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.

Realities of the Junk Biz Lifestyle VS Reality TV - Part One...of many to come)

Ah, you are back! GOOD. At least you want to learn!

(Oh, warning, no pictures exist in this posting.) 


Just the facts, period.

The thing is, when you are in the "junk biz" "stuff happens," just as it does to anyone else.....and sometimes  "stuff happens" even more-so.

Times can be tough. 

An expected/unexpected bill can pop up. 

You could get so overworked/tired/stressed that you need a vacation or you will loose your mind and/or your family.

You may need to take an urgent trip via airline, and not be able to pick up a "cheap flight" and have to pay the airlines top-end rates.

You need to take some other emergency trip, maybe rescue of friend from a bad relationship, or just "be there" for someone.

You may wish to take time off just to be with a friend/relative in the last months/days/hours of their lives. 


You suddenly may have health issues of your own arise, or need to assist a  family member or friend in health related issue.

You may trip on a half-buried wire while in a scrap yard, resulting in a face-meets-chrome impact, and leave some extra patina and scuffs on that Dodge DeSoto bumper you were after...but at least you know roughly where to look for the other halves of your front teeth....seeing as you did hear 2 "pings" as they ricocheted off the grill.


Of course, I could keep going on and on and on. However, those of you who have been on that long road of life for more than, say, a quarter century, without the family safety net constantly hovering underneath their tightrope....well, you all don't need reminders of the past.  

I do want to make those who are new to the junk biz well aware of the realities of the junk biz lifestyle.  

ATTENTION ALL of you who fall under these categories,

  - Reality-TV-Is-Real-Life-True-Believers
  - newbie-but-I-AM-A-PROFESSIONAL-Storage-Locker-Buyers
  - Wannabe-Pickers
  - among other hoards of those people, falling under multiple known (and currently unknown) categories of those who are  bushy-tailed-bright-eyed-earnestly-peering-through-their-rose-colored-glasses with that 100 yard I-am-going-to-be-rich-buying-and-selling-other-people's-junk sort of dazed stare

 PLEASE CLOSELY read the next 6 points:


(1) EASY MONEY DOES NOT EXIST IN THE JUNK BIZ....nor anywhere else.


(2) YOU CAN NOT KEEP ALL/MOST/MUCH OF THE GOOD/COOL/VALUABLE/NEAT/INTERESTING/WEIRD/USEFUL/BIZARRE STUFF AND EXPECT TO MAKE A LIVING.... unless your business plan includes being a paid regular on Hoarding: Buried Alive and other similar shows..


(3) IF YOU ARE A COLLECTOR WHO AGONIZES OVER SELLING OR GETTING RID OF THINGS DO NOT GET INTO THE JUNK BUSINESS....at least until you have seen a shrink, the therapy is complete and worked, allowing you to finally no longer hate your mother for giving away your Optimus Prime Transformer to the neighbor kids after you FINALLY moved out of your  parent's home... for the first time, anyway.


(4) IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO SUPPORT YOURSELF (LET ALONE YOUR FAMILY, TOO) YOU ARE DREAMING...AND PURSUIT OF THE DREAM WILL MEAN A NIGHTMARE IS SURE TO BE NEXT...it is better to "keep dreaming" rather than live a nightmare and have a stress induced heart attack....and never dream again.

(5) IF YOU ARE A MAJOR GERMAPHOBE, BE SURE TO ADD THE COSTS OF EXTENSIVE THERAPY INTO YOUR "EXPENSES" SECTION OF YOUR ACCOUNTING RECORDS....and do let me know...as I want to buy as much stock in  glove and hand sanitizer makers....that way I can retire within a year.



(6) IF YOU THINK YOU KNOW IT ALL, YOU DON'T....but, if you still insist you know it all, let me know when and where you set up to sell your wares. I love to buy things from people who are such experts. It gives me such confidence! I am constantly awestruck while in their presence....especially when I think of the huge profits I will make from the items I buy from them. I also thoroughly enjoy the stories they tell, as historical fiction is a favorite of mine.

- THE END - 

(7) DO YOU FIND THAT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES YOU (OR YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER)?

- CAN NOT LOOK, NOR THINK BEYOND WHAT SOMEONE SAYS IS "THE END" (if you are reading this, congratulations!)

- DO NOT LIKE THE UNEXPECTED

- CAN NOT THINK WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX 

- CAN NOT IMPROVISE

- PANIC EASILY

- FALL APART UNDER ANY STRESS

- HAVE LITTLE/NO PATIENCE

- GET BORED EASILY

If so, you are far better off to stay on your couch, and keep watching Reality TV.....

You see, (and do realize that I do say this with utmost sincerity,) your favorite "Junk TV" shows are as close to  real as you truly ever wish to experience....I'll bet your sanity on it.

Junk TV

Was just checking out the "stats" on the blog, and noticed that someone came across my blog by searching for (and I quote):

"canadian pickers" gone for good?

Not sure what the person doing that search is thinking....as far as I know, there is still season 2 coming out, and from what I have heard down the antiques biz grapevine is that Sheldon Smithens and Scott Cozens, the hosts from the first season of Canadian Pickers have been signed for a THIRD season.

I do think that is odd, considering the 2nd season hasn't even aired.....but, maybe the production company knows something we don't.

 What I do know is that there has been quite a bit of discontent from folks across the entire "junk biz" spectrum, as far as the current choice of hosts for "Canadian Pickers".   Comments from 99% of those folks have, well, lets just say they haven't exactly been very complimentary.

I don't want to relay anything here, as I know it will be perceived by some people out there as "sour grapes" on my part.

Meh.

 I'm not getting paid by any production companies to offer my expertise, market research, etc, and they obviously have no interest in what we all think, anyway.

By "we" I mean the the majority of people who make up the "junk business."

Reality TV production groups would be well advised to vet their ideas through a panel of TRUE veterans of this business before they make the decisions that have been made as to host choices, venues, etc, etc.   I suppose any eyes watching makes for profits, even if most of those viewer eyes are rolling constantly. Longevity of most of these shows is something that is obviously not in the production companies' plans.  These are not "British Antiques Roadshow" grade programs when it comes right down to it.

I do enjoy most of the shows, though on average, my eyes roll more than they would while watching the Antiques Roadshow (with the the exception being the Canadian version...it crashed and burned it seems...and for good reason).

I know too much...I'm educated in the business, so when I  hear prices of multi-hundreds being tossed around for an item I KNOW barely garners high double digits....well, I just shake my head.

There has been lots of trash to cash TV shows, and I am sure there are going to be many more. Any cheap & relatively easy to make (IE: reality TV) that feature "ordinary" people making money from other people's "junk" gives "fans/viewers" some "hope", especially when they are short on money (IE: the people who are recently unemployed, downsized, etc...all those things that happen during a recession) it all equals more money in the medias' pockets.

If  "Trash to Cash" happens to sound familiar, that was also the title of a series back in 2003...and has turned into a general term used regularly by a variety of bloggers, articles, etc, as a description of the genre of reality shows I fondly refer to as "Junk TV".

I gotta be different!

Seems like many of the shows are spun off of "American Pickers"...have to wonder if Mike Wolfe is getting royalties! Kudos to him if he is! You may have noticed that the success of AP has caused spin-offs & copies, unsurprisingly. Sadly, the word "Picker" is in those titles for the sole misguided purpose of luring the AP viewership into watching. is one...Once I saw "Picker Sisters", I quickly decided that was not the name I would have choose. Some would even consider "Canadian Pickers" misnamed...the comment I hear is usually something like "Candian Antiquers" would far more accurate."    True, they do go to mainly antiques shops, antiques shows, collectors' collections, and occasionally "other" pickers' offerings. I can not see Scott nor Sheldon ever picking through the muddy basements, dust, dirt & pigeon crap filled attics, and the hay filled, mouse infested, sparrow poop spattered barn lofts that I commonly sift through.  Mis-casting is more the culprit in that case. The production company tried to replicate AP in Canada, but sadly, it is not what most Canadian "American Picker" viewers expected.

I really am not sure why the Canadian versions/spin-offs of US shows always seem to end up leaning towards "corn" factor.  Maybe the self-deprecating Canadian attitude is embedded in the producer's psyches.

The thing is, from everyone I have talked to on the subject, it is obvious that there IS a substantial audience out there that is getting quickly tired of the not-all-that-real Reality TV version of the "junk lifestyle."

When you live the lifestyle, seeing through the TV version is as easy as looking through a clean window.

Frankly, I give kudos to Mike, Frank and Danielle of AP. They are making more $ off the antiques biz than they ever would have in the traditional way.   Sure, I wish it was me making that big $ and getting recognition for the 20+ year long rocky road this business has dragged me over.

But, it is not. So, life goes on, per usual.

I was hoping the shows would garner more interest in antiques & collectibles than it has.

Wait, let me clarify that....

I was hoping the shows would garner more interest in the COLLECTING of antiques & collectibles than it has....

Every show out there right now seems go for the "look at the deal I got" and/or the "I will make lots of money on this" aspect that drive them.

People watch them as if they are "how to" videos .Oiy....they are so far from that...

I know what I am buying and I know what I am doing, so it has no real affect on me.
I might actually save some money by being outbid at auction on some piece of old junk that I really do not need.

If there were far more shows getting people interested in COLLECTING, driving people to COLLECT, and make the collecting end of things more appealing, giving the multitudes of reasons why people should collect this or that, making collecting something that you should do, highlight its importance to history conservation, etc, etc, then that may well create the upward spike in the junk MARKET.

More competition is something that I am sure most don't want. "Cost of goods" increases, which is being seen in the Storage Auction business, as Glendon Cameron of www.urbanpackrat.com has mentioned a fair bit in his video and blog entries. Same thing in the antiques biz, but we have a little different situation here.

Collecting old crap is not like needing a couch for the living room.

  Yes, competition drives up prices, which is fine, but if there is no end consumer that is willing to buy the goods the "dealers" fought over, is that item actually worth what is being paid?

Not likely.

There is a bit of a false market being created in this business by these shows, as there is starting to be a glut of "dealers" (or rather, wanna-be dealers/pickers) being created. More dealers than end buyers can hurt the market.

When you examine the way the market is at present, it starts to sounds a little like the fiasco the Banks pulled.

No worries, it will self correct itself, eventually.

The veterans of the business will be just fine. We know how to make it all work for us.
I do believe that a VERY small percentage of the "newbies" that have gotten into this business will survive, but the vast majority will end up with storage lockers full of crap...and many will end up loosing said lockers...allowing Storage Wars and Auction Hunters to go on forever!

SO, you better study up by reading and re-reading my blog, AND at Mr Cameron's site www.urbanpackrat.com in preparation to tackle the impending influx of abandoned storage lockers!