apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

huh. interesting to know.

ya interesting. heres some more interesting info: we moved and the welcome wagon lady kept calling us. after politely telling her we werent interested, she kept calling. and calling. finally, ona sunday night at about 930. she calls to say she's in her car outside our house - and if we would just open the door, she could give us a basket of coupons etc. okay. you got us. we'll take your coupons.

here's the kicker. she then, unbeknownst to us, gave our adress and phone number to every single business whos promotional stuff was in that basket. we were getting multiple calls every day, at all hours. it took weeks to put an end to it.

hospitality my ass. ugh, i'm grumpy just thinking about it!

Yelp.com gives me all the information about businesses I'm looking for in my new neighborhood, I found it 2 years ago when I had moved into a new place and it was invaluable. When I moved 2 months ago I knew I could count on it again...I sound like a commercial. But seriously it's great, you can find businesses close to you and they are all rated by users who leave comments..so I can find anything from a great carwash to cleaners to sushi bars that come highly recommended.

you can also download the widget to have it as a searchable tab in Firefox..convenient

We have gotten away from knowing the neighbors and neighborhoods. It is good to know who is friendly, who you can count on if something happens, or if you are going out of town who you can trust with your mail. Now the lady who couldn't find a clue is a bit scary....Getting to know your neighbors is like making a new friend, you can never have enough.

I used to live in a NYC apartment building that had a "welcome basket" of all the things you're likely to need when you first move in but haven't unpacked your boxes yet: a screwdriver, scissors, hammer and picture hooks, etc. Someone on the co-op board would bring it by, and you'd just return it to the super when you were done.

In our town we considered reviving something like the Welcome Wagon, but then the issue that cblis brought up arose--many people are just not home during the day, and who's comfortable with a stranger coming to your door?

We ended up doing a phone directory (we're a small town, and the phone company phone book lists us in a much bigger directory, buried in a nearby town with a bunch of others) that includes helpful information about the town and its civic and volunteer organizations. The ads pay for printing and mailing, and there's enough money left over to donate to local nonprofits.

That is interesting. Started by an "insightful marketing man." So, yeah, it's primarily promotional in spirit, kind of a personal Val-Pak. When I first moved to my current apartment from another state, I had found an apartment with no working phone line, thus no internet for me - my first surprise. No phone book was delivered on tenancy and how many days I was told it was in the process of being shipped from Washington, D.C., and I don't have a car, and I didn't have a job yet. For 2 weeks, I wandered around, basically until they repaired the phone lines, a battle to the end just to get that accomplished so I could function. Where to eat, where to shop for groceries, the post office, the hardware store, a library or internet café, a drugstore, a complete mystery! Imagine being a pioneer in the city with no idea which direction anything is.

I'm a huge fan of yelp.com. I don't need coupons for roofers or a free side of rice with any lunch special (only before 4pm). Orienting yourself in a new neighborhood is a little difficult in its own right without people already trying to sell you on the various local businesses who pay to be mentioned, regardless of quality or relevance. Now that I do know my way around, I know how far I'm willing to go to get to merchants or service professionals that come with some recommendation, and look for them as needed.

I worked for Welcome Wagon until December 9, 2008. That's when half the company (including myself) was laid off. It was a great company to work for—one that really cared about its employees. Furthermore, we really tried to do our best to connect business owners with new homeowners. However, the greed of the mortgage lenders has destroyed our business and restructuring was needed.

Please support Welcome Wagon and the local businesses that advertise with it. I believe it is an American business that has a proper and legitimate place in our society—by helping its employees, businesses and new homeowners.

If you have feedback and suggestions on how Welcome Wagon can improve, please direct your comments to the company at www.welcomewagon.com. I'm sure they'd love to hear your feedback and will try to tailor their business to suit the new homeowner and business owner.

Thanks to all the loyal customers and supporters,
(“here’s lookin’ at you kid”)

P