- Oct 2024
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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I've picked up about 20 of the typewriters in my collection from ShopGoodwill.
Only two were impeccably/properly packaged and shipped and one of these was a special machine that I emailed them after purchase with written details and links to videos about how to pack and ship it just to be on the safe side.
Three were dreadful disasters: one was a 40 pound standard that was dropped and the frame bent drastically (it had almost no padding materials inside the box), two were shoved into cases (one upside down and the other right side up, but neither locked into their cases properly nor with their carriage locks engaged so they both bounced around for the entire trip) and put into boxes with almost no packing material. All three refunded portions of the price and/or all the shipping costs.
Most of the remainder (all portables with cases) were packaged with a modicum of care (some packing material in the case and some outside the case with reasonable boxes) and showed up in reasonable condition.
Two of the machines were local enough that I did a local pick up to ensure better care.
Generally, it's a crapshoot, but this is also the reason why I don't spend more than $20 on any machine I get from them (except one reasonably rare German typewriter in the US and a Royal with a Vogue typeface that still came out at less than $100 because only one other person noticed its rarity in the photos).
Only one of the machines was clean as a whistle and ready to type on day one. All the remainder required serious cleanings at a minimum. Two were missing internal pieces, two had repairable drawband issues, one had dramatically bad escapement issues, and one had a destroyed mainspring that I need to replace.
Only one of the group had a platen with any life left in it. One had a completely unusable platen, but it was also relatively obvious in the photos. Most of the rest were hard, but usable.
I live in the US and typically only bid on machines that are in the top 20% of their class cosmetically.
I'll echo the thought of others that I wouldn't have a machine from them shipped directly to someone as a present unless I knew they were a tinkerer and had the mechanical ability, the facilities/tools, and desire to clean and service their own machine. Otherwise, I'd do that myself and ship it to them directly.
reply to u/Tico_Typer at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1g28v6z/i_am_curious_about_the_shopping_goodwill_websites/
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- Apr 2024
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shopgoodwill.com shopgoodwill.com
- Mar 2024
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www.goodwillfinds.com www.goodwillfinds.com
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- Nov 2022
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view.connect.americanpublicmedia.org view.connect.americanpublicmedia.org
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Most of the tourist and sporting infrastructure had to be built at enormous expense — estimates range anywhere from$200 billion to $300 billion. Yet the return on investment for huge events like this is rarely positive. The Olympics are infamously pricey to put on, and the economic benefits for residents of the host city are questionable. So, with the big price tag and not much to show in return, why do countries like Qatar, Russia and Brazil offer up billions of dollars to host global sporting events? According to Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross and a former Major League Soccer referee, they may be seeking to burnish their reputations through international media coverage. “If you’re putting any sort of significant money into infrastructure like Qatar obviously is doing, there’s just no way you can make that back on ticket sales, on media rights, [or] on the amount of money you make from tourists coming to visit your country,” Matheson said in an interview with Marketplace’s David Brancaccio. “So obviously, you’re hoping for some sort of long-run benefits, some sort of legacy, and often that is an improvement in your reputation, either as a tourist destination or as a world player in some ways.”
Alternate thesis for why countries and cities vie to host money-losing events like the World Cup and the Olympics: grift.
With the necessary need for building infrastructure, there's easy and ample opportunity for cooking the books and pushing cash flow into the pockets of contractors and political figures as well as into the pockets of the governing bodies and their officials.
Cross reference FIFA bribery
Some of the money may go into the local economy and workers which is good, but who's really benefitting here? Where is the money going? Who is footing the loss? It can't all be written off to goodwill.
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