When I began this particular blog my goal was to give everyone a "what its really like" feeling about purchasing storage lockers. The week that I chose this particular locker to write about I had actually purchased a total of four lockers and two automobiles at the storage sales. I chose this locker to write about for one reason; it was completely full. In my mind completely full meant that there would be a cache of hidden treasures, things that I could tell you that I made hundreds on, I wanted to show that the hard work could be worth it.
I was wrong.
This storage locker turned out to be a total disaster. In total I spent close to $1,000 to purchase and clean out the locker. I made 11 trips to Akron from Youngstown, each trip measured over 100 miles in total driving distance. I spent more than 3 hours after arriving working on the mess, in mostly oppressive heat inside of a tin building. There were times that I felt like Cool Hand Luke when he was locked up in the tiny metal building doing penance for his wrongs. All of this suffering was done in the name to make money, or in this case to not.
I took a total of 22 loads of dirty clothing to the local Goodwill to be turned into rags. I took an additional 8 loads to the local charity to hopefully be redistributed to someone in need. My total take out of a 10' x 20' storage locker, one, even with the truck bed load that I managed to sell for $600. Pretty lucrative. The good news is I did make money on the other units that I bought. Not a great amount, but it was enough to offset the loss on this unit and still enable me buy a bag of rice to feed us with this week.
The end summary is as I stated long ago and far away, "Storage units are high risk.". You can make money on them, but you can also loose money on them and to make matters worse, you just can never tell which ones are truly good, and which ones are truly bad. It is like being Ladigo Smith (movie Support Your Local Sheriff) and putting all of your money on red 23 in the hopes that the roulette Gods will appease you. So, for those of you with a sense of adventure, this manor of making money may be just for you.
I would strongly recommend that those of you who don't have a good distribution structure to get rid of things, or those of you who own Honda Civics and think that it couldn't possibly be that hard to clean out a locker, STAY AWAY! It is far easier to go to the local auctions where everything has been cleaned and laid out for your viewing. Lockers are a tremendous amount of work and can be either great, or in this case damaging to your business.
I was wrong.
This storage locker turned out to be a total disaster. In total I spent close to $1,000 to purchase and clean out the locker. I made 11 trips to Akron from Youngstown, each trip measured over 100 miles in total driving distance. I spent more than 3 hours after arriving working on the mess, in mostly oppressive heat inside of a tin building. There were times that I felt like Cool Hand Luke when he was locked up in the tiny metal building doing penance for his wrongs. All of this suffering was done in the name to make money, or in this case to not.
I took a total of 22 loads of dirty clothing to the local Goodwill to be turned into rags. I took an additional 8 loads to the local charity to hopefully be redistributed to someone in need. My total take out of a 10' x 20' storage locker, one, even with the truck bed load that I managed to sell for $600. Pretty lucrative. The good news is I did make money on the other units that I bought. Not a great amount, but it was enough to offset the loss on this unit and still enable me buy a bag of rice to feed us with this week.
The end summary is as I stated long ago and far away, "Storage units are high risk.". You can make money on them, but you can also loose money on them and to make matters worse, you just can never tell which ones are truly good, and which ones are truly bad. It is like being Ladigo Smith (movie Support Your Local Sheriff) and putting all of your money on red 23 in the hopes that the roulette Gods will appease you. So, for those of you with a sense of adventure, this manor of making money may be just for you.
I would strongly recommend that those of you who don't have a good distribution structure to get rid of things, or those of you who own Honda Civics and think that it couldn't possibly be that hard to clean out a locker, STAY AWAY! It is far easier to go to the local auctions where everything has been cleaned and laid out for your viewing. Lockers are a tremendous amount of work and can be either great, or in this case damaging to your business.
No comments:
Post a Comment