TEST - What Kind Of Picker Are You?

You are in luck...no test today!    

I have found that SO many people have entirely different opinions as to what makes someone a "picker" that I simply can not create a test of any kind that will not end up taking hours of your time. 

I will still continue to express some opinions throughout this blog as to what makes a picker.  Sometimes I may ask you some questions that you can answer for me..so leave a comment, opinion, thought, etc,  make yourself heard! 

I have always considered myself a true picker. At first when people were calling me a "picker" rather than a "antiques dealer" I wasn't all that thrilled...somehow, at the time, "picker" seemed to me to be demeaning . It took a little while, but I started to realize that the dealers who were calling me a "picker" were complimenting me, rather than being negative. I was good at picking...that is what I wanted to do, anyway, not be a "dealer" sitting in a shop.

That came later. I became an "antiques dealer with a store" out of necessity, due to geographic location and the market I had access to.

I did come up with lots of fresh stuff.  I wanted to move it, but didn't want to get ripped-off on the stuff, either, though. A couple dealers made that mistake...assuming that I wouldn't figure out they were offering me far less than wholesale. In their arrogance/ignorance they perhaps figured their "knowledge" was worth far more than my sweat, fuel, time, energy, interpersonal skills, research skills, etc.

My knowledge base built quickly with experience. I learn fast....or so I like to believe!

So, what makes a picker, in my eyes?

Well....that is a loaded question. Whatever I answer I know there will be all sorts of differences in opinion.  Besides, you need to address some other issues...mainly the fact that there is several KINDS of pickers.

Myself I have adopted the moniker of a "Hardcore Picker". 
I define that as a person who makes his money in the "junk biz", mainly in the vintage end of things, but does what is necessary in the junk biz as a whole to make a living. If I need to haul scrap metal to help pay some bills, I do it. If I need to "re-purpose" items, re-market items, wholesale, hold some auctions, retail, do flea markets, etc, etc, etc to make some cash, I will. But, my main focus is vintage. I have an affinity for "junk", but vintage items have the firmest grip on my being.

So, what other kinds of pickers do I feel exist out there? 

You'll just have to wait for next post to find out!

Wholesaling

I've never had a problem with wholesaling merchandise. 

Retailing is much harder...but I have/will cover that in other blog posts.

I LOVE a quick sale! 

The item/lot is gone, you just forget it and go buy more stuff. You have cash in your pocket, and if you have bought it right, you paid for your time and hopefully done even better than that.  
 
Remember all the work that goes into retailing items. Leave the cleaning, researching, handling, shipping, packaging, storing, preserving, restoring, marketing etc, etc, etc, to the buyer....who is likely also a steady reseller.

 Photo: Gerry Frost of Crazy Horse Antiques (Calgary, Alberta) and 

the Author, with part of a bulk purchase "The Driftin' Cowboy" made. 

 If Gerry happens to look familiar, you may have seen him buying and 

selling at various western Canadian antiques shows over the years,

 and most recently he has appeared on "Canadian Pickers"

(aka "Cash Cowboys" in the US and other markets) doing appraisals,  

and seen attending some of  sales put on by the two TV pickers that we in the

 business tend to refer to as "The Boys" (aka Scott Cozens & Sheldon Smithens)

Other resellers can be far better customers than the general public and/or collectors.  Selling to other pickers, dealers, second hand shop owners, etc creates steady and ready customers...and, just as importantly, are not so heavily influenced by such lines of thought as:

"I already have one of those in my collection."

"I only want one, not all 10."

"I just need that one to complete my set, not the whole set."



"I just want the 3 best condition ones, not those 20 others."


If you have been reselling anywhere, you know very well that this list can go on and on and on and on.

I also try not to wholesale to the general public, unless they actually are resellers themselves, and are willing to buy in bulk. They could become your future steady customers.   

 I do keep my "retail" prices pretty reasonable, but bulk buyers certainly get even a far better deal from me than Joe or Jane Schmo buyers. "Bulk" means different things to different people. I regularly encounter J. Q. Public that seems to think "bulk" means that their buying 5 items, under-priced at $6 each, means I should be readily giving them a 70% discount...and absorb the taxes.

There are other used goods/surplus goods/antiques/collectibles resellers who don't subscribe to the same philosophy as I do,  but usually they have another source of income, thus do not need to turn over inventory to pay the bills.....or they are newbies, and when they stay dedicated to that mantra of "retail only, minimal discounts, no wholesaling" they tend to not be in this sort of resale business long term.


Hang in there when it comes to those sorts.... 

Ten, five, two or even just a year from now, you may end up buying all their inventory, fixtures, supplies, etc; for pennies on the dollar, at some storage locker auction!

If you are really lucky, and keep reading this blog, maybe even buying my book(s) (when they get done!), you may well end up PAID to haul away the inventory you were wanting to buy!

Happy Picking, Folks!



 

HARDCORE PICKERS Defined

Some of you may be aware of our HARDCORE PICKERS page on Facebook.

I have been asked a few times by non-antiques/junkers, as well as by some of my own peers as to what the definition of a Hardcore Picker really is.

SO, in preparation for a submission to Wikipedia (joking about Wikipedia...for now!) I will attempt to describe what I mean by the term.

I jotted down a bunch of one line aspects of what a Hardcore Picker is.....while driving to a show in Regina.  Saskatchewan is flat...well, not entirely, but on that route it is mighty flat. Plus, The Saskatchewan portion of the Trans Canada Highway on the route from our place to Regina is twinned...so, no oncoming traffic to worry about...except for maybe the odd blind Baba driving some old grain truck who hasn't been behind the road since 1952....

(What is a Baba, you ask? Well, in my neck of the woods, it has always meant a grandmotherly sort of woman...imagine a kerchiefed, wrinkled, elderly lady...of eastern European descent, popularly Ukrainian, Polish, etc. Apparently Wikipedia has never heard of that definition...!)

Now back to the definition at hand....

So, this is a rough draft of sorts...and a short list.

HEY, I heard that...! Yes, I know I am, um, well, I guess you could say "long winded".... and rarely can my writings be defined as "short".

Not to mention "sweet" ..well, ok, sometimes they are bitter....I AM a antiques dealer after all...we like to bitch a bit!

Here we go...and, by the way, these are not in any particular order, other than how I have them scrawled in barely legible form on that antique and obsolete stuff called "paper"...you know, they stuff they used in BOOKS?  And I mean REAL books...not "E-Books"....

Ahem...and off we go...Yes, REALLY!

(1) We blend among the every person...and sometimes we really stand out amongst them, too.

(2) We are not born into wealth, nor where we wealthy when we started picking for a living.  For the few among us who are wealthy, they did not start out that way.  Plus, it is highly likely that every penny that wealth is built upon has been hard earned.

(3) Our supper is likely to be along the lines of a sandwich of bologna, with a side of beans and a beer as the beverage. No lobster for us...except maybe for our east coast brethren, who buy their lobster direct from the fishermen at a "on the dock" price.  It will be a fisherman who, with a calloused, salt spray soaked hand will shake the picker's own calloused, scarred, dirt etched hand after the transaction is finalized.

(4) Our vehicles are at least 5 years old...if not older!

(5) Our vehicles are rarely clean, neat and organized....inside or out.

(6) We are usually the last owner of the vehicle...not counting the auto wrecker or scrap yard.

(7)  The males in our group  are not "pretty boys." We may well be handsome, attractive, etc, in our own ways, though. We blend well when we need to. Adapting, blending in, relating, making most people comfortable with us is what we have all developed a talent for.

(8) The picker chicks among us are not cobweb fearing, "AHMIGAWD, it's a mouse!!!" squeallin' "girly girls". They can be and are sexy, cute, attractive, hot, smokin', etc. Sure, they can act and seem like girly-girls sometimes, after all, they have learned to be chameleons, also!

(9) We pick to pay the rent or the mortgage, to pay the bills. We may collect some things, but it is more of a rainy day savings account, health plan, or retirement plan than a collection that our spouse, children and/or relatives will be stuck disposing of when we go to where ever you think a picker goes when he/she dies.

(10) We have record of our picks tattooed on and in our bodies. These tattoos are in the form of bruises, scars, aches, pains, and backs stretched past the limit of reason.  They also manifest themselves in the form of stories we tell, describing our adventures, scares, close-calls, near-misses, complete misses, and life experiences.

(11) We can tell you hours and hours worth of true stories of our experiences that will make you laugh out loud, cringe in visualized  pain, gasp in amazement, and shake your head in disbelief.

(12) Our minds consist of characteristics such as being keen, imaginative, creative, open, curious, and we harbor a thick, strong streak of tenacity.


(13) We are the pickers that other sorts of amateur pickers, hobbyist pickers and pseudo-pickers strive to emulate, and rarely are able to truly imitate. You need to go only as far as watching some of the "picking" based "reality" shows for proof. I won't name names.

(14)  We are the pickers that dealers and other pickers hover around, sometimes crowd and jostle for position around during set-up times at antique shows, flea markets, swap meets. All while, bleary eyed, coffee at hand, hacking up mud balls from attic dust inhaled the day previous, we unpack our dusty, freshly found treasures.

(15) Fashionista's, pay attention.....!  Our clothing is more than likely mostly second hand, or in the least, bought at a discount type of outlet for drastically lower than retail prices. Why? See my next blog for a detailed, and yes, a long winded, explanation.


(16) Some of us do actually retain part time or even full time jobs to make ends meet, pay the bills, help save for our kid's university education. Then we work 10 times as hard after our jobs end for the day/week, picking to keep a grip on our hard fought for rung on the ladder of life.

(17) We are truly among the adventurers of today.

(18) We see treasure where others see only trash.

(19) We see potential in places that others pass.

(20) Our early backgrounds vary. We are former truckers, professors, teachers, laborers, clerks, secretaries, miners, postal workers,  students, artists, fishermen, bar tenders, waters, waitresses, and nearly any occupation you can imagine, as well as some you can not.... 

But, we are ALL:

HARDCORE PICKERS.