Hick is always re-stocking his Storage Unit Store. He sells a good amount of stuff, and buys new old stuff at auctions several nights a week. What he really enjoys, though, is getting something free from Back Creek Neighbor Bev, or one of his cohorts at the storage units. He makes sure to tell me,
"THAT'S where the money is! Selling something I ain't hardly got nothin' in. It's all profit!"
Let the record show that there's a custom at Hick's auctions. All the sellers put something on a table up front. Tickets are sold for a raffle of these items. The winner gets to choose ONE item from the table, and then the others are sold in the regular manner, by bidding. Friday night, Hick won the raffle, and chose a tool chest:
"Okay. Send me a picture of it."
Saturday afternoon, I called Hick on the way home from town, asking about the picture he had forgotten to send.
"Oh! I just sold it! I have to go, so I can get a picture! The guy's leaving with it now."
Heh, heh. So there's the picture, in front of Hick's Storage Unit Store. According to him, the guy said, "What are you doing, taking a picture of my tool box?" I don't know what excuse Hick gave him. What a weirdo, taking a picture of an item he just sold. I'd never do anything like that...
According to Hick, this rolling tool chest is worth $79 new. I didn't find one for that price when looking it up. (It's always a good idea to verify Hick's information.) I don't know if this is the 24 gallon or 50 gallon tool chest. It was hard to find a picture like it, with the yellow wheels and yellow latches. Looks like it comes with a tool tray inside. Hick said the guy who put it on the table at the auction got all the ticket proceeds, which added up to $66.
Anyhoo... Hick says he sold it for $22.50, and the guy was happy to pay that price. He did NOT say that he got it for a dollar. Honesty may be the best policy, but sometimes it's good to keep some things to yourself. Especially when you're padding your UNIT with almost-free items.
Hick seems to be padding very well!
ReplyDeleteHe might be almost as good at that as he is at sweaving.
DeleteThe IRS will be calling soon.
ReplyDeleteIf they do, I won't be answering. The IRS does not initiate contact by phone, only by mail!
DeleteUncle Sam is like a crazy mega-octopus, with a hand in everybody's pocket. This is Hick's hobby, not a business, and of course he has expenses such as UNIT rent, and his travel to assorted auctions, that defray his profits before Uncle Sam gets his cut.
Clever man!
ReplyDeleteHick is a wheeling-and-dealing wizard!
DeleteFor #1 that tool chest was a bargain and at $22.50 for the new owner, still a bargain. my brother has one of those, he's had it for years and mostly it lives in the back of his truck, next to the steel one that's bolted to the truck on bottom and sides to prevent it being stolen. The rolly one isn't bolted, he uses that to transport whatever tools he needs from the steel one to the work site when he can't get the truck in close enough.
ReplyDeleteIt does look very handy, with the wheels and handle.
DeleteThat is how you make money. I keep all scraps from wedding dresses and when I use the lace or whatever I charge the customer as if I had to go buy the fabrics, or lace. I make some good money.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're recycling, too, not just throwing away the scraps!
DeletePays to be a hoarder. I used a lot of my scraps to make these tiny little owls and sold them for $3 or 2 For $5. Pure profit. Only took a little fiber fill and some buttons from my button box. Stuff I already had.
DeleteAnd you make those rugs, too, as I recall, out of old clothes. Hick definitely saved a bundle from his hoarding, when he used his accumulated stock to fix up Hick House.
Delete