The Lion's Eye - Eye on Campus October 27, 2003 Keeping tabs on those bulletin-board ads Plenty of students are buying and selling, if anyone’s pulling By JESS GOLDEY Lion’s Eye staff writer JLG468@psu.edu Pull-tab advertisements. You know, those flyers pinned up on bulletin boards with phone numbers con- veniently put on tabs at the bottom so people can easily pull them off as they go by? At Penn State Delco, you don't have to look very hard to try to find some of these. They're everywhere, on practi- cally any bulletin board on campus. Everybody's seen them. Many have posted them. But do they actually work? That's what I tried to find out. People advertise just about anything with pull-tab flyers. From trying to give pets away, to trying to find roommates, to selling practically anything you can think of. I spent some time gathering a whole bunch of these pull tabs and calling to see how far the person had progressed in whatever he was trying to sell, buy, etc. And what I discovered was that, for the most part, the pulltab advertising method just doesn't work. At least not from what I've heard. "Other than campus, I only advertised in supermarkets." said Donald Lee. He was the only person that I talked to that posted his flyers or advertised somewhere other than school. Trying to sell a few cars for a good price, he didn't seem to have any luck yet. "Yeah, people called me. They told me to meet them somewhere so they could buy the car, but nobody actually showed up," Lee said. Hey, at least he's getting phone calls, right? Another person, Chau Huynh, was trying to sell his books. "Mostly, only my friends have bought books from me so far,” he said. “Other people have called, but I don't have the specific books they're looking for." Better than not selling any at all! Other people/places I called, I con- stantly got a busy signal, answering machine, or some weird recording. How are you going to sell something or get new employees if it's impossible to actu- ally talk to you? Eventually, the person calling is going to give up and look for something else. Another apparent problem with the pull-tab advertisements is that the tabs you pull off usually don't have enough information on them. tabs contain only a phone number, noth- ing else. By the time you get a chance to call, you're most likely to forget what the number was for. Especially if you pull off several different tabs off at a time. So, do you think students will keep TE eT rohestue (ONLY selling beasune we Som, Wissen JORLE, 3 Sie apd. 3 mies, Lonks iT E 4 priegebusntiry dd ferakut, MEW Hep, fant B sdb § frank, Urethane Bushing we wih pLlAR. gnes § 100 wp subsets: Generally, the Photo by John Hickey There’ s a flashy red sports car for sale according to ads on campus bulletin boards. But how many takers are there? Perhaps not that many. posting these things if they normally don't work? Probably. It's free, and it doesnt hurt to try. "It's tradition for students at Penn State Delco to put up those tab adver- tisements,” Huynh said. “People do it every year." But, if you're not already looking for one specific ad on the wall, perhaps you're not aware of the pieces of paper sporadically posted on the wall. My suggestion: Maybe next time use a huge bright neon colored piece of poster board. That might draw some bet- ter attention to your specific ad. Otherwise, I might be the oy person calling you. Tuition-budget battle: No end in sight It looks as if the Penn State Delco tuition-increase dilemma won't be solved any time soon. According to the state's school board association, Gov. Ed Rendell and state Republican legislators are costing Pennsylvania public schools $1 million dollars a week. The two sides were still in gridlock as late as this weekend over the state's budget and education funding. The state, the only state in the country without an operating budget, has been missing its school-aid pay- ment for the past two months, and is losing money because of lost investment interest and increased bor- rowing costs. "There is no agreement on education funding, rev- enue, or anything else right now," said Steven Miskin, who is a spokesman for House Majority leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson). — LAUREN JENDRASIAK Job/internship fair upcoming Need a job or internship? Thursday, Career Services is sponsoring a job/ internship fair from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Classroom Building Lounge. According to Sharmon Bryant of Career Services, approximately 30 employers representing all fields will be on campus to recruit students for fulltime, career related part-time, and internship opportunities. Professional dress and resumes are requested. A list of participating companies is available on the Career Services bulletin board in the Main Building, or by stopping by the Career Services Center on the sec- ond floor of the Commons Building. Resume assistance is available from the Career Services staff, Bryant said. Wireless Internet access available Penn State Delco has made available a wireless net- work, in part by your student computer fee. To access, you must send an email to wireless@de.psu.edu to schedule a time to have your laptop configured. The free service requires a purchase of an IEEE 802.11b compliant interface card. According to the Vairo Library staff, the only cards that comply with the network are Orinoco/Proxim/Agere chipset cards. The Orinoco Dual A/B card does not work. Librarian Sara Whildin said this service may mean leaving your laptop and picking it up later in the day. Also, only computers approved and configured by PSU Delco Computer Services will be granted access to the network. For additional wireless@de.psu.edu. Mobile ports are also new for this year, Whildin said. The ports are indicated by a sign with directions for use. Complete details are available at http://compserve.de.psu.edu/Karlbridge. Whildin also said Kate Barnhart has filled a previ- ously vacant library assistant position. Barnhart is responsible for evening services, ordering and process- ing new materials, and other behind-the-scenes activi- ties. She is a graduate of Penn State in psychology, with experience working in the Berks Campus Library and the Chester County Public Library System. information contact — STEVE SPENCE Campus seeking student responders The campus is still looking for students who are interested in joining a new student-response team. This team should interest those who are currently affiliated or are interested in firefighting or EMT-relat- ed fields. Classes run from 8 a.m. through 10 p.m. Students are needed to be on-call in case of a campus emergency. If interested e-mail Heather Albright at HKA104@psu.edu. A meeting will be held Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Room 201 of the Classroom Building. — CHRISSY GREENAN Blog has made its way to campus Have you ever wanted to get the word out? About anything? Now's your chance. PSU Delco has added a new site called blog. Within it, students and faculty may post any info that they feel needs to be conveyed. This information can be about books, articles, Web sites, films and TV. Your submission may be 50 words or less. To get to the Vairo Library's blog site, type in "blog" in the campus Web site home page at the box in the bot- tom right corner labeled "search." Click on the blog site and there you have it. There is a Vairo Library blog editor who will make the final decision whether your piece will be posted. So if you have something to say, or you want peo- ple to see something, stop slacking and post it up. — STEVE SPENCE
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