Friday, September 1, 2023

 Sitting at the park waiting on the delievery. Supposedly it's on its way over here.  

The people that moved in 2 months ago were hooking up their truck when I arrived.  ?Ya'll leaving? Yes, I got reassigned.  I get that that happens, but they weren't going to say anything at all.  Just leave, lol.  It's ok, their dogs go around defecating everywhere but they act like it isn't their dogs doing it.  In other words, they sit there and watch them poop but refuse to clean it up.  To that end, I'm very happy they are leaving.  

It opens up a lot.  So I called the people with the student that wants to move in and said I have a lot available today.  No, I didn't say that to them, I texted them that. Their mailbox was full, they didn't answer the phone.  I have had no reply.  I do whatever I can to keep people on the hook.  If they show up early, I'm still on the hook with this pedestal.  If they don't, there is no immediate rush on it.  But, get it done is the motto for today, whatever happens, that lot is unusable in it's current condition.  

I want it ready for whatever.  I've got a person moving in tomorrow and that student moving in Monday if they don't come sooner.  But since these people left today, that still leaves 2 empty lots.  I also have a 2-3 nighters coming in tonight.  Anyway, I pretty much try not to turn anyone down, if there's the possibility a lot is going to be open, I"m telling people it's available.  The calls just aren't frequent enough to think, well, I"ll turn this person down because these people may or may not leave.  I'll work it out somehow.

As it stands, I have the one monthers that are probably leaving this month as well, which is why I'm hot on the trailer to get whoever I can in here whenever they are calling for a spot.  

So, anyway, I'm going to go to Lot 7 in a minute and take the panels off. That's a 5 minute job, nothing that's going to hold me up for replacing the thing if it arrived, say, right now. Just get busy and get it done.  

But, I do want it ready, so off to the races!

 Friday - morning

If I am going by the website, the pedestal hasn't even shipped yet.  I only know it's being shipped UPS.  No tracking number, the email they sent with the updated information only had UPS ground on it, the delivery date left blank and no idea when it's going to show up. To hear the dude on the phone, it's either coming today or Monday at the latest. Monday? Doesn't help me.

What I need to do is go over there and see if the 4 day stay showed up last night. For some reason, the outdoor camera is not sending me notifications or taking clips of vehicles driving by.  So, if UPS showed up, I wouldn't know it.  These Arlow cameras suck, basically.  I'm stuck with them for now, I don't have money to be buying expensive Ring or Nest cameras. 

The long term did, indeed, show up yesterday.  I had to set everything up for her, she knows nothing about trailers and just owns one, lol.  It took her about 15 tries to get the trailer back to where I wanted it. I say where I wanted it because she had no clue.  Well, I do have a clue.  I had her back up onto a couple of boards on the driver's side and then looked at a bubble.  It was near level.  After she put her slide out, it was perfectly level.  In other words, a big slideout pulls down the side it's on and fortunately for me, it was on the side that needed to come down a bit.  

The only thing that sucked? Her sewer valve isn't working. It's just open.  I took the cap of the line and yes, "stuff" starting pouring out.  I got the sewer line on it as fast as possible but a lot of that stuff ended up on the ground.  I ended up hosing it down - quite a bit and getting it to thin out. Then I went to the shed and got a gallon of bleach and poured almost the entire gallon along where the sludge was.  Well, no visible sludge after hosing everything down, but you know the bugs will know where it's at and the smell will come back.  I think most people would rather smell bleach than poop and the bugs won't have anything to do with it.

I still need to collect from her, but it's pretty safe to say that driving a new chevy pickup and a newer 32 foot bumper pull trailer, paying lot rent shouldn't be an issue. She has an absolutely beautiful German Shepherd puppy, 7 months old.  The dog was going crazy, but it had been pent up in that truck for quite a while.  

I guess I'll go over there and see if I can get that damn camera to work correctly, reset the thing and hope it starts working again.  It would be wonderful if the pedestal was sitting there on lot 7.  That's what I have on the address.  My street address and "Lot 7".  If the thing shows up today, it's going in today.  I care about tenants not having power temporarily, there is no way around it.  Go knock on doors, let them know what's about to happen, offer apologies and get with it.  I could say half an hour and then it turns into hours.  So I don't really know what to tell them, it could be a few minutes it could be quite a while.  

I can't have an entire lot just sitting there doing nothing because of a jacked up pedestal, that's what I know. It's money down the drain, I have that lot slated for a long term coming in tomorrow, just need to get it done.  

It's really kind of taking over everything in my mind right now, it's just lost money and a lost, semi-permanent camper.  I simply can't afford to lose those, those are my lifeblood, it's what the revised business model revolves around.  I have another showing up on Monday, but on Monday, 2 more lots are opened up.  RV'ers want their lot when they say they want it and if they go somewhere else? You aren't going to see them again, especially long term. They get somewhere, they set up, they don't want to go through all of that again.  

I'm going to start asking for google reviews from people again.  It's one of the major hangups I have, it's only 6 of them on there, I need dozens more.  I gave up on it for a while, but it's just too important. People look for them and they want to see a lot of them. Half a dozen simply doesn't cut it. Once people leaving, I'm sending them a link to review the park. Unsolicited, yes, just send it, ask them if they could take a minute to review it, if they do, great, if they don't, keep sending them out. Google generates a link to send, it's painless.  Even if they just want to give stars only and no written review.  

And I have no idea how this dude at a park south of the Interstate is getting what he's getting there.  I was discussing it with the 2 bigger park owner.  He is charging $425 PLUS electricity.  How is he getting that?  His park is a sardine can style setup with people basically on top of each other.  Even the major competitors don't have meters at their lots? She was saying she is considering doing so, tho.  

I can add meters to my pedestals, I've had that confirmed by an industry expert.  But I have enough trouble getting people in there as it stands.  The only thing I think that is getting people in there right now is the fact that I am charging less than everyone. I didn't know what else to do and so that's what I did..  It hurts the bottom line, but if you have no bottom line that is even worse.  Last month average $156 per lot for electricity.  Which means some of those trailers are sucking up huge amounts of power right now, well beyond that.  I can assess that because not every lot is filled up.  

Anyway, I'm getting the nerves hitting.  I need to get over there and just see if that pedestal by some miracle showed up and try to fix that camera. 

G'day

 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...