Did you think you stumbled upon a blog entry that would teach you the ins and outs of scrapping? Boy, do I feel bad now. I have seriously misled you. I was actually hoping you could tell ME how to fight. It’s like the blind leading the blind around here.
I was never one of those kids that took karate…or played any competitive sports, really. I blame my parents. Nowadays with the UFC being so popular and everything, it’s like everyone thinks they are some kind of fighting pro. I was at Disneyland recently and I saw several people decked out in MMA gear and what not.
Should I enroll in a jiu-jitsu class or something? I feel like at my age, I should know how to properly defend myself. Or maybe I should just carry around a knife? Or a gun? Bazooka? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I’d appreciate it.
I know! I could take one of those self defense classes for women, you know like the rape prevention type. That way I could learn some sweet moves and meet chicks at the same time. I think I just answered my own question. Thank you, blog, you’ve been quite therapeutic. See you around.
Probably not.
Have you ever been approached by a shady looking salesman, or perhaps a pair of shady looking salesmen, trying to peddle a set of speakers out of a van? Don’t worry, many of us have been there before.
What’s up with that? Are they stolen?
No, probably not. Believe it or not this operation has been in business for decades, in most cases operating perfectly legally. Or at least close enough to legal to stay in business.
Basically it starts when some shady character decides to open up such a business, usually in a major metropolitan area. They will buy a couple vans, and a ton of really cheap speakers. REALLY cheap. Fun fact: speakers and sneakers boast some of the highest markups in price in the entire retail market. In other words, it may cost $7 to actually make a speaker that is sold in a store (or out of a van in the Home Depot parking lot) for $600.
So who are these crazy guys? Just regular Joe’s that were looking for work. A lot of times their employers will post misleading want-ads looking for “delivery drivers” and similar positions. Once the poor guys show up for work, they quickly learn that their employer’s definition of “delivering speakers” is much different than their own. But with no other work and the potential to make big money, many of them will stick around for a while. And then of course develop serious drug problems to help them cope with the rigors of cold street-selling all day.
So the speakers are absolute crap?
Not necessarily. Some of them sound decent enough. Usually a couple of guys trying to sell a surround sound need to sell it for around $400 to break even. That is, anything they sell above that they get to pocket, but the base price goes back to the boss man at the warehouse.
If you have any other questions, just hang out outside Best Buy looking like a young kid that loves music and isn’t too bright. You’ll be approached by a professional in no time.
facts, informative April 29th 2010
