAP, so I started listing at stupid low prices. All I got was a flood of "Is it available" responses, which I answered and never heard from the jerks again. Then I tried reverse psychology. I raised prices, and now I get fewer responses, but the people who do respond are serious buyers.

[masraum]

People are strange AND, most of the time, also idiots.

If we have yard/garage sales, we always mark stuff up 20-30% over what we want. If you want $10 and put that down, but then won't come down, folks often don't buy. If you mark something at $15 and agree to let it go for $12 or 10, they'll buy all day long.

[HobieMarty]

Yeah, I would think the longer the line, the longer the pause between wipes. Go figure?
The wipers in my daughter's 2012 Civic have an intermittent setting but it is only a fixed pause that cannot be adjusted and is very annoying. I also don't care for the auto wiper function on the vehicles that I drive at work because they speed up and slow down depending on rain intensity and speed of the vehicle, also very annoying.

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[cockerpunk]

people arnt idiots most of the time, they just value something other than what you value.

[Dixie]

How I read dashboard warning lights.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Yeah, I would think the longer the line, the longer the pause between wipes. Go figure?
The wipers in my daughter's 2012 Civic have an intermittent setting but it is only a fixed pause that cannot be adjusted and is very annoying. I also don't care for the auto wiper function on the vehicles that I drive at work because they speed up and slow down depending on rain intensity and speed of the vehicle, also very annoying.

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I love the "auto" setting in my Boxster. I have to bump the wipers the first time when it starts to rain, but then they do speed up and slow down (the sensitivity is adjustable) based on the amount of rain (not so much the speed of the vehicle). They'll even completely stop if I drive out of the rain, and then start up if it starts raining again.

Originally Posted by Dixie

How I read dashboard warning lights.

LMAO!

[GH85Carrera]

My wife's 2017 Macan has automatic wipers. They are amazing. Sometimes with just a super light mist on the windshield, they will wipe once. If more precipitation get on the windshield, it wipes with a delay. At some point, they go to normal speed, and if it rains hard, they go to full speed mode.

She never has to touch the stalk. My antique cars have 100% manual delay and wipers. Anyone that has even had a 80s 911 knows the delay function is the goofiest setup ever. A small knob on the dash, and it is variable from long duration, to very little duration. The wipers don't even have to be turned on! And the wiper stalk is totally separate from the delay function.

The El Camino wiper stalk is a multi function, wiper delay, wipers on low or high, windshield squirters, and it is the low beam and high beam control as well as the cruise control. It is a real pain to remove and install a new one. BTDT.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

people arnt idiots most of the time, they just value something other than what you value.

Gospel from the arbiter of everything.

[Scott Douglas]

A number of years ago a friend was trying to sell his 912. Wasn't getting any bites to his ad. I told him he wasn't asking enough for it.
He raised the price $10k and promptly sold it.

[oldE]

Re the original post, I interpret the longer lines as indicating the wipers will be functioning a greater percentage of the time.
My Jetta has the auto wiper function as well. Almost perfect.

[oldE]

On the "people are strange " vein, my BIL's wife wanted to save money on transportation, so she leased a hybrid. Sure, her operating cost per mile will be reduced, but she drives less than 3000 miles each year and will likely trade it as soon as the lease is up. Her costs would have been a heck of a lot lower if she had kept her previous car.
I am certainly biased. We haven't bought a new car since 1993. Let someone else take the hit on depreciation.

[stevej37]

[HobieMarty]

Yeah I get it, people like auto wipers, set it and forget it. I guess I am just old school and like to set the intermittent and know when to expect the windshield to be wiped.

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[masraum]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Yeah I get it, people like auto wipers, set it and forget it. I guess I am just old school and like to set the intermittent and know when to expect the windshield to be wiped.

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99% of the time if I hit rain, it can vary second by second. Having wipers running too fast for conditions bugs me (too slow isn't too bad, rain-x is key).

[herr_oberst]

I was moving; Yard sale, everything must go. I had a cute little antique writing desk, emphasis on little. It was in nice shape, solid oak in excellent original condition - drawers, hardware worked perfectly, all joints tight. I just wanted it gone. I put 50 on it. Lots of lookers, no offers, no takers. I was about to mark it down to 25 but my friend suggested 50 was too low, it had had a ton of interest all morning. I put a new 200 dollar price tag on it. IIRC, I let myself get talked down to 175. Split the extra 125 with my friend, everyone was happy, and I learned a lesson.

Same yard sale. I had a perfectly good electric drill listed for 2 dollars. Almost new, Black and Decker. In the original box. Some guy offered me a quarter. I said, no but for you I'll let you have it for 10 bucks. He looked at me, I told him I was serious. He didn't get the drill. Somebody on the sidelines watching this little tet-a-tet take place just handed me the two bucks and walked off with a good tool.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by masraum

Having wipers running too fast for conditions bugs me...

I see this every time it rains. It's just barely misting...maybe requiring a wipe every 30sec or so...and inevitably I'll see several drivers with their wipers going at warp speed...even while stopped at a light. Do they not realize there are other settings?

Are people strange? You bet they are!!! Just today I saw a couple sitting in a parked car overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Were they enjoying the view and the nice light breeze on a beautiful 73° day?

No, the windows were rolled up and the motor was running with the A/C on while they played with their phones. Sat there for about 1/2 hour like that...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rcooled

I see this every time it rains. It's just barely misting...maybe requiring a wipe every 30sec or so...and inevitably I'll see several drivers with their wipers going at warp speed...even while stopped at a light. Do they not realize there are other settings?

And this is how we end up back at my "most people are idiots" statement.

Are people strange? You bet they are!!! Just today I saw a couple sitting in a parked car overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Were they enjoying the view and the nice light breeze on a beautiful 73° day?

No, the windows were rolled up and the motor was running with the A/C on while they played with their phones. Sat there for about 1/2 hour like that...

LMAO! But they were enjoying nature (as seen through their phone screens).

[cabmandone]

Word of advice selling on Marketplace, make the first words in the description "If you see it, it's still available". But remember that puts you on the hook for removing the listing as soon as it's sold. I do this on all of my listings. It's an easy way to see who read the listing and saves you from wasting time replying to "Is it still available".

Second thing I put in my listing is "please read the full description prior to asking questions". I've found the serious buyers seldom ask a question that I've already answered in the description.

Originally Posted by masraum

People are strange AND, most of the time, also idiots.

If we have yard/garage sales, we always mark stuff up 20-30% over what we want. If you want $10 and put that down, but then won't come down, folks often don't buy. If you mark something at $15 and agree to let it go for $12 or 10, they'll buy all day long.

I think that's because we've been conditioned to haggle even though we know something is a fair price. I have to build in at least $1500 on my machines because, no matter how fair I price them, people always want to haggle to feel like they got a bargain. I have pallet forks priced at $900. They're the same forks found at Bobcat dealers for $1100 or more but people still ask if I have any wiggle room on price.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

I think that's because we've been conditioned to haggle even though we know something is a fair price. I have to build in at least $1500 on my machines because, no matter how fair I price them, people always want to haggle to feel like they got a bargain. I have pallet forks priced at $900. They're the same forks found at Bobcat dealers for $1100 or more but people still ask if I have any wiggle room on price.

I must be one of the few, I very rarely haggle. If something is a fair price, I'll pay it.

If I went someplace looking for pallet forks that the bobcat dealer had for $1100, I knew you had them for $900, or someone else had them for $1050, I'd just buy yours and wouldn't even talk to Bobcat or the other folks.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by masraum

And this is how we end up back at my "most people are idiots" statement.

There definitely are some idiots. I had a pair of Porsche T-6 door window frames to get rid of. I didn't want to pack them up to ship them so I put "LOCAL PICKUP ONLY" in bold caps in the ad. The first response I got was, "How much to ship them to 97346?" The next response was, "Where are you located?"
Doh!
I said local pickup but didn't include where I was. Yes, some people are idiots.