goN' LPs at $10, I can buy for $0.18

You could say, Elizabeth, that you realize that some people have less time because they are working longer hours than you. A benefit is a greater income, one which will allow them to purchase records for $10 from Audiogon, eBay, or elsewhere on the 'net.

Back when I was in college, I had time to get dirty in Thrift Stores. I spent thousands of hours digging through boxes or record racks. Just imagine the money could I have made in those thousands of hours, even at just $10 per hour. Now fast forward to post college days and a $140K year income. Divide that by 2080 hours (52 weeks times 40 hours/week). Get the concept?

jes45 - So how much are you earning the other 3760 waking hours (365 days times 16 hours/day less your 2080 working hours)? No question there are some people that are willing to pay a steep premium for having someone else do the work but my guess is that it wouldn't take much time to find most of the relatively common albums noted. Assuming 10 per hour sifting through the bins, well worth it at even $140K/year.

Truth is, to make that income, you work longer hours than the average guy. I already own 10K records, so finding 10 records at any Thrift Store is impossible. I'd be very lucky to find one worthy of purchase per hour. This said, I'll gladly pay someone else $10/hour to find good records for me. Like I said, it is a mindset. It's okay if you can't understand it, many don't.

Regarding the other 3760 hours/year; I devote what little spare time I have to my family, to my friends, to my community (Rotary, religious men's organizations that raise money for charities and 5 hours minimum/week at the homeless shelter) and listening to music 3 to 4 hours daily. You may think that I have a warped value of time, I do not.

I'll add that I'm not a seller at Audiogon, nor elsewhere. I hope that sellers will not be discouraged from offering their records at Audiogon, even the $10 ones, after reading the majority of posts.

Happy record hunting.

Jes45,

Your priorities seem pretty darn straight to me. I mow my grass for about 40¢ and it takes me about an hour. When I last hired it done while on vacation I paid $40 a whack. I don't mind paying an enterprising soul for their efforts. Man, do I love this country. Money allows one the freedom to spend as you choose. It doesn't bother me one whit to pay big bucks for some new vinyl and I fail to see that $10 for a used record that I've been wanting, in good condition, is too much. The sellers are offering a service here and I appreciate it.

There have been some reasonable thoughts from other folks in this thread that don't see things the way I do. Maybe what we would all like is for the albums that interest only us to be for sale but that's not going to happen in this life. It would be a lot of work for AudiogoN to write code to search software by genre for a free listing but that would be the biggest help that I can see.

jes45 - Sounds like you do have plenty of better things to do than sort through bins, most of which, in the words of the MasterCard commercial - priceless.

Enjoy the music.