Refilling ink cartridges

I just had a couple of my cartridges (black $10, color $15) refilled at Walgreens and would like to hear from anybody who has had this done. How long can I expect the ink in these cartridges to last? I've heard a lot about buying your own 'kit' and filling the cartridges myself, but I don't know how complicated it could be.

Did I get a decent deal on my refills? Is there anyplace that does them cheaper? I'd like to hear about your experiences, good or bad with refills. I am sick and tired of paying full price for brand new cartridges at places like Office Depot. Just can't afford it.

Chime in people.

Add-on fees for booth spaces in events

The cost of doing shows has been rising and our net profits are going down. Gas prices have really killed us and we all are cutting back on shows we have to travel distances to.

In many events, promoters have raised their booth fees and a lot of them come up with these 'add-on charges.' Many now require 'city permits' and fees range from $25-$50 and up. A few years back, you hardly ever saw this, but the promoters AND city governments want to extract as much money out of us as possible. There are cities that require a 'police permit' or a 'peddlers permit' and that can run from $25 and up. You provide them with your driver's license, social security number, name, address, etc., and they run a police check on you as if you are a criminal. It's degrading, I think.

Of course a lot of them have 'jury fees' where you send in your application with photos, etc., and they jury you. I admit that it is important to screen out undesirable merchandise and if you are running a quality Arts and Crafts Event, then I really understand. However, a lot of the promoters are following suit and charging you for this in order to collect more money from us. This fee can range from $20 to $50. What bothers me about this is that these fees are non-refundable. You don't get the money back if you are not accepted, which is definitely wrong.

Now think about this. If 10,000 vendors send in applications with a $30 jury fee, then the promoter has collected $300,000 for doing absolutely nothing. Some just take your application and pictures and put them in an envelope. They put on your address and place a $.42 stamp on the envelope. Ahhhhh. That's a NET PROFIT DEAL..... Some promoters can make a nice living off these fees. The double whammy on this is that they are accepting these jury fees even after they have been filled up. They don't even look at the pictures, so there was actually NO JURYING. Do you think that this is legal?

All of us vendors do have canopies, etc. Another gimmick is for promoters to force you to use a canopy that THEY HAVE RENTED from some rental company. Of course, we all have canopies, etc., but many of us prefer to use our own, since ours are easier to set up our displays in. More so, we are being charged one way or another for these rental canopies. You have promoters who order up a hundred, two hundred canopies for a show. They naturally get a good 'rental rate' on these and then they charge perhaps, double what their cost was. That is just another way for them to get money out of vendors.

For more information about vendors, shows, reviews and crazy satirical stories about the business, come on over to Starving Vendors and check things out.

Vendors' Comments

Hi Vendors. Thank you for visiting this blog. I would appreciate if some of you could comment on events you have done or just gone to. Russell City Blues coming up in Hayward; Cornfest in Brentwood. How about your July 4th shows. There were lots of them all over the place. Sales up? Sales down? Buying crowds? I would like to also post your comments on my Starving Vendors website. If your show was bad, tell me why. Ditto for the good. Need your comments.

What your 'oil money' has bought them!

Each week I will be posting pictures of Dubai, the city that we have paid for with our oil money!!

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Celebration

Sunday ended up being quite slow. Very few people showed up and vendors were sitting around with empty booths and poor sales. Don't know what you could do to bring people in. I guess everybody came around on Friday (the 4th). The main street booths were set up on Saturday morning and I imagine that people came over to see them; perhaps many returning from Friday and we did get a 'trickle' over.

Not too many tourists over the weekend and we all know why. In case you are interested, gas prices in and around town were approximately $4.67 per gallon.

Sunday seemed like a completely different show. Temperatures are beginning to warm up in the area and on Sunday, it was probably in the low-mid 90's. Expected temperatures on Tues/Wed....107 degrees- a real scorcher. Glad to be out of there that. I don't want any part of that!! Last year it got up to 110 degrees, but I guess the people in this area are used to it.

There's a lot of people who have re-located to this area and I suppose that life is a lot more pleasant, healthier, etc., than in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I just don't know about that hot weather in the summer and of course, the snow and cold in the winter. They have four seasons up here and I am sure that it is very beautiful during the winter. But it's not for me. I'll just stick it out in the Bay Area for a few more years and probably head up to Oregon, where it's not so expensive. Still looking for paradise... it's not here... be we are getting closer!!!

We've all gone to Vegas, of course and had to deal with the high temperatures there. But you are indoors most of the time but when you walk outside, a blast-furnace of hot air hits you in the face. I can not understand why somebody would move to a place like Lake Havasu and deal with those 115-120 degree temperatures. For snow-birds that would be nice for them during the winter, but summertime? You can have it.

Food Festivals in California

Ran across this website that lists a large number of food festivals in California. Whether you are a vendor or you just enjoy going to these type of festivals, then you will just love browsing through the listings.

California Food Festivals, Food Shows, Food & Wine Events, etc

Saturday in Shasta.

Today was the second day of the festival and it seemed like a completely different show. Of crowds were much less than yesterday and we had the addition of some 40 booths on the main street. Foot traffic on Castle St. was sporadic and the 'dynamics' of this event had changed. Temperatures are heading up faster than the gas prices as it was around 93 degrees today, but the cloud cover probably spared us a few degrees.

On Sunday, temps are supposed to be around 99 and we'll be heading home during the early evening. Going to be a scorcher on Tuesday and Wednesday, with expected high temps of 107. Ouch. Thank gosh we missed that by a few days.

Mt. Shasta City 4th of July Celebration

Very nice event. We arrived Thursday afternoon and set up most of our booth. The weather was great, but a little hazy from all the smoke. Temps were in the mid -80's and quite comfortable. We spent the night at a local motel and then returned to our booth around 5:30AM on Friday morning.

We were ready for everybody at 7:00, as were just about all the other vendors, expecting a large crowd from the run/walk event scheduled around 8:00. Quite a difference from last year, when temps soared to 110 degrees.

Attendence was very good today, as they started the day off with the walk/run and then had their parade. I believe that today's crowd was mostly 'locals' and there weren't too many tourists. I checked outside my motel and the parking lot outside my room is virtually empty. Maybe they have heard exagerrations of the fires up here, which are some distance away.

People...it's a beautiful weekend here in Mt Shasta City and temps are only in the mid-80's. Very nice breezed. So, come on down or up to the celebration which runs through Sunday. Many vendors over the next two days. Come on over and see us on Castle St. (D and L CREATIONS) and buy one of our popular shoulder/sling bags

Gas holding steady

Last price rise for our Chevron station came on June 11, when it rose to $4.61. So, that makes it three weeks since it budged. Calm before the storm? You guys ready for 'European style gas prices?' Price per barrel reached record highs (again) today and I guess it's just a matter of time before U-know-what happens.

Good luck people. Have a nice July 4th weekend.

How about a Betty Boop T-shirt?

We sell Betty Boop T-shirts at our events and also on our website Prices start at $12.95 for medium, $13.95 for L and $14.95 for XL. Secure on-line ordering with no hassles. Pay with credit cards, PayPal or you can mail a check.

Check out our other products on the website...custom-sized, hand-made shell and semi-precious necklaces, wrap-around skirts and more.

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Festival

COME TO MT. SHASTA CITY'S 4th of July FESTIVAL. FRI/SAT/SUN
A very nice celebration held in this scenic town. Lots to do and see!! Loads of fun. Vendors.

It's all systems go for this weekend's 4th of July Celebration in scenic Mt. Shasta City, located north of Redding. Many of the other shows in the areas west of Highway 5 have cancelled their events due to the fires, which hopefully are subsiding.

Temps are supposed to be in the mid-80's with a bit of humidity due to the smoke. Hopefully, no thunderstorms. Last year, the weather was unbearable, with temperatures soaring to 110 degrees. That was hot, my friends. Hotter than....uh uh uh.

On Friday morning, the fun-run/walk kicks off at 8:30 am, parade at noon and fireworks over over Lake Siskiyou at dusk. Booths and live music downtown on 5th and 6th and Castle Street. A big celebration for a small town! Our booth is located over there in the parking lot on Castle Street. Here's a link to the schedule of events:

http://mtshastachamber.com/chamber/4thofjuly.pdf

Chamber of commerce - other events
http://mtshastachamber.com/visitor/events.php

Another Mom and Pop bites the dust

Located in the tiny plaza at the corner of Hesperian and Middle Lane in Hayward was a store that sold mostly used clothing and other items. I visited this business a number of months ago, when we had our store to get some insight. I passed by this place many times as I left our neighborhood and seldom saw very many people in there and I really didn't think that the business was doing any good. Apparently, they emptied out the store for whatever reason and logically it looks like their lease ran out on June 30.

I feel sorry that another private entrepenour (mom & pop we could probably refer to) has gone out of business. When this property was vacant a few years ago, I gave thoughts to having our business in there, but I wasn't quite ready for it. One year ago, we did open our store, Desirable Fashions on Hesperian Blvd in Hayward (across from Kennedy Park). We spent much of July in Oregon and when we returned, preparing to move in, the McDonalds next door was demolished and their was dust, sand, rocks and ugliness all over the place. This went on for several months and they opened their new establishment just after Jan 1. By that time, we had been ruined - construction completely ruined our December sales, and we decided to close the store in late January. As time goes on, I'll go into more detail over this because there are so many things that went on over there. I'll either put bits and pieces in this blog or put the whole shabang on one of my websites.

My major problem with my store was there was no foot traffic and the other businesses were 'destinations.' Hair dresser, fish & chips, cell phones, a BAR, a BARber, etc. Biggest lesson: I needed to be next to other similar (but not the same) businesses where people good go from shop to shop.

And that was the demise of the business I began telling you about. It too needed foot traffic that plaza did not have drawing power. I've seen so many small businesses (like this one and my own) go under. The economy is very bad and with rising gas prices....it's going to get worse. Much worse? With slow sales, we had no choice but to close down. With larger businesses (Target, etc.) they merely fire the employees and move on. It's always the 'little guy' that gets hurt.