posted on October 31, 2001 09:30:38 AM new
I hate to dash the party and bring up Anthrax . Though the anthrax thing did not really concern me personally for a while, it's beginning to nibble at me now.
To better explain my concerns:
I read this article where cross contamination is thought to be the culprit:
http://www.nypost.com/apstories/V0462.htm as well as the article about contamination at a company that services postal machines.
I have had letters from some of the "offending zip codes". My mail has in the past come directly to the table where my children do their schoolwork, where we eat, etc. I also receive a considerable amount of international mail.
My post office saves the boxes they get supplies in and gives them to me for packing outgoing. When the postmaster handed me 15 of them yesterday, I though "Ewww...".
All that said, I don't know if it's the economy or fear of the mail or what but my auctions are the PITS. I am starting to have serious financial concerns (for the first time in nearly 4 years of) that this could get nasty. If I can't sell my house and this trend continues (or if they have to shut down the mail!) I am in BIG BIG trouble.
So, please, before you go, take a moment to tell me how or if (especially if you are an ebayer dependant on your profits) this is affecting your business financially, in day to day practice, etc.
I am REALLY going to miss the ability to ask a serious question with CONFIDENCE that those to whom it was directed were absolutely experts in their field.
posted on October 31, 2001 09:59:08 AM new
It isn't just Ebay. It is everywhere!
Monday, October 29, 2001
South Bend, IN
"Following another dismal loss, this one to Boston College, Notre Dame returned to the practice field this afternoon only to find their practice stopped by Coach Bob Davie after 10 minutes. He instructed the
players to head for the locker room while he and his assistant coaches examined an unidentified "white, powdery substance" on the field. Local CDC and state law officials were called in to inspect the substance and informed the coaches that practice could continue as planned. "We informed Coach Davie that the white, powdery substance he was unfamiliar with was the goal line" said an FBI representative."
[ edited by internationalgolf on Oct 31, 2001 10:00 AM ]
posted on October 31, 2001 10:11:32 AM new
I am in a completely different mode now. I am trying to minimize all outgoing expenses because very little is selling and it may get worse before it gets better.
I am opening mail on a newspaper with shears and putting the outer wraps and paper in the trash with minimum handling and no shredding. Then cleaning up my hands with disinfectant. I have a supply of nitril gloves but am not wasting them on mail yet. I may buy food handling gloves for this sort of thing.
If I see a suspicious piece (have not yet) I will open it inside a 2 gallon zip seal bag with a throw away razor cutter. If there is any powder I will take it to the fire department nearby without unsealing it.
If it overall siuation gets bad enough - for example they are getting letters to private homes - I will put the mail in a pressure cooker at the mail box and pressure steam it for an hour first with some bleach in the water. I am researching today how to generate clorine dioxide gas.
I am checking in my storage today to see I have face masks rated for asbestos work. If I don't have enough of them I am stopping and buying a case of the good 3M ones. If they do have a release of small pox I will stay in as much as possible and only go in public with mask and gloves and avoid the hours when a lot of people are crowded in the stores.
posted on October 31, 2001 10:38:48 AM new
I posted a week or so ago with a pretty dismissive attitude towards the "real" danger from the anthrax developments as known at that time.
I've heard some more now, some just this morning as network medical specialists started laying more details out. Perhaps most of it is in that URL jt just started off with, I confess I haven't looked it over.
Here's some of what is getting me more worried, now.
1) Particle size of spores (especially if milled down. static electrical charges removed, mixed with bentonite powders..) can be in the 1-5 micron size. A common envelope has a porosity size of 100 microns. Meaning, the stuff, if like in the Daschle letter, simply comes right out through the paper. A demonstration was done on TV this AM with talcum powder marked with fluorescent dye, placing it in an envelope and sealing it, then bouncing it around in a bin with other letters and checking with a blacklight. Several envelopes showed glowing spots.
2) How MUCH dosage is theoretically in such an envelope, were it to be aerosolized with maximum efficacy and inhaled 10,000- 20,000 spores per person. I just asked my spouse how many people she thought the Daschle letter alone could have infected IF IT HAD BEEN distributed with such maximum effect; she's a registered nurse working in an operating room, btw. She started with, oh, two hundred? Three hundred people? The calculation on a network this AM was ten to twenty MILLION people. In maybe 1/4 oz of that stuff. Of course, you never ever get that level of "efficiency," most goes off far away and into the soil, but...
3) There was further comment that we might be having actual facts about the presence of bentonite (an aluminum ore, I believe) in that sample since it would be such a strong pointer to Iraq rather than "domestic terrorists" that our administration might not want the public focusing on the need to vaporize Sadam Hussein and Baghdad before we can get through with Afghanistan.
This new info brings me to a further quite plausible "what-if," being what if there are even just ten or twenty pounds, only, of this stuff "out there" being put into random envelopes maybe 1/8 oz at a time, maybe just 2500 envelopes, addressed to random citizens, put into collection boxes by some maniac driving from one city to the next, paying for motels and gas and food with cash? A Johnny Anthrax Spore, as it were? How much contamination would have happened by the time a week or two later the scope were becoming known?
This wouldn't be very expensive to do, or require many people. It seems pretty obvious, even. I really really hope these guys only had an ounce or two total and can't get more easily.
I just an hour ago suggested to my spouse that we might segregate obvious junk mail in an outside container to avoid bringing extra surface area of mailed paper into our living space. Ebay sales? If there aren't any more envelopes getting mailed, if there's no supply of finely-powdered spores, things will be OK, I think. If there's a major escalation of these mailings (and who's to say they don't go into UPS and FedEx, too?), I would say the mail-order Xmas season could go right down the tubes.
posted on October 31, 2001 10:41:28 AM new
Terri - when I brought up the danger we might be facing with Anthrax, eBay, and the mail, I was called an alarmist. I said I was waiting to list all the stuff that would have made me a nice profit for the holidays.
Last night I was searching in my catagories. I was shocked to see how listing has dropped, and what is listed have no bids or very low closing bids.
This morning on the news they said the post office has lost a lot of money because people have stopped mailing things. I wish I could remember the $ amount that they gave.
Yes, things are bad, and will most likely get worse on eBay. The savior for me are the flea markets. I just hope the weather stays good so I can make up for what I'll be losing on eBay.
posted on October 31, 2001 11:03:59 AM new
I have had -zero- decrease in business.
My sell through is still over 90%, closing bids are high.
I had a total of 60 auctions close on Sun & Mon, 59 with bids. I had two "Buy It Now" auctions end today.
AND
I live in Florida
(stated on all of my auctions)
about five minutes from Boca Raton.
I'm not having any problems from this YET...
posted on October 31, 2001 11:05:31 AM new
trolling - no, I'm not the one that's paranoid. If I was, I wouldn't be out in the open doing flea markets.
People evidently are not buying as much on eBay. Listing is a lot of work. I'm not going take pictures, write descriptions, and hope for the best. If it doesn't sell on eBay I don't want to miss the sale at the flea market. Holiday selling has a short window, I can't waste it.
posted on October 31, 2001 11:08:21 AM new
Now two hospital workers become infected and they find no evidence of contamination in their work space.
I still can't figure out why there's so few cases (17) if everything we are hearing now is true. There should be a lot more cases among postal workers, especially those working in infected buildings.
posted on October 31, 2001 11:12:30 AM new
I was very worried about whether this would affect business. It did, at the start, but bidding has picked up again this week. We are back above 50% again for the first time in several weeks.
I think that my customers would have less to worry about than I do. Packages and letters are handled seperately, using different equipment, aren't they? Haven't all known cases of contaminiation come from letters?
[ edited by outoftheblue on Oct 31, 2001 11:19 AM ]
posted on October 31, 2001 11:51:39 AM new
I'm not selling right now, but I have been bidding some. (I'd be buying more, if I had the money!) I haven't noticed ANY slow down in the catagories that I shop in.
I guess hockey fans don't give a flip about anthrax, if they can get their hands on an inflatable Cup...
posted on October 31, 2001 01:25:54 PM new
Paranoid is not a good description of my feelings. "Concerened" is more the word.
My actual "fears" about contracting anthrax personally are pretty low but I also wear a seatbelt in the car and cook pork well, you know?
Someone else said it better:
[i]How much contamination would have happened by the time a week or two later the scope were becoming known?[i] The thing about this is that it's like an enemy that you can't see and I don't recall ever facing something like that before. You can't buckle up against it or cook it well or spray disenfectant around. There IS the slight lurking posibility that the entire postal system could shut down even if temporarily. Locally I am just spit out of luck.
Yesterday I went into an independant paint store (something along the lines of a Sherwin-Williams). It was late afternoon. The owner said gloomily, "You are my second customer today." He has a BIG monthly expense no doubt. Locally staple businesses are holding well (drug stores, grocery stores) but gift shops, specialty shops, any place sells the the "extras" are HURTING.
Some people down the road raise horses and have had a very successful business in the past. They have 60 of them presently and haven't been able to sell a one since Sept. 11. They are going to have to feed 60 horses through the winter? I have tried to sell one that I paid $800 for for $200. Those interested said, "We would really like to buy it for the kids but we need to see what's going to happen."
I put my house on the market on Sept. 13, (totally unrelated to the events). It's not exactly in the "thrifty" price range for my area and it needs additional remodeling. It was intended to be a smart financial move. Well, phhtt.
I don't have a substantial savings...OK, I don't have a savings at all. Everything I have is tied up in "stuff", land, horses, cars, "extras-type-inventory" that a few months ago was worth something and like money in the bank..but now it's all icing and everybody is on a diet.
It's not anthrax paranoia at all, it's darn hardcore reality setting in. Tick-tock, tick tock. This is depressing, sorry.
We are getting PEANUTS on ebay for everything compared to a short time ago and I have lost my will to list. Who will open the bid at $20 for everything I own?
Zoomin, what do you sell? Connie, what do you buy?
posted on October 31, 2001 01:26:09 PM new
I've been sick for about a week, but my husband keeps telling me not to worry because if it were anthrax, I'd be dead by now. I appreciate his sympathy.
posted on October 31, 2001 01:29:20 PM new
Gravid you are very very funny. I never realized until you said so that you didn't like me...cause I like you a lot. I can never read your post now without thinking of you trying to do karate chops and not muss your tux.
posted on October 31, 2001 01:35:35 PM new
Teri:
Sorry ~ thought you knew my eBay name!
If you do a thirty day seller search for chepistar you can get an idea of my auctions ~ mostly high end clothing (definitely not the necessities of life). My other ID is chepi* but that is primarily maternity. (selling at 100% there too, though).
I recently (last 2 weeks?) started playing around with eBaY "extras" (PIC on a few auctions for a quarter, dropped eBaY an extra dime for a coupla 10 day auctions) but that didn't seem to make a difference. I tried a few three and five-day, too, and did pretty well.
Take a peek ~ hope it helps!
posted on October 31, 2001 04:19:31 PM new
jt - Don't know what I said. If it was about the paranoid above I was quoting trolling4fools - I changed it to make it clearer. I don't want to go away leaving you thinking that. No bad feelings for you at all in fact as I mentioned I thought it was great you act on your conscience.
