improvise, addapt, overcome

If you can fix a toaster and sell it for five bucks, unless you took less than thirty minutes to fix it, you are probably better off getting an entry-level job selling coffee. At least you might get a decent tip. If you are doing scrap arbitrage, a better turn would be cleaning up vintage cast ironware. They are easier to rehabilitate and can sell for tens or even hundreds of dollars to a dedicated collector's market.



I don't fault alternative economic models out of hand but I see it time and time again that the first casualty tends to be the valuation of one's own time. I've been subject to the same fallacy. If you can't make ends meet with a $12/hr job, how could spending three hours to salvage an appliance ever be worth less than $40 to you, minimum? And if that appliance is a toaster, can you demonstrate to a consumer that your salvaged, refurbed unit is worth their $40 when they can get another, newer one for much less?

I hate being a Negative Ned but I was driving, yesterday, and I saw a 10-foot tow-behind full of satellite dishes and sheet steel in someone's yard. Probably less than a half ton but the nearest yard is an hour away from their house. $10 to show for two hours drive, thirty minutes at the yard, and however long that eyesore sits in front of your house. This thread just sort of brought it all back to mind.