It's happening.... big next step!

After years of up and down, mostly down, it is time to get back up!

Quick background.
Used to be a mega online seller, biggest ever in the book business with a 15,000+ sq fr warehouse about 3 years ago and over 210,000 books listed.
Book biz failed, went to 1,500 sq ft WH, (3 years ago) dealing with appliance recycling and some wholesaling to local dealers about a little over a year went into business with a partner selling used appliances which was a complete disaster on a personal level. Business was great but partner was shady as hell and just turned out to be a complete natural A##hole.
Downsized to my own garage and 2 storage units in January this year and rebuilt from scratch.
Started adding e-waste about 2 months ago and now work out of 4 storage units and still the sweatshop garage.

Anyhow....
Big news are.... Realtor called and the lease for the 4,200sq ft warehouse is ready to be signed.
Move-In date September 1st!

Back to running a real business with a future!

Thanks to all the past and current posters on here that gave me lots and lots of ideas and input on how to do things right.
Special thanks to Paul in Anderson, CA for his graciousness in showing us his operation last month!

Congrats did digital media have anything to do with the failed book biz?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Congrats did digital media have anything to do with the failed book biz?

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Yes, it did among many other reasons.
The biggest problem was the growing competition. And that every **** book is narrowed down to the ISBN# which means every copy of a book is on ONE page on Amazon, eBay etc. Thus the only way to compete was by price creating the doom of used books. PENNY books.
People cutting prices down to a penny and MAYBE making a dime or quarter on shipping.
The problem was that MEGA MEGA sellers that have 1,000s of orders a day get HUGE discounts from the USPS for presorting and even sometimes trucking orders directly to various bulk mail entry pints.
We weren't big enough for most of those discounts.
Then you get the common idiots that bid up prices (we were the sole buyer of a large local goodwill warehouse) and make it even less competitive.
But the main reason was that our own greedy goodwill decided to sell books themselves and literally booted me without warning after being their buyer for over 10 years and spending close to 10K a month with them.
They folded their book op after a year, which was as expected.
In retrospect I was for years in a dyinbg industry and them booting me was a true 'who moved my cheese' moment.

.. And YOU kept on working and adapting to the times. Good show! Other folks: take note of APH!

Nice job, aph. I may not be setting the world on fire, but I keep lighting matches. Sooner or later, something is going to catch. Even if I never have a wildfire, I am loving every minute of my life. Keep pluggin' on!

Some of my best learning has came from my failures, it's about how you get up and go at it again that makes you a success.