bunnicula
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posted on August 13, 2001 08:34:19 AM
A friend and I went out garage-saling yesterday. Within two hours we were definitely feeling homicidal. Why? With ONE exception every single damned sign we followed led to....NOTHING!!!! Nada! Zip! Zero! And we literally followed dozens.
What is so hard about going out & taking down the signs when a yard or garage sale is over?!? And, of course, 99% don't give dates. The ones that gave addresses on the signs, though...*those* folks were lucky I didn't have something to throw at their houses as we drove up to no sale. Grrr!
It was almost like being in a Twilight Zone episode, really. I mean, where were all the yard sales that normally litter the landscape here in Southern California? Had the sign makers been abducted by aliens or what? We began to wonder if there was a game or special event on or if someone big had died--because we literally found only ONE yard sale the entire morning.
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gravid
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posted on August 13, 2001 08:43:32 AM
I have been thinking about it and I am going to write to my city offices and suggest they make a city ordinance that there is a small fine for leaving signs up after the event has passed. Also a small fine for businesses who have an OPEN sign in their window and they are not open. It should be a bigger fine the second and third time however.
We have sales signs party signs etc. And it is very irritating to park - walk up to a store and the door is locked.
I once was with a fellow who followed a sign off the main hiway to a rock shop a good distance - 10 or 12 miles and it was closed. He wrote a note explaining he had driven from the main road due to the lie, wrapped it around a large rock, and threw it through the fellows large plate glass window. I was waiting all the way back to the main road for the police to pull up behindd us but he got away with it. Fellow has a worse temper than me even.
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stusi
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posted on August 13, 2001 08:55:54 AM
many cities do have such ordinances. the worst offenders are politicians whose "vote for" signs often stay up until the next election when they are not even running.
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krs
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:02:18 AM
I don't understand them either, bunni. If it were me the signs would be down even before the sale was over because I wouldn't want a bunch of creeps knocking on the door for weeks afterwards.
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Femme
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:12:48 AM
It must be just plain laziness.
We must be much more energetic (or polite  )around here. I never see signs up after the event.
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Hjw
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:21:00 AM
Gravid
You have the answer...a fine. That is the only motivation that will
interest the city in the problem and a fine is the only motivation that will encourage yard sale people to remove the old signs.
Helen
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Linda_K
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:42:00 AM
People who don't remove their signs are the ones who are responsible for some cities passing ordinances against hanging them at all. 
We always used the garage sale section of the local papers classified section to plan our stops at garage sales. Couldn't depend on the signs to be current either.
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hepburn
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:50:28 AM
Any signs on the telephone pole by my house gets torn down as soon as its put up. I hear them when they hammer it on. I do it in front of them, too. I also take the signs down (if I missed one) and then go to their house and throw it on their lawn (if they live close enough).
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Meya
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:01:23 AM
In our town, you can be ticketed for placing signs on poles, and for leaving signs up after the event. From what I understand, the police will follow up on that, so it's not as much of a problem as it used to be. Political signs are normally all gone within 3 days of election day. One good crack down on collecting the fines was all it took.
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RoseBids25cents
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:16:30 AM
Gravid, think twice before trying to get the city involved. It was easier for my town to pass an ordinance restricting sale advertisement signs then to try to track and fine offenders that didn’t remove them.
It's much simpler to follow posted signs that are active and have the parties remove them immediately - after all, the posters are usually out in the yard with merchandise on display. I have been onsite on two occasions when the police arrived to enforce the ordinance. One would think they would have more important things to do, but the law is the law, I suppose.
Rosie
*There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
[ edited by RoseBids25cents on Aug 13, 2001 10:16 AM ]
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fred
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:20:16 AM
We have over 2000 ft. of road frontage. We have no problem with people placing sale signs or political signs on our frontage, as long as they remove them after sales and elections.
We have a rough time with the democrats removing signs. They will not be placing signs here next election.
Fred
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spazmodeus
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:30:43 AM
I have been thinking about putting up garage sale signs with our mayor's home address on them and the words "EARLY BIRDS WELCOME!"
I have also long toyed with the idea of putting up yard sale signs with arrows that lead in circles through neighborhoods but ultimately go nowhere, then just sitting back and watching the fun.
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saabsister
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:37:54 AM
Fred, in my district the Republicans crap up the environment with more signs - they've already started and the elections are quite a ways off. It's probably because they're better funded than the Democrats are here.
Spazmodeus, what an evil idea! Teehee.
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Hjw
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:42:02 AM
In my neighborhood, the signs are not legal but whenever they appear, a crew comes around to place another sign on top of the old sign with a note that says, This sign is invalid.
Wouldn't you think that it would be easier just to remove the original sign.
That's bureaucracy for you!
Helen
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snowyegret
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posted on August 13, 2001 11:09:17 AM
On my way home just now, I saw 4 big pink signs for a garage sale that was last Friday only, and some yellow ones that were pretty faded.
Spaz.... LOL
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gravid
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posted on August 13, 2001 12:22:59 PM
Has anyone seen a Re-elect Gore in '04 sign?
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Borillar
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posted on August 13, 2001 01:23:07 PM
The one city ordinance that I'd vote for is the perpetual, semi-annual Going-Out-Of-Business sale signs on businesses around here. Christ, we had one local home furniture and appliance dealer that was going out of business and a clearance sale for THREE YEARS!! (re: Tom Peterson's for Portlanders)
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december3
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posted on August 13, 2001 01:36:18 PM
I use the newspaper garage sale ads to find sales, but I've lost count of how many I've gone to (right address, right date and time) and no sale.
My other favorite are the ones who advertise "No Early Birds" but when you show up on time everything is already gone.
[ edited by december3 on Aug 13, 2001 01:52 PM ]
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kept2much-07
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posted on August 13, 2001 09:03:29 PM
Around here we have the "have a computer-work at home-make thousands" signs everywhere. However they are not on the streets next to us because I tore them down. I also tear down any garage sale sign within a reasonable walking distance that is not current. I always know which signs are old because I stop at almost all garage sales!
Another sign I hate is the one where you call 1-888-???-???? to lose weight! No way would I call the number to lose weight. However, I may lose weight because I will walk a mile to rip down the #@!&%$ sign! 
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MrsSantaClaus
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posted on August 13, 2001 10:05:19 PM
AMEN!
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yeager
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posted on August 14, 2001 04:24:34 AM
I often see a sign offering "Student Work-Summer Jobs $14.50 Hour" here in MIchigan. Anyone else see these rip offs in your area?
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zilvy
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posted on August 14, 2001 02:55:25 PM
We have a fine in place for signs that are left up after the event....doesn't seem to make much difference, with one exception, the sign makers no longer put an address just arrows....clever, it makes it that much harder for the PTB to locate the offenders...all the sign makers do is remove the ones in front of their house.
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