Location, location, location

So... I know I've posted this before, not even once, but multiple times, but this keeps coming up, so I feel like it's worth chatting about.

When I look at something for sale -- whether it's an animal, a book, whatever -- one of the first things I look at is this:  where is it?

You know why?  Because if it's farther than I want to go, it doesn't matter if it's the best animal  / greatest price / and so on... because that will prevent me from getting it.

Within the last couple days, this has come up several times... not just on chin ads, but also, I'm cleaning the house so I have a lot of random crap posted for sale in places as well.  And you can bet that all my ads have one thing in common -- I mention my location!  I specify for the animals that they're located in Hammond, and for the items, I actually specify pickup ONLY in Hammond, because I will not meet and sit in my car and wait for people for $10 (not that I really want to do it for the animals, but it's REALLY not worth it for cheap household items).

Anyway, so you KNOW that no one reads this.  I have gotten more messages that ask where I'm located, and then when I tell them (and I tell them exactly what is on my ad: Hammond, IN 46324), they're like, "oh I'm in ____, that's too far"... well... could have saved that entire convo by reading!  And in case you think my item ads are long as shit, like the chin ads, they're not.  Often they're a couple sentences about the item (if that), plus located in Hammond, plus my contact info.  That's IT!  So people DO NOT need to weed through a sea of info to find the location.

I had one the other day about the quail... they emailed and asked all sorts of questions, clearly they were curious and didn't know a lot about them, so I was happy to educate them, and then they asked when they could come see them.  I told them my availability and they asked my location and I gave them the address (which again... it's in the ad), and they were like "I'm in ___________ (town)."  Now, to be perfectly honest... mentally I was like, ok that's half hour away, that's not bad.  I even asked one of my friends, do you think that means she's too far, or is she just telling me, or...?  And she even said she just thought she was telling me where she was coming from.  So I responded back basically saying, oh that's not too bad a drive, it's only 30 minutes, we're right off the highway, when were you wanting to come?  But I guess it WAS too far, as I've never heard back. 

Now, before you think, well Ashley's a shit for thinking everyone should drive far -- no.  Everyone has their limits.  I just think that if they would LOOK at the location first, they would know whether I am WITHIN those driving limits or not.

Had another one... for guinea pigs.  They asked what I had available.  I had JUST listed all the available ones, so I sent them a link to the available critters page and their response was like, "oh I just noticed I'm four hours away."  Again, that coulda been determined prior to that entire convo... wherever they got my phone number, to text me, I guarantee you, probably also has my location.  Heck, even if she googled my area code, she woulda learned I was FAR away.

Last thing I want to touch on today regarding location is this -- I really DON'T care where you're from, if you will provide a good home.  Yes, it does ask for address on the adoption form, I know.  To be honest, I kind of gloss over that part... you living at 123 Main Street means nothing to me, if you don't live in my own city, where I know where that is.  What DOES matter to me is the next part where it asks, are you willing to travel to Hammond to adopt?  If you put YES for that... I can pretty much ignore the address.  Yes, for some people, traveling from downtown Chicago (30 mins) is too far.  But then, other people have come this year from Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and North Dakota.  I may even be missing a few.  Some of those have flown here and driven back, some have driven here and driven back... everyone has their limits for traveling.  While yes, sometimes people complaining about a half hour drive seems a little silly, that's their choice.  About the only time I really DO look at the address is for the people who mark down that they WILL NOT be able to travel to Hammond.  I then look at the address to see, ok, will I ever be in that area or closer by to them, where we could work something out?  But otherwise, you can live in California and drive here and adopt, and I'm perfectly fine with that.  The important thing is finding the good home. One last thing I want to note though -- the people who do fill out apps / call from far-away states... those usually are the ones that HAVE looked at distance and HAVE decided, ok they want to drive the 16 hours from North Dakota to get here.  It's often the closer-by people who don't want to drive.  Just an interesting observation.