William Donzelli wrote:
Vintage
availability always varies by area - I've seen precisely nothing up
here, although doubtless a few odds and ends exist down in Minneapolis (but
that's still a 10 hour round-trip for me, so I can't easily find things and
just hop in a vehicle to go get them).
Some of us, however, can do a 10 hour round trip on the drop of a hat
to go fetch something.
Actually, I did used to make trips like that back in England once in a while -
but then I had a nice network of old friends to bump into along the way. Over
here, where the only folk I know are local, it's hard to justify the cost
involved to do a huge trip unless it's something really special.
Find some middle ground - I have found that quite a
few sources are
willing to hold onto some goodie for a short amount of time, as they
often realize all too well that *their* family and work obligations
often get in *their* way of having fun.
Yeah, that does work sometimes. But (e.g.) freecycle lists can be good in some
places, but typical freecyclers offer stuff because they want it gone ASAP so
can be reluctant to give things to those who can only pick up in a
week/month/half-year.
(As I've said before, I have space here in the middle of MN for anyone needing
a temporary storage home for things - but it's sufficiently out of normal
trade routes to be of much use, I suspect)
:-) The
second route seems to find more obscure stuff (as well as 'common'
items) and typically for free or beer money - but it's a lot of work to get
yourself established as a collector of ${foo} and then to actively seek out
items. The old time vs. money equation, I guess.
Basically, yes.
I did find that once established in a particular area, things would tend to
fall into my lap as word spread, though. But it's hard work to get to that point.