Marketplace misery
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In a recent column, I detailed having undertaken the task of setting up garden beds as well as planting fruit trees in the process of converting our back yard. To this point, I’ve assembled the remainder of five four by eight feet, two four by twelve feet, and one four by six feet boxes for planting vegetables along with the trees comprising our “green thumb” efforts.
We’ve planted seeds and some have germinated with them already displaying blooms, indicating the promise of a fruitful harvest. To this point, it has been a matter of manning the hose once or twice daily, depending upon help from the divinely directed storm clouds.
Ironically, the city announced last week that JEA, the local utility provider, had unanimously voted to raise rates for using city water by eight percent. Also, a six-plus percent hike in electrical usage is slated to take effect at the same time. Even though the last listed financial disclosures from the supplier reported audited gross revenues of roughly $1.57 billion against operating expenses of approximately $1.2 billion, but that’s far above my pay grade.
As a result of the inability to regulate the direction of costs for utilities, I then embraced the concept of utilizing rainwater for the garden beds. As such, I was able to obtain one 275 gallon IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container), a reusable, caged industrial plastic cube to harvest and store large volumes of rain. Using a system I unofficially, officially configured to collect water from the gutter, it only required two good showers for the container to be filled.
That prompted me to begin searching marketplace in the hope of obtaining a second reservoir. Most frequenting the “for sale by owner” social platform understands there’s really little one can do in the line of verifying the claims of respective sellers outside of trusting they are honorable.
Unfortunately, that has not proven to be the case with the seller of the second container I located two weeks ago, today. The ad posted on marketplace listed the item as “new, never used” and listed a purchase price of $50. In comparison to the average sale price of similar items regularly sold on the site, I wondered what prompted the significantly discounted assessment. To my surprise, the answer would be realized in unmistakable form relatively soon after.
Firstly, there was some concern when the declared fifteen to twenty minute drive morphed into a forty-five minute journey to the extreme west side of Jacksonville. Upon arriving at the house located in a neighborhood that felt as though I’d crossed into eastern Alabama and contacting the seller, he noted having been required to leave unexpectedly. That should have been the first red flag but I tried to remain optimistic. The gentleman suggested I go ahead and take the tank while directing me to submit payment utilizing the internet but, being technologically challenged; it wasn’t possible for me to transfer the funds.
The second red flag came when the seller suggested I take the container and simply initiate the transfer of payment upon arriving home, when able to utilize my computer. Granted, I do sometimes require an hour and-a-half to watch 60 Minutes, so it never occurred to me when inspecting the container that the red cap might be indicative of something unpleasant. The tank was loaded onto my trailer and strapped down prior to me texting the seller noting I was heading back to Jacksonville.
When arriving at home, a neighbor happened by while I was off-loading the water collection tank. He noticed a white liquid in the bottom of the container and expressed it had a peculiar smell. While removing the reservoir, I drained the contents onto the grass prior to placing it behind our house.
Oddly, while working in the yard the next day, I passed the area where the liquid was drained to discover that very patch of grass had already turned brown. Needless-to-say, I immediately notified the seller over the next three days for him to never respond. I guess it’s a good thing the cost of the container didn’t amount to what I’ve seen others sell as that would have been an expensive lesson. I could be wrong but it’s just something to consider.
To pose a question, comment, or share your opinion about this opinion, you can reach Howard at bg@authorbghoward.com.
