Holiday Weekends Are The Best For Cheap Picking

HOLIDAY WEEKENDS IN THE WARMER SEASONS, USUALLY GOOD FOR PICKING

NOT AS GOOD AS "ONCE UPON A TIME"

     ON THIS VICTORIA DAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND, WE WILL ONCE AGAIN, HAVE THE OPPORTUNIST-GANG, SETTING UP THEIR YARD SALES. THEY ESTIMATE, AND PROGNOSTICATE, THAT ANTIQUE DEALERS WILL ONCE AGAIN GO NUTS (AS THEY DO AT THIS TIME OF YEAR), AND WILL SPEND THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AT THEIR RESPECTIVE GARAGE AND YARD SALES. YOU WILL SEE CLUSTERS OF YARDS SALES ADVERTISED, IN THE WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS, AND THEY WILL BOAST HAVING EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK. THEY WILL MISREPRESENT THEIR SALES, AND CLAIM THAT THEY HAVE "A LOT OF ANTIQUES," WHEN IN FACT, THEY WON'T HAVE ANY PIECE THAT LEGITIMATELY REPRESENTS ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AGE, WHICH IS THE AGE ASSOCIATED WITH THE WORD "ANTIQUE" AS DEFINED BY INTERNATIONAL BORDER CUSTOMS. BUT THIS IS MOOT, RIGHT? UNTIL THAT IS, YOU DRIVE TWENTY MILES, DOWN POT-HOLED DIRT ROADS, BUST THE SPRINGS, AND ARRIVE AT THE SALE TO FIND OUT THE ANTIQUES THEY WERE REFERRING TO, WERE ACTUALLY "ANTIQUE" IN APPEARANCE ONLY.

     I'M A WORDSMITH. I KNOW HOW TO WRITE A CLASSIFIED AD FOR A YARD SALE, THAT WILL DEFINITELY GET YOUR ATTENTION….SHORT OF ANNOUNCING THE AVAILABILITY OF COLD BEER, AND FREE PINE PRIMITIVES TO THE FIRST HUNDRED VISITORS. THE FACT THAT SO MANY YARD SALES HOSTS OPT FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND, IS KIND OF NUTS REALLY, BECAUSE IT'S FAR BETTER FOR PICKERS LIKE US, THAN FOR FUNDRAISING. HERE'S WHY……

     AS I'M SURE YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY, AND YOU MAY ACTUALLY BE ONE OF US, I'M PROBABLY JUST REITERATING ADHERED-TO METHODOLOGY…..SO YOU CAN SAY, "OH YEA, I DO THAT TOO!" WHEN YARD SALE PEOPLE PULL TOGETHER THEIR STRATEGIES, FOR HAVING BLOCKBUSTER EVENTS, ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND, THEY ARE DIE-HARD (NAIVE) BELIEVERS OF THEIR OWN PHILOSOPHY. IT'S GOOD THAT THEY'RE SO SELF-CONFIDENT. I'VE HEARD SOME OF THESE FOLKS CHATTING ABOUT THEIR "SMARTS," OPTING FOR HOLIDAY WEEKEND SALES, AND I'VE HAD TO INTERRUPT THEM BRIEFLY, TO PAY FOR MY ETCHINGS, PAINTINGS, ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS, EARLY CANADIAN GLASS COMPOTES, AND THE GIBSON GUITAR THEY COULD HAVE SOLD FOR TEN TIMES THE PRICE, BY JUST VISITING MY SONS' MUSIC STORE. THEY DON'T SEE ANY PROBLEM WITH HAVING FIFTY TO SEVENTY LOCAL YARD SALES ON ONE DAY, FROM DAYLIGHT TO ONE IN THE AFTERNOON. THEY WOULDN'T TWIG TO THIS EVEN IF I EXPLAINED TO THEM, THAT IN THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION, WE BENEFIT WHEN THERE ARE MORE SALES TO SPREAD SHOPPERS AROUND THE DISTRICT. THE THINNER THE CROWD, ON A GOOD REGIONAL YARD SALE DAY, MEANS THAT THERE'S A FAR GREATER CHANCE WE'RE GOING TO HIT ONE OF THESE VENDORS, WHO DOES HAPPEN TO HAVE STUFF WE WANT…..AND THUS, A LOT LESS COMPETITION. LESS COMPETITION SHOULD MEAN LESSER REVENUE. WELL, IT DOES MEAN LESSER REVENUE. FOR US, NOT ONLY DO WE GET NEEDED DISTANCE FROM OUR COMPETITORS, WE ARE VERY ASTUTE AT PICKING OUT THE "WINNER" SALES FROM "THE DOGS." SORRY TO BE BLUNT. THIS IS THE WAY IT GOES.

     NOW I HAVE TO FOOTNOTE, THAT ANTIQUE DEALERS AND COLLECTORS DON'T MAKE UP A MAJORITY OF THE YARD AND GARAGE SALE CLIENTELE. IN REALITY, THEY MIGHT ONLY MAKE UP A TINY PERCENTAGE, BUT TRUTHFULLY, THEY HAVE THE MOST SPENDING POWER. YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY SELLING ANTIQUE FURNISHINGS, AND DEPRESSION GLASS, THAN SELLING PLASTIC BEER CUPS, MUSTY CHAIR CUSHIONS, WATER DAMAGED POSTERS, HAMMERS AND SAWS. SO FOR MANY OF THESE MORE AMBITIOUS SALE ATTEMPTS, BELIEVE ME, KNOWING THAT ANTIQUE DEALERS JUST WALKED UP THE LANE, IS A BIG DEAL….ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE A HOOSIER CUPBOARD WITH ALL THE APPROPRIATE JARS AND THE BUILT-IN FLOUR SIFTER. YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE MONEY BY HAVING NICE PIECES FOR SALE.

THE ASTUTE BUYER CAN FIND LOTS OF SLEEPERS OUT THERE - OR I WOULDN'T BE GETTING UP THAT EARLY IN THE MORNING

     There are people, in our region, who have from ten to twenty sales throughout the summer season. They are, plain and simply, "retailers." They go out and pick, at all the local second hand shops, through the winter season, and then again, between each yard sale, using their properties as sale venues. Now folks, this is not supposed to go unchallenged in a perfect world, because in fact, they are operating businesses in every way, shape and form…..except without formal registration; or at the very least, a proper accounting for earnings of up to $30,000. The sales are not considered home occupation, because you can not set up these businesses, outside the main dwelling: and then inside, it can only reach a maximum of twenty-five percent of the household square footage. These folks running multiple yard sales, are setting up shop, and they are in competition with those who have rented retail space in commercial areas of the community. We pay rent, taxes, insurance, utilities and collect HST, in order to be able to sell legally. These folks just figure that "yard sale" is one of those nebulous situations that allows them to go commercial without all the fuss and muss. Well, if the business community wanted to…..which it doesn't, a complaint could be filed…..and it has happened before, to remind these sale hosts, that there is a limit as to how many events can be held in a year, according to municipal bylaw. Additionally, so much revenue earned, does draw the attention of the province and federal government, but hey, I'm just bringing this up for interest's sake….not because I plan to bust my hobby competitors. We used to have two yard sales each summer, and possibly run one of them over two days. We never had a yard sale that we didn't include the revenue in our annual sales record. This was extraordinary, and I dare say, we were one of only a few in Canada who would have thought this appropriate. As we were selling off some store inventory from our front lawn, it was only fair to treat it as such, considering there was a tax saving when it was purchased from auctions, and associate antique shops. We acquired the pieces as dealers, so it was necessary to sell the items as dealers. Sales tax was always collected, on our part, which was included in the selling prices, and paid, as was our responsibility, to the province. Dealers could save the PST by presenting their vendor's permit numbers. This is different today of course.

     What I was really trying to get at, in the paragraphs above, is that we won't visit sales where the host vendors have more than five a season, because that qualifies them as a business, and we don't wish to empower competitors in our bailiwick, who avoid regulations by claiming their sales don't qualify as a business venture…..when in fact, they would be telling a porky, by denying this.  So we will travel to all the other one-timers a year, some that we have been returning to for many years, and we usually find some neat articles. Those who have regular sales are predictable and usually over-priced, because, they are, for all intents and purposes, business operations. So for us, out on the hustings, we want to meet up with those folks who are not trying trying to turn their homes into antique shops….because those folks will habitually up-prices, thinking they are full members of the profession……which they are not! I love attending sales of those people who genuinely want to rid themselves of clutter, whether that happens to be oil paintings, jam cupboards, nostalgia, oil lamps, or boxes of vintage glass. They look upon us as the folks who are going to save them from hauling the stuff to the dump, or to charity shops. You'd be surprised how many times we actually are invited into their houses, to gather up some more boxes of china and glass. But it is at this time of year, on these holiday weekends, that the hard core lawn sale hosts, and the rookies, post their signs, and offer us antique hunters, a huge array of opportunities, that on normal weekends, are much more competitive and profitable for the vendors instead.

     There is the mistaken belief, that on the May 24th weekend, the tourists will be out by the thousands, attending these same yard sales. This is a myth. Even on the July Ist weekend, and the Civic Holiday in August, locals make up most of the yard sale numbers. While tourists will drop in, when convenient, they are not the biggest movers and shakers out there……and antique dealers don't really consider them a threat. City dealers. Yes, they are a threat. But Muskoka dealers know the district well, and use it to their general advantage. So for those vendors who adamantly believe they will make "a killing" this weekend, with all the tourist traffic, I'm going to clarify that the biggest winners will be the early bird collectors and dealers, who will exploit the fact there are so many sales, and so few shoppers. So it is a buyer's market this weekend. Now when it returns to the average weekend fare of assorted sales, about a tenth of what it is this weekend, dealers will be forced to bump into each other, along with all the rest of the shoppers, and that is when you earn the really big bucks as a sale host.

     But you know, if I was to correct all this illogical thinking, I wouldn't be half as successful out there. To put up, or shut up, I will give you an overview (in case you weren't out on the yard sale circuit)

of just how well it did go, and what we were able to scoop up for decent prices. I'll profile some sleepers for you. Cocky? Nope! It's just the business we know. The sales represent the fields we have to harvest.

     If you get out there before me, well, good for you. Have fun. Enjoy the drive. Celebrate the spring in this beautiful part of the world.  But drive carefully. I was at the scene of an accident several years ago, that was directly proportional to yard sale traffic, and it ended with a fatality.


Please visit my other blog at http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.ca