I don’t think I remember the first time I acquired junk. But, I do remember how I learned the value of junk. As a 16-year-old teenager, my free time and independence revolved around automobiles. Growing up in a rural southern state, there was no public transportation nor taxis and Uber wasn’t born yet. I had a calendar that counted down the days from my 15th birthday until my 16th birthday because that finally meant I could operate a motor vehicle without supervision (with a curfew of course.) So on my 16th birthday, I was standing at the door of the local DMV waiting for them to open. I aced the driving test and received that shiny plastic card and my car and I hit the open road!

However, I quickly realized that cars don’t run on hopes and dreams and if I wanted to meet up with my friends on Friday afternoon I needed to find some change for gas. This was in the year 2000 so gas wasn’t outrageous (about a buck fifty per gallon) but my summer jobs paid $4-5 an hour and that wasn’t going to cut it. My first car was a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda with 4 speed and V8 engine and she loved Premium fuel. (I’ll elaborate on how and why that ended up being my first car later.) My parents were generous enough to pay for my gas to get to school but any extracurricular trips were on my dime. One night while rummaging around in the garage, I found some parts that were not needed when I restored the Barracuda. It was mainly some interior trim and other small items that were found in the trunk when I first bought the car. At the time, I was a member of an email based car club for early Barracuda owners. (Remember, the internet was just taking off…instead of forums and social media, we had chat rooms and AOL Instant Messenger.) The members would send out mass emails to all club members with parts they were looking for to complete their restoration. I had a thought, “What if I could sell these trim pieces that I didn’t need to someone who needed them?” That was my first lesson in supply and demand. So, I arranged my first sale via electronic mail. We agreed upon a price and I waited to receive the money via snail mail. A few days later when I opened the money order (remember, no Paypal yet), I heard an angel blowing a trumpet. And that trumpet sounded like a “cha-ching” of a cash register. There it was…money in my hand for doing very little work. I had an epiphany that afternoon and realized I can make money for something I want (gas money) by getting rid of something I don’t want (old car parts). On that day in the summer of 2000, a man of junk was created.

Many lessons were learned on that first transaction. Supply and demand, net profit, sunk costs, opportunity costs, etc. I realized that money could be made if you were willing to find items of value. I realized that you must find someone whom also values the item. I had to outweigh the opportunity costs such as if my car needed these parts in the future I would have to purchase them at full cost. So I was taking a risk by selling something that I may need one day.  Also, I quickly realized the burden of shipping costs. I only made a few bucks in profit on that sale because I did not account for shipping costs in my negotiations.

Even if I only managed to break even on that transaction, I learned that I loved selling junk.