Jackpot ! Jackpot in the Safe ?

I agree, this thread has been epic. Thanks for all the time you put in to share it with us Movieman.

No problem. This locker is holding up as the 1 in 50 (for me at least) that more than holds its own.

Here's the next part of the story:

Today, 9 24 2011, the storage facility has its 2nd "yard sale" of the year, and as I had rented the lkr, I became a participant. Instead of selling at my usual Saturday flea I wanted to sell here in an attempt to get some of the big stuff gone. Alas, it didn't happen.

The people who came were into smalls and that was OK as I sold a fair amount and half of them actually CAME from this lkr. I had one couple interested in the Lane hope chest at $70 (down from $100) but they didn't come through. The biggest item sold was the one pictured below...new in the box...asked $175 and it went for $150. This sign came from this lkr.



Two women showed up and asked about a 35 pin Harley Davidson collection AND two pieces of motorcycle leather.
I took an educated guess and asked if they were friends of the frm (deadbeat) lkr owner....they were. They bought the two leathers, so I FINALLY got some money out of her !

Craigslist has picked up a  bit since I posted the windmill pic a few days ago in this thread. The item below sold through Clist for $70 after pitching it as selling at Sears for $100 plus tax. New in the sealed box. First person to seriously want it at $70 got to open the box when buying it. This item came from this lkr.



One of the challenges when selling stuff from this locker is that I have moved the smaller items to my permanent lkr and I have to keep track of that fact when putting stuff on Craigslist..."now where IS that item?".  I did this because my permanent locker is only 1 mile from my home, but the safe locker is 7 miles away.  

Fortunately, I haven't had a no-show at a Craigslist appointment for about a year, but I WOULD be ticked if I had driven to the distant "safe lkr" only to have no one show up.

Any more updates on this unit or the fmr owner?

Any more updates on this unit or the fmr owner?

Well, enough time has passed now that the former owner is out of the picture. Aside from her two friends showing up at the "yard sale" the facility had in late September (see post above somewhere) not a peep out of her. She's been toast for some time now.

BUT, I had an idea that might work out in late October, 2011.  The facility is having its next auction, and I'm thinking of asking them (or their management unit) if I can auction off my lkr (with full disclosure and letting people walk inside).

There are only about 6 "big" pieces in there now, and really no interest in any of them (did sell a big glass/metal tv stand for large flat-screens) about a week ago for $100 which was nice. That $100 was used to pay for the month of Oct in an attempt to sell those other big items.

Still have: the safe, cherrywood curio cabinet, dual leather recliner, Lane cedar chest, antique English blanket chest, 50 gallon aquarium on stand. (that's six biggies).

If those don't sell over the next few weeks, I could hopefully auction off the lkr (and probably still do OK, but not as good as individual items) Could even auction off piece by piece for that matter and make reserves on some items.

Other than that, I would probably move the stuff to a GREAT lkr offer I tumbled on to.

So, things are winding down on this lkr.  

To date (Oct 14, 2011) this locker has a NET profit of $1,675. Locker was won September 24, 2011.

Still have six big pieces of furniture and maybe another 10 items in the $25 to $100 area as well as some real smalls for the flea market.

Note to newbies and lookeyloos !

This locker is NOT typical of what you will buy on a regular basis. In my experience this kind of locker pops up somewhere between 1 in 25 or 1 in 50 locker buys !

To date (Oct 14, 2011) this locker has a NET profit of $1,675. Locker was won September 24, 2011.

Still have six big pieces of furniture and maybe another 10 items in the $25 to $100 area as well as some real smalls for the flea market.

Note to newbies and lookeyloos !

This locker is NOT typical of what you will buy on a regular basis. In my experience this kind of locker pops up somewhere between 1 in 25 or 1 in 50 locker buys !

Stop lying! EVERY unit grosses at least $5000! 

Stop lying! EVERY unit grosses at least $5000! 

$5000 in dump fees maybe

I found out my dump charges by the ton, one ton Minimum. 100 bucks a ton. I have a 3 yard behind my business (not related to storage lockers) and i had to go to weekly tips to keep up with the flow of junk.

I found out my dump charges by the ton, one ton Minimum. 100 bucks a ton. I have a 3 yard behind my business (not related to storage lockers) and i had to go to weekly tips to keep up with the flow of junk.

My dump is charging around $40 a ton I think, BUT if you only take a pickup-load (stacked as high as you can get it) or a van load (no more than 8 feet behind last seat) you only pay the minimum which is $16.

In my van I have taken in about 1,900 pounds max and gotten by with the minimum price which saves a few bucks over the weigh-in price.

In the case of the 1,900 pound load the minimum price (without weighing in) would have saved $22 as that weight is 95% of a ton.

My dump is charging around $40 a ton I think, BUT if you only take a pickup-load (stacked as high as you can get it) or a van load (no more than 8 feet behind last seat) you only pay the minimum which is $16.

In my van I have taken in about 1,900 pounds max and gotten by with the minimum price which saves a few bucks over the weigh-in price.

In the case of the 1,900 pound load the minimum price (without weighing in) would have saved $22 as that weight is 95% of a ton.

we recently replaced the floor in my store. We removed a layer of VCT tile, a layer of 1/4 sub floor, a layer of 1/2 chip board, another layer of VCT and then a layer of 3/4 due to water damage.

It all fit in my half ton GMC van. Tipped the scale at the dump at 8000 and change. Left at a hair under 5000...

Paid 150 to dump it. Construction debris is less.

The dump is own and managed by waste management. Maybe that's the problem.

That was a great read! Sometimes in lkrs I will find antique furniture that I am not sure of... So I post it on Cl as "Some kind of Antique furniture". I always get great feedback from savvy antique buyers/dealers. They r always nice and give me a lil lesson on what to look for and how to tell this from that. And they usually tell me what a fair price to start at and where to stop at. The windmill was awesome! I wish I seen the post earlier. I have a big back yard with cool things like that in it. It would have been a great Edition to my So Cal property. I have tried to inventory while going throughout the locker... But man that's hard to do. Well my husband gets so excited and just want to look through everything real quick... Then get it on the truck and get it home. By the time we have the time to dedicate to the lkr it's night time and I'm tired .... So instead of inventorying before. I do it at the time of sale. But Doin it this way, I have a hard time keeping track of the profit/loss per lkr. So instead I just tally up the cost of each lkr by month plus dump, gas, helpers,... And such then subtract that from what I have made for the month... There is my profit for that month. Any suggestions?

I have tried to inventory while going throughout the locker... But man that's hard to do. Well my husband gets so excited and just want to look through everything real quick... Then get it on the truck and get it home. By the time we have the time to dedicate to the lkr it's night time and I'm tired .... So instead of inventorying before. I do it at the time of sale. But Doin it this way, I have a hard time keeping track of the profit/loss per lkr. So instead I just tally up the cost of each lkr by month plus dump, gas, helpers,... And such then subtract that from what I have made for the month... There is my profit for that month. Any suggestions?

Well, I have to say that keeping a spreadsheet for each locker buy is important to me and lets me know exactly where I am in the overall picture as well.

When I buy a lkr I start a spreadsheet for it and list the major items in the lkr. I have columns for item name, asking price and sold price. These total at the bottom along with a "cost" cell and when putting in appropriate forumuli it's easy to see when the lkr is paid off and what percent of return has been achieved.

Each sheet in the overall spreadsheet ties to an annual sheet and I can see how each month has done, yearly total and totals for each of the last 8 years. That way I can see the trend in overcall expenses and income as well. As an example, 2006 was my best year and I can see that this year is down from last year (to date).

Once you get it figured out, it's pretty automatic.

When selling at my weekly flea market I make pencil/paper notations on big items sold and when I get home I put those in to the appropriate sheet and the totals and percentages all work automatically.

Maybe this is to "type A" for many people, but it works for me !

Maybe this is to "type A" for many people, but it works for me !

Well I think I fall in the 1/2 type A . I will start working on that spread sheet now. What kinda of formula are you using? time spent at auction/loading + gas + cost at flea market + misc. advertisement cost (ebay). Oh crap I think I just moved up to Full Type A. : ).

When I buy a lkr I start a spreadsheet for it and list the major items in the lkr. I have columns for item name, asking price and sold price. These total at the bottom along with a "cost" cell and when putting in appropriate forumuli it's easy to see when the lkr is paid off and what percent of return has been achieved.

Each sheet in the overall spreadsheet ties to an annual sheet and I can see how each month has done, yearly total and totals for each of the last 8 years. That way I can see the trend in overcall expenses and income as well. As an example, 2006 was my best year and I can see that this year is down from last year (to date).

Just get the Quicken program, it's super for tracking just what you're describing with a lot less work.

Well I think I fall in the 1/2 type A . I will start working on that spread sheet now. What kinda of formula are you using? time spent at auction/loading + gas + cost at flea market + misc. advertisement cost (ebay). Oh crap I think I just moved up to Full Type A. : ).

Start with a blank spreadsheet.
In cell A1....name of facility bought, date and cost.

Start columns for item name, desired sell price, sell price.  Have total at bottom of those columns.
Develop forumulas (do research on those....return on invesment, etc). I didn't know these myself until I researched them.

Then, the next time you make a lkr buy, go to the next sheet to the right and do a sheet for it. (you could copy the first one to the 2nd and then edit the 2nd for appropriate content).

Make a separate sheet (in the same book) that will have two basic areas...expenses (lkr buys, etc) and income.
In the income sheet make a column that has monthly totals that draw from the cells showing your flea market and other incomes (indiviual clist sales, etc.)

After you have two or three sheets, make a sheet (in that same book) for the yearly totals.
Develop columns and lines for each year (this year, next year, etc).
Develop rows for each month.

I know this sounds complicated, but if you know Excel and know what you want to achieve, you will figure it out.
Nothing worth doing is going to be super easy, and I never just "hand" answers to anyone who asks (thanks for not asking me to send you a template). I have always believed that "doing it yourself" is a better experience than having something delivered on a silver platter.

Hope this at least gets you interested enough to give it a shot.

Just get the Quicken program, it's super for tracking just what you're describing with a lot less work.

Well, since I've been using this spreadsheet for EIGHT YEARS there's no reason for me to re-invent the wheel, but maybe others would want to get quicken.

I suspect though there are some aspects of my Excel solution that may not be represented in Quicken.

If you HAVE Excel (or other spreadsheet) and you know how to use it, that works for me, but Quicken is relatively cheap and would certainly work as well. Since I used Lotus 123 before Excel came along, it was no problem for me to figure things out...history and experience are a wonderful thing.