When I moved to Connecticut almost 12 years ago, it was early summer and one of the first social invitations I had was from a neighbor who asked me if I'd go around to tag sales with her. My reaction was, “What's a tag sale?” After it was explained to me in the manner that one might explain such a thing to a child, I said ”Oh, you mean a yard sale, or a garage sale. Why's it called a tag sale here?” “Well” came the answer, “because everything has a price tag on it.” Ok, fair enough. Twelve years later, on a windy spring day, I found myself manning a table at a neighborhood tag sale. It seems as though the tag sale bug hit Middletown full force on Saturday. I saw dozens of tag sale signs all around town. While sitting behind the table at our little sale, during slow periods I found myself thinking a lot about what motivates people to have tag sales. In many cases the money to be made from the sales can't be much of a an incentive, but in these tough economic times every little bit helps. After considering the time and effort it takes to haul things out and set them up, the small amount of money to be made, and then the problem of what to do with all the unpurchased leftovers, when faced with a pile of unwanted items many people choose instead to simply throw things in the trash or drop off as donations. Trashing and donating certainly are the more logical choices. This leads me back to the original question, why do people have tag sales? What tag sales achieve that trashing and donating do not are building of family and community. When you have a tag sale, you talk to your neighbors. You teach your kids some basic economics like supply and demand and some basic financial skills like recognizing the value of money, and some basic life skills like doing some honest work for a little pay. When you have a tag sale, you spend the day outdoors with the television turned off. You recycle things that are still useful. It can be very rewarding to have a bargain hunter walk away with something that makes them really happy while you are just as happy to get rid of it and to have it go to someone who wants it rather than having it go into the trash. A tag sale is a social event. It can be a fun family project or a day spent with good friends. Today, if someone new to Connecticut asked me the question, “What's a tag sale?” the answer might not be so obvious.
