Voting

I'm in line to vote. I've been here for about an hour. The problem is that we have two precincts, one of which is split in two. There are three machines and you can only use the machine for your area. If I was in one of the other two areas, I would be able to get in and out, but noooo...

At least I'll get to vote.

Wolf Camera Going Out of Business

I found out last week that Wolf Camera is closing.  Yes, I know retail jobs aren’t the best, but it’s still sad to see a former employer go out of business.  I had hoped to buy a new camera when my cash flow permitted it.  I may have to do it through Ritzcamera.com if they’re still available (they say they will be, under new management) or someplace else.  I don’t really have any loyalty to the site, as I worked in one of the stores, so it may be just as easy to get the camera somewhere else if I get around to buying one.

I knew when I left in May of 2009 that I wasn’t going to be rehired.  After a while, it became clear that I probably wouldn’t want to, as the store had a rotating lineup of manufacturers and sales incentives were either shrinking or disappearing.  I could tell that there wouldn’t be any room for me at any of the nearby stores.  I figured that the store would limp along for a while longer, so the closing came as one of those surprises that I saw coming. 

I’ll probably go back to the store in coming weeks to see how the store is doing.  From what it sounds like, the store will be open until everything is gone.  (From what I recall from my store’s liquidation, all the good stuff has probably already been sold.)  I just hope that everyone can find another job.

Of Fribiz and adf.ly

Again, I’ve lost track of posting time, especially with so little to post.

It looks like Fribiz did actually go under.  The site is no longer responding, and this was in the middle of an auction.  I sent an email to them using an address in the last message I got from them, but no response.  I figured something like this was going to happen.  They had one auction going at a time, and they were all these tablets.  It was impossible to get a response from them, it seemed, regardless of how you sent a message.

Also, I’m giving up on adf.ly.  It seems to be more trouble than it’s worth.  I was suspended from Yahoo! Answers and the only reason I can think of is that I used an adf.ly link in my references section.  I’ve been with the site for years now and I have yet to make more than $10.  I’ve removed the links and top banner from this blog, and I may go through and do the same for some other sites.  Whatever else there is, I’ll let sit.  I’m not going to go crazy for a few dollars.

Selling books

I actually got a check from Cash4books.net last week.  It was for $7, but it was off of a referral.  Apparently, someone found the link (I’m assuming through this site) and sold some books to them.

I have sold books to them before.  I’ll admit that it’s hard to find books to sell to them as they are very selective, but it’s easier than waiting seven days on eBay and hoping someone buys something.  You can also usually use eBay as a backup if necessary.

Selling books online is somewhat difficult, at least for cash.  This has also proven difficult in real life, as many used bookstores will only give credit.  Even then, there’s no promise that they’ll want any of your books.

Movies and CDs aren’t much easier.  Some sites and stores will take them, but often will only offer 50¢ each.  If you’re selling at a store, it’s often not worth the gas money.  Even if you sell them online, it may not be worth going to the nearest mailbox.

At this point, I’m hoping that you’re not expecting a solution.  I’m actually looking for suggestions, myself.  I don’t know that there is one.  After all, it’s supply and demand.  I used half.com for a while and at best, would sell one or two books per day and that was with an inventory of thousands of items.  If anyone knows of a site that buys lots of stuff or a place near Miami that’s worth visiting, I’d be interested in knowing about it.

ProTypers and Listia

I’ve been using ProTypers for a while now.  While I have cashed out a few times now, I’ve noticed a real lack of motivation to keep at it.  They’ve lowered the rates a few times and I’ve also noticed that it’s harder to get images to process.  I don’t know if more people are signing up or of they have lower demand for their services.  Either way, I only have two referrals and neither one seems to have kept up with it.  You need to have five referrals cash out before you can earn from referrals, so I’m not counting on that as an income source.

Also, it looks like Listia is allowing people to use points to buy things outright.  (I don’t know if I mentioned that before.)  Right now, I don’t have enough points to buy anything and I don’t know if I will any time soon.  I have to see if there is anything I can sell for more points.  (Or get a few more referrals.)

It looks like they have movies, electronics and gift cards among other things.  They’re things definitely worth saving up for.  I wonder how this will affect bidding if people are looking to do the same.  I can see people listing more things to get the points (meaning more competition) and fewer people willing to bid on stuff because they’re either saving up for an iPod or just bought an Amazon gift card.

If you’re thinking of signing up, but you can’t think of anything to list, I can recommend a few things.  The first two auctions I listed were gift codes that I got from Fribiz.  Since there was no physical card to mail, there was no need to spend money on postage.

Another similar idea is the codes you find for special promotions that you find in soda caps and candy wrappers.  I’ve found that a lot of times, I don’t use enough of the product to save up enough codes to get anything.  The down side with this one is that it’s hard to get a lot of points unless you list at least a half dozen codes together.  It’s worth a shot if you have them laying around, though.

For right now, it seems the easiest way to get money is to have a job.  That’s my best income right now.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Fribiz Lives! and other things worth getting excited about

It looks like I was misinformed.  Fribiz isn’t shutting down.  (Yes, that’s the referral link and yes, I’m using an adf.ly interstitial link.)  They’ve been posting new auctions well past the date that they were supposed to be going offline.  I don’t know if they changed their minds or if I was reading something wrong, but I can’t say I mind.

In other news, a Where’s George app has been released.  It’s very basic, only letting you enter bills.  It doesn’t look like you can refresh at all, which I can’t say I mind.  It is a very early version.  My only issue is that it doesn’t always get the ZIP code right.  I haven’t tried entering a bill with it yet because of this.  I’m hoping it’s resolved in a later version.

Yes, it’s 99¢ and the only money I’m making off of it is the money I get from adf.ly when you follow the link.  It’s not so bad, I suppose.  I was getting these nag notices whenever I tried to enter a bill using Safari on my iPod Touch, so that alone was worth it.  I’m also supporting something that a lot of people were looking forward to.  It was definitely worth the download.

Another One Bites the Dust

I found out about a week ago that Fribiz will be closing.  (I'm not really sure why I'm putting the referral link in, either.)  Fribiz is supposed to be closing today, but I don’t know when it will actually go down, as they have several auctions going.  The site will probably close whenever they finish.  I also have no idea if anything will be replacing it.

I’m going to try to get whatever else I can on Fribiz.  If not, it’s no great loss.  I haven’t been using the site for a while now.  It was only because one of my referrals mentioned it that I knew about it.  At least I won a few items on the site, which is good.

There were two auctions, both gift codes, that I wasn’t able to use.  Fortunately, I was able to auction them off on another site, Listia.  I got points for the gift codes, but I was able to use the points to get something else I wanted.  (For those of you that have codes you don’t want, Listia is a great way to get rid of them.)

I was able to sell off a few items on eBay, although not for much.  For that reason, I decided to keep a USB pencil sharpener.  I figured that I wouldn’t get that much for it new, and I have a small need for one that stays attached to something, so I decided to try it.  At least I got a review of it on what’s now Yahoo! Voices.  (The referral link seems to be here.)  Worst case scenario, I may be able to auction it off on eBay as used.

In any event, I may look for some other site similar to Fribiz.  I don’t know how good it will be, but it’s worth a shot.

Driving

Note:  I found this as a draft.  I'm not sure if this will post when I wrote it or if it will show as my most recent post.  This looks like it was from a while ago.   Rather than let the post go to waste, I'm going to let it stand as is.

 

You have entered 56,575 Bills worth $163,083
Bills with hits: 4,554 Total hits: 5,164
Hit rate: 8.05% Slugging Percentage: 9.13% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,185.77
Your rank (based on George Score) is #381 (out of 53,196 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,119 [99.7]

I’ve been driving for a few weeks now, which is part of why I haven’t been writing as much. It’s odd having to do certain things like buy gas. (Which I am doing with cash, in case you’re wondering.) I haven’t been posting in either blog, even though I’ve been taking a lot of pictures. (Check out http://sixmegs.blogspot.com/.)

I haven’t noticed any real change in the distribution of my bills, but spending them at gas stations is something that will affect the distribution within the county in which they’re spent. Since I’ve bought gas within a few miles of my house, I would think that the northeast quadrant of Miami-Dade County will be the most affected. I just don’t know how.

Having a car has had me thinking differently. Theoretically, I could go on a short trip if I had two days off. I wouldn’t necessarily do this to pick up hits in new counties, but it is something that has crossed my mind. As of this writing, I have 53 of Florida’s 67 counties. It looks like there’s one county south of Orlando that I need, and that’s De Soto County. The only major city listed seems to be Arcadia and that barely warrants an entry in the AAA book. The only way I could see going there is on the way to Sarasota or something.

There are a few north of Orlando, like Union and Bradford. It looks like all of the counties with major destinations are taken though. I also don’t want to go too far north. If I did make up my mind to go somewhere, I’d like to be able to go there and get back no later than the next day. Saint Augustine, which is pretty close to those counties, would be almost a five-hour drive from where I live. If I left early enough, I could get there by lunchtime, but I’ve never really planned a trip like that and would have no idea where to go or what to do.

Granted, all of this is just me thinking about the counties I need. I definitely don’t want to waste the gas just to spend the bills. However, if I happened to be heading in a certain direction, I might try to stop in or near a county I need. This is just one of the things I’ve been thinking about since I started driving.

Trust issues

I’m officially considering ProTypers to be a little glitchy.   I had to clear my browser history and when I logged back in to the site, my balance dropped by about $1.50.  I sent a request to customer support, but the response was something about banned accounts and not dealing with reopening them on a per-request basis.  I said nothing of being banned.  I said that my account dropped from about $4 to about $2.50 and that there’s no evidence of my having been paid nor is there any explanation.  I put a comment in to this effect, which reopened the case.  I’m hoping that I’ll get a response about my question.

If I didn’t need the money, I wouldn’t mind so much.  The problem is that it’s fairly easy work.  I wouldn’t mind actually getting paid for it.  I’d like to recommend it to people, but I can’t do that if I keep having problems with my account.  First, they don’t cash me out on time.  Now money goes missing.  I’d like to cash out at $5, which I’d have to get by Monday.

I might be able to pull off $2.50 in one day if I keep at it, but that’s a lot of work for one day.  That would have to be at least 2,000 images.  (Even at the top pay of $1.35 per 1,000 images, that’s something like 1850 images.)  I’m hoping that I can get my money back tomorrow.  I don’t know that I want to have to go through that many images, especially when trust is an issue.

ProTypers update

I just wanted to say that I did finally get paid by ProTypers.  I didn’t get paid the full amount I should have, but I’m working at it again.  I want to see if they’ll pay out next time.  I have about another 90¢ to go.  I’m still not entirely sold on it yet.  I’ve gotten one referral that did only 16 images.  It may be a while before I can earn through referrals.

The App Trailers has allowed me to cash out twice.  It’s not that easy to make money unless you have a lot of people signing up under you.  On that note, I don’t like that people have to manually enter ’unableoscar’ for me to get credit.  The least they could do is let me choose my own username.

I’m still looking for programs, so if you know any, let me know.

ProTypers not Paying

I’ve actually stopped working on ProTypers for the moment. If you select PayPal as payment, as I did, you’re supposed to be paid every Monday, assuming you’ve reached the $3.00 threshold. They were supposed to pay me this past Monday, but they haven’t. I contacted them and they did reply, but they told me to make sure that my PayPal information was correct. (I know it’s correct as I’ve been paid before.) The only thing to do was to contact them with my username and password and they’d look into it.

This bothers me for two reasons. One: they don’t have a user name. They go by email address. Two: Why do they need my password? Shouldn’t they be asking for my email address? I’d like to know if anyone else is having this problem or if it’s something new.

What really gets me is that there’s no support email address. You have to submit a ticket and wait for an autoresponder. You then have to reply to that and wait 48 hours. The first time I did this, I had to respond three times only to be kicked out for not responding within 72 hours. Fortunately, I figured it out on my own.

In the initial response for this problem, they said that they understand that I need my money. It’s not that I need it, really. It’s just that I don’t feel like working just to have some imaginary dollar amount go up. If I’m to do this work, no matter how crappy they pay, I expect to be paid what they promise. With what I can do in a week, I could afford to go out to lunch. In my financial situation, that means something.

If I don’t get paid this Monday, I’m not going to hold out hope.

Working

To give you an idea of how well I’m doing at making money on the web, I started working at a part-time job. It pays $10 per hour, but I’m still looking for ways to make money online. Two things have come to my attention.

The first is ProTypers. They have you enter those funny-looking words and pay you up to $1.35 for every thousand images you do correctly. It doesn’t sound like much, but I was able to cash out my first week. I selected PayPal as a payment method, which allows for a $3 minimum payment. If you work for an hour or two per day, you should be able to reach that without referrals. I know this doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than a lot of programs I’ve come across.

Speaking of referrals, it looks like five different referrals have to cash out before you start earning the ten percent you get off them. If you do sign up for this program, I’d kindly ask that you cash out at least once. (PayPal looks like the quickest option for this.) I have been paid by this program, so they do seem legitimate.

The other thing is something called App Trailers. One thing I don’t like about this is that you have to enter a code ’unableoscar’ for me to get credit for referring you. (This was randomly generated. If you sign up, let me know so I can tell if I got my points.) It is a good program. You get paid for watching trailers of apps, many of which are free. They have also paid by PayPal, but there are different options for cashing out like Amazon.

I’m still looking for new programs. If you find something that pays well, please let me know.