What is market control?

What happened to the garage sale market? Last year I sat out 3 or 4 weekends and only 4 or 5 cars stopped and not many bought anything. Even a few years ago I would have needed crowd control when I had one. What's going on?

• Answer:

  People don't show up for several reasons. We are in a recession right now, and people simply don't have too much money to spend. At today's gas prices, it is more worthwhile to go to a discount store to buy what you need, than to waste gas hoping to find what you need at a garage sale. The flood of relatively cheap imports from countries like China and Mexico negates any need to buy things used. I used to buy used tools at garage sales, now I can buy new tools at discount outlets such as Harbor Freight for what I used to pay for used tools. The cost of electronic goods such as pc and memory chips had gone down precipitously, especially if you buy online. You can now buy new computers for what people would charge you for a used one at a garage sale. Finally, people often dump their old stuffs at a garage sale that they no longer need. These merchandise are often obsolete and nobody wants them. I used to go to garage sales a lot on weekends up to about 4 or 5 years ago, I don't anymore.