'Nomad' scavenger economy...

[Michedelic]

Interesting article...
Nomads travel to America’s Walmarts to stock Amazon’s shelves

It dovetails into all sorts of other discussions...the death of retail, E-commerce, entrepreneurship in the 21st century, the glut of manufacturing, the proliferation of 'dollar stores', products no one asked for, living in a van down by the river...
I've always been a fan/shopper of weird little overstock stores, "Mr. Stuff" in LA's San Fernando valley, and "Cargo Largo"(not so little)in Independence, MO(Kansas City area)being a couple of examples, not to mention the Big Lots chain plus swap meets/flea markets, you never know what insane things you might find. I’ll bet there’s something like that in your locale. What I always found curious was the amount of newly manufactured goods available at the more gypsy type venues. I'll go to 'thrift shops' on occasion, not expecting much, as those are just institutionalized rummage sales; that sad backwash of outdated, worn out junk unwanted by others. Anything of value is going to be grabbed up by employees before it ever hits the floor. Pawn shops ain't what they used to be, either. But this new milieu, and how it is a means of survival/precarious freedom for a certain group of people, is fascinating.

 

[Michedelic]

I also want to point out how it’s Amazon, not Ebay, that is their venue; even though the concept had its origins with people running an Ebay store out of their garage so many years ago, Ebay’s perpetual fleecing of sellers with added fees has probably been a disincentive. Craig’s, along with all their imitators, like Letgo, etc, don’t have a far enough reach.

 

[friskinator]

This seems like a lot of work (and a very tiring, lonely existence) for not much reward.

 

[Michedelic]

This seems like a lot of work (and a very tiring, lonely existence) for not much reward.

Somewhat like those who collect bottles, or any other recyclable items, and wheel them into redemption centers.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

People buy a lot of crap.

 

[knumbskull]

interesting article! kind of modern "rag-n-bone" men/women.

i was sometimes amazed by the weird or old stuff you can get via Amazon... so now I know why / how.

it's also strange to think of this global mega-corp extending all the way from swanky head offices, though warehouses and supply chains and whatnot, to van-dwelling hermits scrabbling around in outlet malls for odd bits – all part of the same process.

when i visited Delhi i was shown around Old Delhi by a local. it's kind of a sprawling, crowded urban area with what seemed like thousands of tiny shops and alleys. as we looked out over it, my guide gestured at it said: 'you can get anything in there. medical supplies, aeroplane parts... anything! you just need to look hard enough"

for some reason this reminds me of that, although it's different.

 

[Alkali Ike]

Interesting read. It kind of reminds me of what I would call “bottom feeders”: People who are basically self-employed and not homeless, but who scrape by at the bottom of the economic ladder by finding opportunities to make money flipping stuff they buy from other more affluent consumers. Say I have a set of wheels I want gone and I put them on CL for $200. A bottom feeder buys them and flips them for whatever he can get above $200. Or he buys a junker car for $500, gets it running and flips it for $1000.

 

[buldog5151bass]

There a good number of People making surprisingly good coin reselling things they find stayed sales and such. Wife of a friend of mine finds oversized women's dezigner clothing, pairs them up into outfits, and resellers on line - better profit margin than any retailer.

 

[fhm555]

This seems like a lot of work (and a very tiring, lonely existence) for not much reward.

I don't use Amazon because I don't have the time to put in to it, but i make decent money scouring local classifieds and CL listings for stuff I can flip, it all started when I got a killer deal on a house full of stuff from some people who lost their mother and just wanted her house emptied so they could spruce it up and sell it. I did real well with it but it involved driving sometimes a couple states away to deliver furniture items so I started checking out ads in places I'd be passing through and before you know it I had a full time job again. Once I realized what I allowed myself to get into and how it was causing me to neglect all my other little tinkeritius activities, I scaled back to local only. I don't do near the volume but I still make bank on what I do. It could be a good living if you were willing to put in the time and could accept the nomad lifestyle, but I was retired when I started and before I realized what I'd done, I was back in a full time self employed job. These days I'm content to stay close to home and do my little tinker things to avoid going nuts from boredom, but if I was younger and looking for a way to earn it would be an attractive option.